The History of Sisterhood
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Sisterhood
Bookstore Mission Statement • To thrive as an independent bookstore by offering the best service and the deepest, most diverse choice of books, sidelines, and services; • To promote gender and racial equality and fight homophobia in our selection of books and in all elements of the store environment, from the images on the walls, to the music we play, to the attitudes of the staff; • To demonstrate the diversity as well as the commonality of women’s experience by providing a wide range of multi-cultural, lesbian, and bi materials, as well as titles on every aspect of women’s lives and history; • To provide a center for the women’s community where women and men can gather, exchange information, and use our resources to move the community towards political action. |
The
Early History of Sisterhood In 1972, Sisterhood founders Adele Wallace, Simone Wallace, and Gahan Kelley were already veterans of the women’s liberation movement. Through their work with the L.A./Crenshaw Women’s Center, they were no strangers to consciousness-raising groups, demonstrations for equal pay and reproductive rights, or the dozens of meetings that seemed to be required to plan an event or put out a flyer by consensus. In the Crenshaw Center, Simone recalls, "there was a room where we gathered books and articles sent to us by women across the country. It was self-service; people put their quarters in a metal box and took an article by Valerie Solanas or Kate Millett.” This room became more and more crowded as feminist books and publications proliferated and, inspired by the news of the opening of feminist bookstores in other cities, the three friends decided to open a store in Los Angeles. With more political conviction than business acumen, they opened a tiny storefront on Westwood Boulevard just a few blocks south of their subsequent location, in November, 1972. “We opened the store and within two weeks it seemed like everyone in the women’s movement knew we were here and came to browse and shop.” They came to read the bulletin board, to check out the latest copies of feminist newspapers, and to snap up copies of Robin Morgan’s Sisterhood is Powerful, Simone DeBeauvoir’s The Second Sex, and the Boston Women’s Health Collective’s Our Bodies, Our Selves. While books were a vital part of their vision, the bookstore founders embraced the whole of the emerging women’s cultural production, stocking music and posters, buttons and t-shirts and craft items. In April of 1973, Sisterhood moved to its ultimate location at 1351 Westwood Boulevard. In addition, from 1976-1979, the store maintained a branch in the Woman’s Building downtown which often hosted gatherings of women writers as well as visual artists. When UCLA launched its Women’s Studies Department in the late 1970s, Sisterhood started selling textbooks for classes, an arrangement that continued through the '90s. Sisterhood founders were not planning to stay in business for a quarter century. Simone says they assumed “that the women’s movement would take off and that, after a short time there wouldn’t be a need for a separate women’s bookstore because 51% of the inventory of every bookstore would consist of books by and about women; 51% of the art sections would reflect books by women artists; and 51% of the literature would be women’s literature. It seemed so obvious.” In the twenty-five years that Sisterhood had been in operation, the quality and variety of their stock expanded enormously. On the shelves one could find women’s books on topics as diverse as travel, health, literary criticism, spirituality, science fiction, mystery, sports, poetry, lesbian literature, biography, and books for children. In 1981, the store doubled its space to accommodate the proliferation of new material. “It used to be,” Adele recalls, “that we would order any women’s title published. Now we have to pick and choose.” Sisterhood has also been a vital center for information and a place to experience the richness and diversity of the women’s community. The community resource room offered flyers and brochures about the latest classes, dances, political actions and cultural events. Staff frequently received calls for referral help in handling problems of rape, housing, and domestic violence. For travelers to Los Angeles, Sisterhood was often the first stop for information about this city’s activities and resources for women. Sisterhood Bookstore has also been the host of many readings and book signings. Hundreds of women writers and authors— from the internationally famous to the just-emerging—have been greeted by an enthusiastic public. Alice Walker, Lily Tomlin, Adrienne Rich, Angela Davis, Judy Chicago, and Betty Friedan are just a few who have made appearances. [See our complete list.]. More than a few authors who later went on to be published by mainstream houses received their first exposure at Sisterhood Bookstore, where their work was presented in readings, and where their small-press or self-published books were stocked. Such books would never appear on the shelves of chain bookstores, and for many emerging or marginalized writers, women’s bookstores like Sisterhood provide the only forum for reaching an audience. Women’s bookstores have also played a major role in the survival of feminist publishers. And by cultivating a community of book buyers (known as a “market” among corporate publishers), women’s bookstores have influenced mainstream publishers to publish new books for, by, and about women. With the rise of the mega-stores and the chains, which often choose sites in close proximity to long-established, independent booksellers, many women’s bookstores have faced serious financial threat, and a number of them have closed. Sisterhood Bookstore—run by two of its original founders, former sisters-in-law Adele Wallace and Simone Wallace—was one of the few remaining in Southern California. Unlike the superstores, which are motivated solely
by profit, Sisterhood remained committed to fostering the exchange
of feminist ideas and culture, to providing a safe and nurturing
environment, and to facilitating the struggle for equality and
justice. Since the early days, the women’s community has
grown in richness and diversity, and women’s cultural projects
have increased in ambition, inventiveness, and number. Sisterhood
helped to ensure that those creative works—books and CD’s,
magazines and posters—reached a broad and enthusiastic audience
where they, in turn, could stimulate further dialogue and inspire
new visions. From: Wolt, Irene, “Celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Sisterhood Bookstore …and the longevity of feminism and feminists in Los Angeles.” still here, ©1997
In Sept, 1973, Judy Chicago, the feminist artist, invited us to open a branch of Sisterhood at the new Woman’s Building she was co-founding with graphic designer Sheila de Brettville and art historian Arlene Raven . It was to be located on Grandview near MacArthur Park in central LA. Of course, we accepted. We were pleased to share that large rambling space with the ‘Womanspace’ Galleries, Los Angeles NOW, and the LA Women’s Switchboard. The visitors to that store were an intriguing cross-section of committed feminists, women artists, curious vagrants wandering in from the park, and local women office workers experiencing their first tremors of feminist consciousness during their lunch hour. In June, 1975 the building was taken over by new owners, a Korean Cultural Center. After much publicity and fund-raising a new Woman’s Building was opened in the fall of that year. It again included a branch of Sisterhood. The new location was on North Spring Street in a warehouse district north of Chinatown. The new building was even larger, but more isolated. However, we did have some wonderful events there, including a reading of her new autobiography by Angela Davis and one of the last public appearances by Anais Nin shortly before her death. We continued to run a branch at the Woman’s Building for a time, but the isolated location, which severely limited our day-to-day sales, could not be balanced out sufficiently by the occasional large events. Reluctantly, we were forced to close our doors, but continued to support the Woman’s Building until its own closing in 1991. From
Carol Seejay,
Feminist bookstores and feminist publishers were supported at their beginnings with volunteer labor, political passion, fundraising, and the belief that the information they could provide would radically change women’s lives. Many of these early bookstores and publishers closed because of the burnout or disillusionment that often accompanies this kind of organizing. Nevertheless, they helped to create and sustain a vision of feminist publishing and book distribution until financially enough books and magazines could be published and sold so that the stores could survive financially and make that vision a reality. Achieving financial viability has been a long process that faces new challenges today as national chain stores and multi-national corporations begin to dominate mainstream bookselling and publishing industries and to compete with even specialty stores such as feminist and other politically-based bookstores. From: Seajay, Carol, “Feminist Presses, Publications, and Bookstores.” Reader’s Companion to U.S. Women’s History. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, ©1998
Graphic by Alison Bechdel
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