room in february 2014 giovanni s room bookstore has been called the oldest gay bookstore in america and the center of gay philly . 1 founded in 1973 in philadelphia giovanni s room bookstore is named after james baldwin s gay themed novel giovanni s room . in april 2014 the store s owner of 38 years ed hermance announced his retirement plans which included selling both the business and its two buildings . 2 the store closed on may 17 2014 . 1 a renter was found philly aids thrift and the bookstore still named giovanni s room reopened the end of fall 2014 . 3 4 contents 1 location 2 history 3 references 4 external links location edit giovanni s room bookstore was long located on the corner of 12th and pine street in philadelphia s gayborhood . the main building was built in 1820 . the store was originally located in south street and changed locations often in its first few years . 1 history edit tom wilson weinberg dan sherbo and bern boylethe opened giovanni s room in 1973 on the 200 block of south street . the store was closed shortly after due to a homophobic landlord . hermance and arleen oshan paid 500 for the business in 1976 . the store then moved to 1426 spruce street but was eventually forced to close by the landlord . it was able to gather support from the gay and lesbian community and eventually moved to its last location on 12th and pine . 1 market forces including the rise of amazon.com hit gay bookstores especially hard . sales began to decline about 1992 and the store eventually became unprofitable . 1 the pennsylvania historical and museum commission unveiled a marker on sunday october 15 2011 to commemorate the location of giovanni s room as it is the country s first lgbt bookstore . 5 6 references edit a b c d e gillespie tyler . the last day at giovanni s room america s oldest gay bookstore . rolling stone . retrieved 26 june 2014 . thomas angela . giovanni s room to close next month . phila gay news . retrieved 28 april 2014 . http www.outtraveler.com destination guide philadelphia 2014 07 25 nations oldest lgbt bookstore rescued closing http abcnews.go.com us wirestory oldest us gay bookstore reopen philadelphia 25119146 schechner karen . giovanni s room honored with historical marker . american booksellers association . retrieved 28 april 2014 . william penn s legacy phmc 2010 2011 annual report pdf . pennsylvania historical and museum commission . retrieved 26 june 2014 . external links edit official website barned smith st. john 28 july 2009 . lgbt bookstore in peril giovanni s room needs 50g for renovations . philly.com . retrieved 24 february 2012 . v t e lgbt culture in philadelphia establishments catacombs nightclub philadelphia giovanni s room bookstore events annual reminder 1965 1969 outfest philadelphia philadelphia qfest history annual reminder 1965 1969 organizations delaware valley legacy fund janus society mazzoni center philadelphia gay men s chorus william way lgbt community center publications drum philadelphia gay news related spruce street singers washington square west coordinates 39 56 43 n 75 09 40 w 39.9452 n 75.1612 w 39.9452 ; 75.1612 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title giovanni % 27s room bookstore & oldid 743597392 categories lgbt culture in philadelphiacompanies based in philadelphiaindependent bookstores of the united stateslgbt bookstoresretail companies established in 1973hidden categories coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages espa ol edit links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 09 58 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view