Sunday, October 23, 2005

Left Bank 

We forgot to ask its owners, but we have little doubt that the name of the City’s Left Bank Books was meant to suggest something more than the Boulevard Saint Germain des Prés or the Rue d’Ulm. Left Bank’s rows of polished wooden shelves suggest a style of living and a perspective rather sharply at odds with the white-bread weltenshaung of the book aisle at a WalMart.

Left Bank has proudly anchored its Central West End neighborhood for more than three decades. The store is the only independently-owned, full-service bookstore in the metro area. Its specialties include modern literature and poetry; books and magazines chronicling the contemporary art and performing arts scenes; political analysis; African-American, feminist, gay and lesbian literature; and books for a rainbow of children.

We buy mysteries at Left Bank. And handmade cards. And, most recently, a slim volume of poetry by Suzanne Rhodenbaugh.

In this interview, MayorSlay.com sits down over sandwiches at nearby Duff’s with artist Barry Leibman, a co-owner of Left Bank.

Download and Listen to this Podcast: leftbank.mp3