Kepler's Books
| Private subsidiary | |
| Founded | Menlo Park, California (May 25, 1955) |
| Founder | Roy Kepler & Patricia Kepler |
| Headquarters | Menlo Park, California, U.S. |
|
Key people
|
Roy Kepler (Founder) Clark Kepler |
| Products | Books, magazines |
| Website | Official website |
Kepler's Books and Magazines is an independent bookstore in Menlo Park, California. It was founded on May 14, 1955 by Roy Kepler, who had previously been a staff member of the Berkeley listener-supported radio station KPFA. It "soon blossomed into a cultural epicenter and attracted loyal customers from the students and faculty of Stanford University and from other members of the surrounding communities who were interested in serious books and ideas."
John Markoff in his 2005 text, What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry referenced Kepler's as an important meeting point for the Counterculture of the 1960s. The Palo Alto Weekly also noted that, "through the 60s and 70s, the culture of Kepler's began to evolve into a broader counter-culture. Beat intellectuals and pacifists were joined by "people who worked for Whole Earth, hippies into the rock and roll and recreational drug scene, politicos, and people with an interest in ethnic groups." The Grateful Dead gave live shows there and "folk singer Joan Baez, members of the Grateful Dead, and many local leaders remember sharing ideas, political action, music, and danger in the cramped store."
According to the 1992 book Aces Back to Back by Scott W. Allen, the roots of the Grateful Dead's musical family tree were sown at Kepler's Books in 1960. That year, the Hunter/ Garcia folk duo played there and at universities and colleges all over the Bay Area. "From this point on," says Jerry Garcia, "I kept going farther into music and [Robert] Hunter into writing."
In 1980, Roy Kepler’s son Clark took over the management of the bookstore. The store had three different locations in Menlo Park, moving in 1989 to its current location in the Menlo Center on El Camino Real. In 1990 Publishers Weekly named Kepler’s “Bookseller of the Year.”
Due to the rise of chain bookstores and online shopping, Kepler's closed its doors on August 31, 2005. The local community held demonstrations to protest the closing. Kepler's subsequently re-opened in October 2005 with community investments, volunteers and donations.
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Wikipedia