The Greatest Book Shop in Philly: Port Richmond Books
Port Richmond Books isn’t just a bookshop—It’s a place for community. The bookstore is a culmination of owners Deen Kogan and Greg Gillespie’s dedication and love for Philadelphia’s literary scene. Greg’s son, Paul Gillespie, said, “Mrs. Kogan really cares about people, literature and the community. She’s an amazing woman. Her and my dad made something really great here.”
When I asked Kogan about how she views Port Richmond Books’ place in the community, she said, “Greg has built so many great relationships through the store and it’s just great to see people, especially young people, looking for books and not just downloading. This neighborhood has so much to offer and we’re happy to be a part of it and we hope they enjoy having us.”
I hope they do, too, because it’s my favorite place to find books.
Kogan met Greg when he was around 24 years old and auditioning at the Society Hill Playhouse in Center City, which Deen and her late husband, Jay, had opened a few years prior. Later, Gillespie would help Kogan acquire an enormous collection of books.
“Jay mostly collected detective mysteries and I was collecting anything else I thought interesting,” said Greg.
As the collections outgrew their houses, they began looking for places to store them. A few years of shuffling mountains of books around Philly storage spaces and warehouses ultimately led to the purchase of an old movie theatre in Port Richmond.
Thus, Port Richmond Books was born.
On the first Saturday after the last major snowstorm there was a literary event called Retreat to Goodville: Eighth Annual David Goodis Carpool to Hell. It was the 98th birthday celebration of the late, great author David Goodis, author of “Dark Passage”—later a film starring Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart—along with many other great volumes of noir fiction and literature.
The event is a yearly, city-wide tour of Goodis’ old haunts and points of inspiration—navigated by his most die-hard fans—which congregates at Port Richmond Books after the day-long pilgrimage
Greg was holding down the fort at the bookstore that day. He asked if I wanted a soda or beer and led me into a makeshift ‘conference room’ where people gathered around a table discussing the Goodis tour. I spent the next few hours at a corner of the table watching a parade of bibliophiles come and go. Some were friends of Greg, but others were simply stopping by to explore the 6,000 square-foot labyrinth of expertly placed books Gillespie and Kogan have amassed.
When patrons asked for help, or finally came back to pay for their discoveries, they’d invariably overhear the talk I was having with Greg and partake in the cake, moonshine and dialogue with others offered around the table.
Louis Boxer and Joe Samuel Starnes, hosts of the Goodis tour, were there discussing possibilities of a party bus for the late Goodis’ 100th birthday, in 2017. Starnes is also an author, releasing his novel, “Red Dirt”, on Saturday, May 2, 2015, at 2PM in the bookstore.
Sitting across from him was Gil Sokolow, a playwright, whose plays have been performed at Society Hill and numerous other venues; his play, “Bow Goes to the Movies”, was inspired by the ghosts that some say still haunt the historic silent film house-turned-bookstore. When Greg and I were alone at the table with yet another author we’d both just met, she proposed holding a séance to channel the late legend in Goodis. Greg didn’t seem interested.
Toward the end of my stay, a father handed his wife a few graphic novels he wanted to purchase while their daughters feverishly dug through a desk drawer and asked Greg how many pieces of candy they could each have. As the register dinged Greg said, “two,” and the girls rejoiced. Readers, writers and bandits converged on the shop like this the whole time I was there.
John McPeak, one of the best bartenders at Lost Bar and friend of the shop, said, “Greg really knows his stuff. If a customer calls or comes in the store and asks for something, he’ll know what section and what shelf, and nine times out of ten, he’s always right.”
Greg can help you find signed copies and/or first editions of classics like “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, “The Great Gatsby”, or “V” by Pynchon (he’ll never sell his first edition of “The Grapes of Wrath”). He can help you find Roald Dahl, some sci-fi, a romance with Fabio on the cover, or books about the Civil War.
Of course, Greg boiled it down best, “…People love the bookstore, they find treasures they weren’t even looking for, and that’s the neatest surprise.”
Whatever the reason you find to go, you’re bound to find something remarkable at Port Richmond Books.
