New York Minute

I’m not sure how I managed to go this long without visiting Climax Books (likely because their curation for the Marc Jacobs Heaven store on Fairfax, before it closed, tied me over), but for me—a reader and self-proclaimed book collector—this felt like a pilgrimage of sorts. Step past an unassuming (but very pink) door and you’re in a world of chrome and Crayola Ultra pink. On the left, past the benches: a wall of mostly second-hand books. To the right, drawers of (mainly) vintage Japanese ephemera and pop paraphernalia, then an assortment of merch you actually want to wear.

Everything is considered. It’s loud without excess, worthy of undivided attention.

I visited in the hopes of finding works to add to my reference library, but left instead with two small books I’m just as pleased with: a first-edition paperback of Hilton Als’ The Women (which I promptly started on the train ride back into Jersey) and Edgewise: A Picture of Cookie Mueller by Chloé Griffin. I’m also powerless against branded wares—a byproduct of being a 90s kid and now an adult in marketing—so of course, this cropped hoodie had to come home with me, too.

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xx