LOSING A FRIEND

CODY'S BOOKS: 1956-2008

Berkeley's legendary Cody's Books will be officially going out of business on June 20. Many knew the end was coming: its flagship Telegraph Ave. store closed in 2006 and the financial troubles facing Cody's had been known for years.

This is a story about Cody's legacy, but it is also a story about urban development. And since you can read so much about Cody's legacy elsewhere, I decided to look a bit into the circumstances surrounding the closure of this important institution.

We've heard this tale before; a beloved local business--family owned, lets say--establishes itself over years as a part a community's cultural fabric. Something unique or outstanding about this business makes it one of the places you would, for instance, take out-of-towners to showcase your town or city. But as years go by things happen. Rents go up, commerce centers change, tastes change, and the big businesses keep coming. Unable to compete in the "new economy," the institution is forced to close and the collective hearts of a community are broken.

SO...
What can anyone do?

Sometimes, admittedly, nothing. But other times, there are things we can do. And sometimes the things we can do are enough to keep something really cool around...

In my hometown of Boise, Idaho lies a very special movie theater called The Egyptian Theatre. Built in 1927 as part of the Egyptian Revival Movement after the discovery of King Tut's Tomb, this theater is about as close to a heart as Boise has. I mean, this is the place where you went on your first date. This is the place where you made out in the back row, the place where you went with your parents with wild-eyed excitement to watch Indiana Jones slash his way through the Temple of Doom. The place you smuggled in plastic spiders to throw off the balcony during Arachnophobia. This is it. This was our rock...

...and it was resilient. It survived all the 'urban renewal' of the 70s where all the other classic/ historic downtown single-screen movie theaters were demolished or transformed into other businesses. It was just always there and seemingly always would be.

But by the late 90s the theater was showing some serious age. Money for upkeep and renovation apparently wasn't there and the theater was increasingly empty during shows. Around the same time a California-based theater chain, Edwards Cinema, had built a whopping 21 screen cineplex on the outskirts of town. Boiseans flocked accross town to the flash and glitz of Edwards 21. The screens were bigger, selection broader; even their popcorn, according to promoters, had won popcorn awards.

And as if to add insult to injury, one of the four super-sized Theme Screens in the new cineplex was named "The Egyptian," complete with neon-esque hieroglyphics and pharoah paintings that looked eerily similar to the paintings in the downtown 1927 Egyptian; our Egyptian.

Soon after Edwards 21 opened, the Cineplex Odeon group withdrew from operation of the Egyptian and the theater lay dormant. Ironically, the final film to flicker across the Egyptian's screen was The Mummy, starring Brendan Fraser.

I remember actually watching The Mummy at The Egyptian--at that point I didn't know it was going to close. The one thing that really sticks out in my memory is leaving the theater. I remember looking around as I walked out and feeling a deep sadness. The place was trashed; there was garbage everywhere and one of the entire handrails had come unbolted from wall and lay carelessly on the floor. It was like looking into the eyes of your favorite horse, injured from losing a race, who you knew was about to be euthanized. There was an eerie quietness leaving that theater.

But when news hit that Cineplex Odeon was withdrawing operation, people were anything but defeatist. If there's one thing that's true about all Boiseans, all Idahoans really, it's that we have Rally Power. We've got comeback. There was a veritable movement against its closure: "Not here!" "The Egyptian is ours!" "Let the city buy it!"

And through details that still remain fuzzy, The Egyptian's ownership was able to arrange a new group of operators, moneyed operators, who not only took over operations but who engaged a massive, three-month restoration project of the entire theater.

THE EGYPTIAN THEATRE, BOISE, IDAHO

LEFT: 1927 RIGHT: 1999

The Grand reopening at The Egyptian was a beautiful and happy week for Boise. In addition to sprucing up the theater itself, the operators also diversified The Egyptian's events schedule to bring in a bigger clientele.

Today the Egyptian operates seven days a week and screens everything from current Hollywood blockbusters to cult classics as well as hosting bands, lectures, and private parties. Conversely, the Edwards Cinema chain acquired a massive debt after its hasty expansion and filed for bankruptcy in 2000.

This is one happy success story that I admit bears little resemblance to the issues facing such businesses/ institutions as Cody's Books. Yet it remains worth sharing because 1.) it is a happy story and 2.) it demonstrates that with focus and swiftness a city can save something it really loves.

The problem here is that the city of Berkeley lacks both swiftness and focus...among many other things. People can say that the closing of Cody's is marketplace-driven, and in some ways, it is. 

Yes, today many people choose to buy books online and fewer people than ever are venturing into book stores. But fewer people than ever are going stores, period. I would also like to point out that a Barnes and Noble Books closed a store almost directly across the street from Cody's final book store on Shattuck Ave. around six months before Cody's did.

No, the problem with Berkeley is that it has no attractive commercial centers. Telegraph Avenue, in particular (Berkeley's signature avenue that runs directly into the University and was historically its commercial center) has fallen into utter decay. It has something like a 40% vacancy rate, is overrun with drug addicted and mentally disabled homeless people, and is deserted after sunset.

Shattuck Avenue isn't much better. For some reason, this city has let the streets become a place where anyone can do whatever they want wherever they want. Berkeley accounts for just 7% of the total population of Alameda County yet houses 49% of the county's homeless. And unfortunately, the Berkeley City Council (and others) spend more time championing 'homeless rights' than they do helping/ rehabilitating/ training/ finding housing for the homeless. It is one thing to be sympathetic and charitable to the homeless, which hopefully we all are. It quite another to idealize homelessness, considering the substance abuse, mental hazards, and physical risks that go hand in hand with being homeless. It's irresponsible but its also pretty twisted and disgusting, too

In addition to the aforementioned issue of "pedestrian comfort" are Berkeley's inane business laws. Zoning laws, environmental reviews, public hearings and taxes, taxes, taxes. Even though Berkeley's public stance (and several passed ordinances) read "anti-corporate/ big businesses," the city has essentially given the middle finger to small businesses in the form of countless one cent taxes here, two cent taxes there and a mind-boggling complicated and lengthy set up process.

Even assuming a well-meaning small business owner in Berkeley could afford the prohibitively expensive rent, the city council is sure to kill a project with its bureaucracy. When the Berkeley Bowl (a beloved Berkeley grocer that sells affordable fresh food to South Berkeley) announced plans to expand to the under-served, working-class West Berkeley neighborhood, the city was elated and the plan seemed like a no-brainer. Unfortunately, Berkeley's internal approval process took four years and the owners were so frustrated they considered scrapping plans. Due to public outrage and media attention, a last minute deal was reached.

Isn't the role of government to ensure that good things happen/ keep happening? Not to kill something good when it does pop up or sit idly by as a cherished institution dies a slow death.

There are other great businesses on Telegraph that still operate but I suspect are in trouble; Ameoba Music and Looking Glass Photo among them. A high-up associated with Ameoba Music was quoted in 2006 in an article about Cody's Telegraph closure as saying that business at the Telegraph Store had been particularly bad.

I lived in Berkeley for four years and I'd hate to see everything cool there close. But unfortunately it is largely inhabited and run by crazy people. And I can't do anything about that.