We’ve known for a while that the legendary Gambler’s Book Club is for sale. So why isn’t anyone buying? John L. Smith of the LVRJ wonders about that, too:
Picture Woody Allen’s cousin finally selling his business and taking a Caribbean cruise.
He books his passage, locates a chaise lounge and applies copious amounts of No. 50 sunscreen. Sure, he still worries too much about getting skin cancer. Will the salt air irritate his asthma? Will the moisture make him chafe? Time will tell.
Only a good woman, or a playfully bad one, will save our Caribbean cruiser from himself. And then, over at an adjacent chaise lounge, slathered in sunscreen, her nose into a copy of Thorpe’s classic “Beat the Dealer” …
Alas, he’s daydreaming again.
Only a minor detail prevents him from taking the plunge of a lifetime: He still has to find a buyer for his gambling bookstore. Until then, he stays hunched over his desk like a character from a story co-authored by Dickens and Runyon. He occasionally reaches into a drawer and removes a brochure with the picture of a sandy beach and palm trees at sunset.
That’s how I envision Gambler’s Book Club owner Howard Schwartz these days. As he approaches another birthday, his 68th, he’s trying to find someone special to buy his beloved independent bookstore. For the past 28 years the man has poured his heart, soul and sense of humor into his incredible shop at 630 S. 11th Street. He’s denied himself umbrella drinks and tropical breezes in favor of the Racing Form and books on blackjack strategy, but everybody needs a vacation sometime.
This would be a great investment for a high roller who has a slight literary bent, or just someone who likes hanging out with authors.