He said independent bookstores, like independent record stores, emphasize the social experience of interacting with customers over a mutual passion for the financial value of selling books or records and making money. Jaffe is white and Stallings is black, and Gibson Goode, the fifth richest black man in America, is planning on opening a records megastore in the area, spelling doom for the Brokeland duo.ĭiesel Bookstore embodies many of the same values as Chabon’s Brokeland Records, Evans said. The novel, which was released Tuesday, explores themes of race and counterculture, focusing on the stories of Nat Jaffe and Archy Stallings, the operators of the used record store. Representatives from HarperCollins, the book’s publisher, and store staff developed the idea of Diesel’s transformation, a representation of the Oakland-Berkeley culture Chabon portrays in the book.
“People have been freaked out by the signs out there,” Evans said.Įvans said Chabon regularly frequents the Rockridge bookstore and earlier this spring agreed to do an event coinciding with the book’s release (the bookstore is throwing a party Wednesday evening at which Chabon is expected to speak, but Evans said the event is already booked to capacity).
But the outside of the store is a splash of red, yellow, and black signage which has aroused curiosity in some customers and passersby while throwing others into a panic that Diesel may be closing, said John Evans, Diesel’s owner. The inside of the bookstore remains largely the same save for the arrival of about 1,000 used records for sale, which were provided by the owner of the now-closed Berigan’s Records, which was the inspiration for Chabon’s fictional store. Starting last Thursday, Diesel Bookstore on College Avenue transformed itself-at least on the outside-into Brokeland Records, the fictional used record store featured in Pulitzer-prize winning Berkeley author Michael Chabon’s new book Telegraph Avenue, set in Oakland near the Berkeley border. A white placard completely covers Diesel Bookstore’s neon sign: “Brokeland Records.” On each of the bookstore’s two large glass windows lie canvases displaying the same words in thick yellow and white lettering.
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