I just read that Fillipi Book and Record shop is closing. A few years ago, I began a "bookstore" project, which remains only 2/3 finished. I was trying to write a "Field Guide to Bookstores" of Seattle. I wish I had kept going, because now it looks like it would be a "History" of the bookstore of Seattle. A few others I visited at that time have since closed as well. Anyway, here is the review I wrote at that time.
Fillipi Book & Record Shop
1351 E. Olive Way
Seattle, WA 98122
206-682-4266
Owner: Brenda Fillipi
E-mail: N/A
Webpage: N/A
Inventory: Used books and phonograph records, old movie and theatrical photographs
Cash for books and records
Hours: Tue-Sat: 10-5
Sun: Closed
There’s nothin’ fancy about Fillipi Book & Record Shop, but there is much fascination. In business since 1935, the shop has been in its present location on the triangle corner of Melrose Avenue and E. Olive Way since 1953. It is an old brick building with blue-trimmed windows, the name painted in white on the blue background of the corner wall. Presently owned by the Fillipi family, the “Fillipi Building” stone above the entrance was installed as a birthday gift. Plant stands accent every large green-carpeted window area, with displays alternating between books and music. One window displays books by Anne Tyler and Thomas Mann; the next, blues albums and an ancient slim volume entitled Tip Top Tapping, a tap-dancing manual. Other windows range from cooking, gardening and fantasy to Edith Piaf and Ernestine Washington. Theatre and arts posters are in evidence, and at the door you know this is another of “Seattle’s Best Places.” I have no quarrel with that. This is a hillside building, and the interior is divided into four well-organized stair-step levels that rise gradually on bare concrete to the left from the entrance.
The first level is filled with a melange of bookshelves and furniture, a large shelf of music reference books (not for sale), and a rack of jazz records featuring folks like Pat Metheney, Marian McPartland, and Glenn Miller. One high shelf houses the collected works of Horace Walpole, Byron and Abraham Lincoln, while the shelf just above carries albums by Ricky Nelson, the Everly Brothers, and Buddy Holly. Behind the desk are classical vocal 78’s: Flagstad, Gluck, Ponselle. Glass cabinets of antique photos and baby spoons vie for space with antique models of cars, a carriage and a miniature antique stove. Level 2 is primarily 78’s – jazz, comedy, vocals, “sweet bands,” old time dance records, people like Bing Crosby and Jo Stafford, and the Hotel Pennsylvania Orchestra. Some are labeled by instrument: flute, fiddle, trombone, ukulele, zither and whistling. You can pick up a whistled version of “Indian Love Call.” Old prints, paintings and photos are on the walls; board games and sports books are on the high shelves.
Level 3 has LP’s – oratorios, spoken word, show scores, opera, classical, chamber music, all the way to country and western. A tiny staircase lined with history books leads to a garret space filled with books and sheet music. Exploring is in order here, and entails some climbing around between different levels into tiny spaces crowded with books on theatre, music, mystery and fiction, science and otherwise. A couple of old chairs sit on worn Persian rugs, inviting exploration of the contents of the National Geographic cabinet (issues from 1919) and more collections of 78’s. Level 4 is a wonderful huge brick-walled room, filled with hardback books, with two skylights and windows that give a view of Queen Anne hill. Titles range from Portrait of a Lady and Middle Passage to Medieval Home Companion. Authors like Miller, Maugham and McMurtry share space with glass cabinets of rare and curious volumes (Strange Newes from China: A First Chinese Cooking Book), large ferns and other plants, and a collection of Life magazines with covers featuring Cardinal Spellman and Gwen Verdon among others. Fluorescent lights brighten the room, picking out the occasional chair in a corner somewhere between literary criticism and culture. An old steamer trunk stands ready to be packed for armchair voyages in space and time.
Fillipi Book & Record Shop
1351 E. Olive Way
Seattle, WA 98122
206-682-4266
Owner: Brenda Fillipi
E-mail: N/A
Webpage: N/A
Inventory: Used books and phonograph records, old movie and theatrical photographs
Cash for books and records
Hours: Tue-Sat: 10-5
Sun: Closed
There’s nothin’ fancy about Fillipi Book & Record Shop, but there is much fascination. In business since 1935, the shop has been in its present location on the triangle corner of Melrose Avenue and E. Olive Way since 1953. It is an old brick building with blue-trimmed windows, the name painted in white on the blue background of the corner wall. Presently owned by the Fillipi family, the “Fillipi Building” stone above the entrance was installed as a birthday gift. Plant stands accent every large green-carpeted window area, with displays alternating between books and music. One window displays books by Anne Tyler and Thomas Mann; the next, blues albums and an ancient slim volume entitled Tip Top Tapping, a tap-dancing manual. Other windows range from cooking, gardening and fantasy to Edith Piaf and Ernestine Washington. Theatre and arts posters are in evidence, and at the door you know this is another of “Seattle’s Best Places.” I have no quarrel with that. This is a hillside building, and the interior is divided into four well-organized stair-step levels that rise gradually on bare concrete to the left from the entrance.
The first level is filled with a melange of bookshelves and furniture, a large shelf of music reference books (not for sale), and a rack of jazz records featuring folks like Pat Metheney, Marian McPartland, and Glenn Miller. One high shelf houses the collected works of Horace Walpole, Byron and Abraham Lincoln, while the shelf just above carries albums by Ricky Nelson, the Everly Brothers, and Buddy Holly. Behind the desk are classical vocal 78’s: Flagstad, Gluck, Ponselle. Glass cabinets of antique photos and baby spoons vie for space with antique models of cars, a carriage and a miniature antique stove. Level 2 is primarily 78’s – jazz, comedy, vocals, “sweet bands,” old time dance records, people like Bing Crosby and Jo Stafford, and the Hotel Pennsylvania Orchestra. Some are labeled by instrument: flute, fiddle, trombone, ukulele, zither and whistling. You can pick up a whistled version of “Indian Love Call.” Old prints, paintings and photos are on the walls; board games and sports books are on the high shelves.
Level 3 has LP’s – oratorios, spoken word, show scores, opera, classical, chamber music, all the way to country and western. A tiny staircase lined with history books leads to a garret space filled with books and sheet music. Exploring is in order here, and entails some climbing around between different levels into tiny spaces crowded with books on theatre, music, mystery and fiction, science and otherwise. A couple of old chairs sit on worn Persian rugs, inviting exploration of the contents of the National Geographic cabinet (issues from 1919) and more collections of 78’s. Level 4 is a wonderful huge brick-walled room, filled with hardback books, with two skylights and windows that give a view of Queen Anne hill. Titles range from Portrait of a Lady and Middle Passage to Medieval Home Companion. Authors like Miller, Maugham and McMurtry share space with glass cabinets of rare and curious volumes (Strange Newes from China: A First Chinese Cooking Book), large ferns and other plants, and a collection of Life magazines with covers featuring Cardinal Spellman and Gwen Verdon among others. Fluorescent lights brighten the room, picking out the occasional chair in a corner somewhere between literary criticism and culture. An old steamer trunk stands ready to be packed for armchair voyages in space and time.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home