Shock, grief mark Kepler's closing Shock, grief mark Kepler's closing (September 07, 2005)

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

"No!" ... "Dreadful!" ... "Sad." ... "It's like a death in the family." These random remarks from a dozen or so people attending a party at The Sequoias retirement complex in Portola Valley just hint at the shock of learning that the Peninsula's favorite bookstore had abruptly locked it doors that morning.

"I feel a sense of bereavement, as if a member of my family had died," said Ulele Hamway, a school and civic leader in Atherton for many years. "I used to go there when I felt low."

This sense of personal loss pervaded the comments of people who felt the bookstore was at the heart of cultural life in Menlo Park -- and indeed the whole Midpeninsula.

"This is a grievous event," said Robert Lauriden of Menlo Park, who was taking pictures of the locked door with his cell phone the evening of the day Kepler's closed. "I can't think when there's been a more desolate moment in Menlo Park."

Mr. Lauriden, a high-tech executive with a passion for independent bookstores who has been coming to Kepler's since 1974, remembers the store at a previous location with two cats in the window, oiled wooden floors, and books that sometimes stayed on the shelves for five years.

He said he had been coming to the store some 70 times a year, and bought 100 to 200 books a year.

"I come in not knowing what I want, and browse, and come out with eight books," he said, his voice breaking. "I feel basically that the soul of the city has been lost."

Two local authors who have participated in Kepler's popular author events were also distraught over the loss of the community bookstore.

"Menlo Park has just lost one of its best establishments, and no matter what fills the space, it won't be nearly as good," said Barry Eisler, author of a quartet of thrillers based on the character of John Rain, including "Rain Fall." "I've done the kickoff signing for all four of my books there, and seeing posters of me in the store windows always feels like a dream come true."

A fan of the store since moving to Menlo Park 11 years ago, Mr. Eisler added, "As big a blow as this is to all Bay Area book lovers, it's worse for Clark and the Kepler's employees, and my heart goes out to them all."

Jeanne DuPrau, author of the acclaimed "The City of Ember" for younger readers, said she was devastated by the news. "How can high rents rob us of our treasure of a bookstore? This just can't be right," she said in an e-mail to the Almanac.

Ms. DuPrau urged the community to take action to keep the store. "How much would it take to keep Kepler's paying that high rent? I would happily pay a 'Kepler's tax' to help, and I'll bet several thousand others would too. Say $5 a month from a few thousand people? Would that do it?

"Something has to."

Kepler's veterans Ralph and Irene Kohn of Menlo Park also wonder if people can't do something to rescue the store. There's a lot of money around here, Ms. Kohn said. "It could be a nonprofit."

"This is a Menlo Park catastrophe," said Mr. Kohn, a friend of Roy Kepler's who managed the store from 1972 to 1983 and worked there until retiring in 1997. "Menlo Park is Kepler's and Kepler's is Menlo Park."
David Boyce and Renee Batti contributed to this report.

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