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AADL Talks To: Jay Platt

Jay Platt
Jay Platt, owner of West Side Book Shop, c.1993 (Photo by Peter Yates)

Jay Platt is the owner of Ann Arbor's iconic West Side Book Shop located at 113 W. Liberty Street in the historic Haarer Building. Jay shares his journey learning the antiquarian book trade, from his early days working for several Ann Arbor and regional booksellers, including David Kozubei of David's Books, to the rare finds, losses, and lessons learned over his nearly 50 years in business. Jay also touches on the history of the Haarer Building and his participation in other classic Ann Arbor institutions and events, from the Psychedelic Rangers and Ann Arbor’s Medieval Play Festival to the Antiquarian Book Fair.

Historical photos and articles about Jay Platt 

Historical advertisements and articles about West Side Book Shop 

Russell Gregory and Centicore Books in Ann Arbor

Parent ID
Writings by Michael Erlewine

Every college town probably has a local bookstore where everyone who is ‘anyone’ educated hangs out. In Ann Arbor in the late 1960s (pre-Borders), that was Centicore Books, originally on Maynard Street, but relocated to South University. Somewhere I read that the official title was “Paper Back Bookstore and Centicore Modern Poetry Shop.” It was the South University period I am writing about here. Sure there were other bookstores in Ann Arbor, but this particular one is where both the students and professors bought their books and hung out.

Copyright
Creative Commons (Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-alike)

Centicore Bookshops, Inc.

Centicore Bookshops, Inc. image
Parent Issue
Ann Arbor News, February 25, 1973
Day
25
Month
February
Year
1973
Copyright
Copyright Protected

Anais Nin Visits Centicore Bookstore, March 1973 Photographer: Jack Stubbs

Anais Nin Visits Centicore Bookstore, March 1973 image
Year:
1973
Published In:
Ann Arbor News, March 4, 1973
Caption:
Novelist and diarist Anais Nin at the center of a crush of admirers who crowded into Centicore bookstore to celebrate, incredibly, her 70th birthday, and waited eagerly for her to autograph a personal copy of her work. (Photo by Jack Stubbs)
Copyright
Copyright Protected

Centicore Bookshops

Centicore Bookshops image
Parent Issue
Ann Arbor News, March 17, 1974
Day
17
Month
March
Year
1974
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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