Dante Undaunted — ‘We’ll Be Back’ at Northtown Books
No surprise, but since the devastating fire that destroyed half a block of downtown Arcata in January, Northtown Books owner Dante DiGenova has a little extra free time on his hands.
The cause of the Jan. 2 blaze, which destroyed seven businesses including Dante’s beloved bookstore and several apartments, is still unknown.
What is known is that Northtown Books will be back.
“Oh, yes,” he said. “We’ll be back. The only jobs I’ve ever had are in bookstores and dishwashing. That’s my entire career.”
Dante is slowly regrouping, inventorying his losses (everything), dealing with insurance issues (“absolutely no fun”) and looking around idly for a new location. But it will take time. “Why wouldn’t I want to reopen?” he asked.
He and his staff have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and love since the fire, which left only rubble behind where the small, independent bookstore, a fixture in Arcata a half-block off the Plaza, operated for 60 years. Dante worked there for 35 years, the last 19 as sole proprietor.
A quiet, soft-spoken man, he smiles and shakes his head over the community response. “I don’t even know how to explain what it meant to me, you know?” he said. “It’s been beyond anything I ever imagined.”
Dante, 66, grew up in Southern California and got the reading bug early. “It’s just something I do, and that’s been true since I was a kid,” he said. “I started reading very, very young, and then first
Ted Pease photo.
things on my birthday and Christmas wish lists were books. It was just innate.”
His first bookstore job was at a Brentano’s when he was 15 and, except for dishwashing and other transitional jobs, that’s all he’s ever wanted to do. “It’s super fun and everything is an education,” he said, but he laughed remembering customers and others who gush about how they’d love to run a bookstore.
“No, you wouldn’t,”’ he said. “Everybody says, ‘Oh, must be so great! You get to just read all day!’” he said. “That’s not even close to the reality. Working around books is pretty great, but it’s work.”
Dante says he’s “a very slow reader” who gravitates to fiction: “Neglected mid- to late-20th century classics. People you’ve never heard of.” He’s currently reading “The Penguin Book of Horror Stories,” a 1986 out-of-print “anthology of 33 classic and lesser-known supernatural tales from the last 180 years” by authors such as Henry James and Guy de Maupassant, and others “no one’s heard of,” he said. “It’s pretty incredible.”
Since the fire, the work continues, but it’s different. No more 18-hour days, and Dante, who says his last vacation was before the pandemic, cooks and bakes again (“I’d forgotten what kind of mess it makes.”) and there’s more time to walk with Toby the store dog.
Even while welcoming the forced “time off,” however, you can tell Dante is thinking about what comes next, what books to order, how to arrange the new space. “I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t really, really love it.”
In the meantime, “We’re still doing online orders,” he said. Two staff continue on the payroll working on website orders, “which have been coming in like you couldn’t believe.”
The Northtown Books Facebook page says, “We’re temporarily closed, but we’ll be back. in the meantime, order books online at northtownbooks.com. Or email us at info@northtownbooks.com.”
Ted Pease is editor of Senior News.
