founded 1975 founder glenn goldman headquarters west hollywood california products books website www.booksoup.com book soup is an independent bookstore located at 8818 sunset boulevard in west hollywood california and is the largest general interest independent bookstore in hollywood . 1 the store is known for its tall teetering stacks and mazes of shelves crammed with titles that attracted entertainment and tourist industry clientele ... 2 3 popular with many in the entertainment industry 1 4 the store continues to hosts events featuring a variety of celebrity authors who have so far included muhammad ali howard stern annie leibovitz chuck palahniuk jenna jameson and the doors . 5 considered a cultural fixture of the sunset strip 1 book soup has also been featured as a location in a number of films and television shows . 3 the store was founded in 1975 by glenn goldman . 4 6 goldman and david mackler both in graduate school at ucla at the time raised 50 000 and after doing extensive research on where to locate their store opened book soup on sunset boulevard . 3 the rationale for the location as goldman explained was that there had been a period of upheaval here in the 60s of thought and ideas and i felt that the people who lived in the neighborhood would and could really support a bookstore . 3 book soup the name was the least offensive of those proposed by goldman and mackler was nestled between a head shop and strip club . 3 mackler designed the store s interior . 3 the store and its staff of two which included goldman struggled for two decades to run a profit . 2 6 it nearly closed early in its existence but a publisher s representative helped the store re establish its credit line and saved the business . 1 in 1985 book soup again nearly closed but another publisher s representative loaned it the money to stay afloat . 1 book soup added a storefront newsstand news mews and began selling thousands of domestic and international periodicals and newspapers . 1 in the late 1980s book soup moved two blocks further down sunset boulevard to its current more spacious location 3 6 and expanded to 50 000 titles . it also began earning a reputation for art photography film and music books as well as for hosting high profile events featuring authors and celebrities such as gore vidal james ellroy mikal gilmore edward albee robert wagner and tom stoppard . 2 a second book soup store at south coast plaza in costa mesa california opened in 2002 but closed in 2007 due to high rent and the impact of competition from amazon.com and large discount chain stores such as wal mart and target . 2 7 goldman announced he was selling book soup on january 2 2009 then died of pancreatic cancer on january 3 2009 . 2 vroman s bookstore and book soup signed an agreement october 9 2009 to purchase book soup . 8 contents 1 publicity stunts 2 in popular culture 3 notes 4 external links publicity stunts edit book soup hosts author readings on an almost daily basis . the store is well known for its many publicity stunts some staged by authors and some staged by the store to attract customers . among the more notorious are for a book reading by paris hilton hilton s publicist hired protesters to picket the store with signs saying read a book don t write one . 5 after margaret thatcher banned peter wright s nonfiction expos spy catcher book soup ran an ad in private eye magazine which declared banned in britain . available in america . the store sold 3 000 copies of the book in the next three weeks . 1 when a fatwa was issued condemning salman rushdie s the satanic verses goldman wrote a ransom note to the los angeles times declaring that freedom of speech was being held hostage . rupert murdoch wrote goldman a letter praising his ransom note . 1 when the national organization for women now strongly criticized bret easton ellis s 1991 novel american psycho for glamorizing and condoning rape book soup put fliers into its copies of the novel blasting now for drawing attention to the book and disclaiming any approval of the novel s content . the store sold 18 copies of the book in 24 hours . 9 in popular culture edit during her one woman show letting go of god julia sweeney states that she bought karen armstrong s a history of god at book soup . notes edit a b c d e f g h bookselling news . publishers weekly . october 23 2000 . publishersweekly.com . retrieved 2013 12 04 . a b c d e louis sahagun january 4 2009 2009 01 04 . sahagun louis . glenn goldman owner of book soup dies at 58 . los angeles times . january 4 2009 . latimes.com . retrieved 2013 12 04 . a b c d e f g george lynell . poets transvestites and a pile of books . los angeles times . september 15 2000 . articles.latimes.com . 2000 09 15 . retrieved 2013 12 04 . a b werris wendy . tyson cornell helps keep things hot for book soup . publishers weekly . may 19 2008 . publishersweekly.com . retrieved 2013 12 04 . a b alimurung gendy . the host and his prot g e. la weekly . may 16 2007 . a b c aaron lathampublished august 02 1992 1992 08 02 . latham aaron . l.a. a script for book buying . new york times . august 2 1992 . new york times . retrieved 2013 12 04 . belgum deborah . nesting business draws book soup to orange county . los angeles business journal . june 3 2002 . kellog carolyn . vroman s and book soup sitting in a tree . los angeles times . october 9 2009 . eberly rosa a. citizen critics literary public spheres . urbana ill . university of illinois press 2000 . isbn 0 252 06867 x external links edit book soup web site coordinates 34 05 26 n 118 23 02 w 34.0905 n 118.3838 w 34.0905 ; 118.3838 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title book soup & oldid 693267559 categories bookstores in californiaindependent bookstores of the united statesbuildings and structures in los angeles county californiacompanies based in los angeles county californiaretail buildings in californiasunset boulevard los angeles west hollywood californiavisitor 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