John Chandler Death – On Tuesday, workers were seen cleaning up Bookman’s Corner, which is located at 2959 N. Clark St., in East Lakeview, on the southeast corner of the junction with Wellington Avenue. Two weeks after the owner of a beloved bookstore on the north lakefront passed suddenly, book lovers there are still in grief. At the age of 87, Chandler passed away on Tuesday, February 14. Two weeks after the owner of a beloved bookstore on the north lakefront passed suddenly, book lovers there are still in grief. Once owner John Chandler passed away, the workers said they had been paid to remove everything from the building. At the age of 87, Chandler passed away on Tuesday, February 14.
Since opening a booth at a Detroit flea market in 1975, Chandler has been selling books, according to a profile published in 14 East Magazine in December 2016. In 1979, he constructed a second store beneath the Southport Avenue Brown Line station, and in 1984, Bookman’s Corner debuted at its current Clark and Wellington location. When Bookman’s Corner at Clark and Wellington first opened, the Ivanhoe, one of Chicago’s top off-Loop theaters, was right around the corner in the castle that is now home to a Binny’s, and Deni’s Den, just down Clark Street, was bustling with people dancing to bouzouki music.
Chandler and Bookman’s Corner were still there, despite the area changing Den Deni’s was eventually replaced by a Buca di Beppo franchise, and the structure was later demolished. According to a sign in the window, the bookstore catered to readers with a taste for rare, medium, and well-done books. Reporter Noel Brennan spoke with Jack Stanley, a longtime patron of Bookman’s Corner, last week. Bookman’s Corner, John’s bookstore, Stanley said. It was ordered anarchy, so it was unlike any bookstore you had ever seen. Stanley looked through some books and stayed for Chandler and Stanley’s discussion. We grew much closer and just enjoyed one other’s company as the years passed, he stated. It was incredibly enjoyable.
Miles Thompson, a different regular client, stated that Bookman’s Corner was “probably my favorite bookstore in the world.” It’s where I get the majority of the books I own, Thompson remarked. I adored it because it was so reasonably priced. On any potential future intentions for the area, little was known Tuesday. On Tuesday, some neighbors were anxious to learn what would happen with the books. “My room is so little. Seeing all the volumes that had been emptied out, one woman exclaimed, “I don’t have a lot of space for books, but seeing this, like, I can make room!” The media also contacted Chandler’s family to inquire about what would become of all the books. No one has responded to us.
PC: cbsnews
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