Eastwind Books of Berkeley — a small-but-mighty downtown bookshop that’s served as library, salon, stage and publisher for generations of Asian American writers, activists and academics — will close its doors on April 31 after more than four decades in business.
It will continue to sell some books online, and its sister nonprofit, Eastwind Books Multicultural Organization, will still host events and publish books.
Closing the 2066 University Ave. bookshop wasn’t an easy decision for Harvey and Beatrice Dong, prominent activists who were on the frontlines of many 1960s and ’70s civil rights battles, including the fight to save the International Hotel, before transforming a niche Chinese-language bookstore they bought in the mid-1990s into a national hotspot for Asian American literature and studies.
Now in their 70s, they said the workload required to keep the store running as they approach retirement age has become too much and they want to spend more time caring for their aging parents. Plus, the business side has been difficult since the rise of Amazon, and things have gotten even harder since the pandemic. A $140 monthly rent increase last summer, combined with an expensive bill their landlord gave them at the end of the year for utilities and maintenance, including repairs for a roof leak, led the Dongs to call it quits. Harvey said he would have loved to pass the store on to someone else, but time was running out and he hadn’t found any buyers. Eastwind’s property owner, Raj Properties, did not respond to a request for comment.
The closure of Eastwind represents the end of a chapter, not just in Harvey and Beatrice’s lives, but for the many Asian American writers who found inspiration in or gave…
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