How long have you been a member of Times Squares?
I started coming to club night in 2022. Everyone was wearing masks and there had not been a single class since Covid hit. Betsy and the club accommodated me and I was allowed to periodically dance for over a year before they scheduled the first Mainstream class in late 2023. I finally became a member in 2024.
Why did you join? Who convinced you?
William Carr and I became good friends in 2022 and it’s William who brought me to Time Squares. I joined because I like the members of the club so much. In general, I’m the same generation as many members which I find extremely enjoyable. They are welcoming (and accepting of countless mistakes I make dancing),
Where did you grow up? What brought you to New York City?
I grew up in Northern Canada. I moved to Los Angeles in 1979 (from Toronto where I went to university) to open the first A Different Light bookstore (LGBTQ+) in Silver Lake. I moved to NYC to open our second store on Hudson Street in the West Village in 1983. Subsequently, I opened a third store in San Francisco in 1986. Then we started expanded the size two of our stores. We moved the Silver Lake store to bigger space in West Hollywood in 1988. We moved from 600 square feet (Hudson Street) to 5000 square feet in Chelsea in 1993. For a decade we were the largest LGBTQ+ booksellers in the world. I sold the stores in 2000 and spent the next 20 years as the book manager for MoMA. It was a fitting end to my extraordinary career as a bookseller.
Talk about your interests in books and publishing.
My mom read to me every morning before school in the early years. (I specifically remember Pinocchio.) My bedroom had a large book case and it was always filled with interesting titles. Many were about Canadian history. When I was at university I visited Glad Day Bookshop in Toronto in 1975. Within days I was acting as their unpaid accountant. The store was originally in the hallway of a huge brownstone that functioned as a gay commune of sorts. I moved in soon thereafter and became intimately involved in the running of the store while I was studying. When I finished my studies, a customer suggested that we might open our own store in LA. The rest is history. Twenty-two years of serving the GLBTQ+ community in 3 cities 24/7. We prided ourselves on not practicing any censorship. We had over 300 events/year and functioned as a kind of social hub for the community as well as being a serious bookstore. During that period I was also on the Board of Directors of The American Bookselling Association.
What is something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?
When I was in high school, I was on an academic quiz show team that won the provincial championship in Ontario. Alex Trebek was the host!
Who inspires you?
My partner, Carlos inspires me to be a better man and partner.
What else do you enjoy beyond square dancing?
I have an extensive library of many thousands of (mostly illustrated) books. I also have over 2500 photographs that I’ve collected since 1983. The theme is largely LGBTQ in some way but there’s also a lot of ethnographic photos from Turkey, The Middle East, North Africa, India and Pakistan.
What is the best compliment you have ever been given?
When I meet someone new (who’s older than 50), it’s always amazing to hear that they know my stores and how much they meant to them.
What are you reading/watching?
I watch a lot of PBS and streaming services. For pleasure I read detective or spy novels. (John Le Carre and Andrea Camilleri (Montalbano series are two of my favorites.)
If you had a warning label, what would yours be?
I”m the jumpy type and I can be impatient.
