30 years ago Bruce Taylor opened the San Francisco Mystery Bookstore in Noe Valley.

From the San Francisco Chronicle (Nov. 14, 2004): "Mystery Loves Company"

SFMB 30th Anniversary Party Photos

Hal Glatzer and Betty Winkelman (a.k.a. Lauren Haney)

Janet Dawson and Susan Holtzer

Diane Kudisch rings up purchases

Mystery fan Noemi Levine with authors Cara Black and Betty Winkelman

SFMB 30th Anniversary Memories...

From Lynne Murray:

CONGRATULATIONS! "Bruce's store" was the scene of many discoveries in mysteries for me. The one that first comes to mind is one Saturday in the 1980s when my husband and I walked into the store to find that Bruce and Sue Grafton were the only people there! Of course the Diamond Street incarnation of the store was so small that four people easily filled up the main floor!

Now, as "Diane's store," the store is still an irresistible flame to all of us mystery-loving moths.

My fondest memories are of all the books I've found there over the years that I didn't know existed until I explored the shelves and found them -- not only mysteries themselves, but books on writing mysteries, biographies of authors and even books I didn't know I wanted until I picked them up off the shelf and that I had to have them.

Some of us in the mystery community have become spoiled because we knew that Bruce, now Diane, and Gary, Toni, Lynn, Larry are like walking, talking encyclopedias of all things mysterious. We knew we could call up and ask about a certain sort of sleuth or style of mystery story past or present and they would know the answer.

I look forward to celebrating SF Mystery Books' 30th birthday on November 6th -- somehow it seems too appropriate that the store was born under Scorpio, the astrology sign most associated with secrets and assassins!

From Janet Dawson:

I remember visiting the San Francisco Mystery Book Store when it was in that tiny, tiny storefront on the corner of 24th and Diamond. Drawn there by a love of mysteries, I gradually became friends with the curmudgeonly owner, Bruce Taylor (not so curmudgeonly after all!) whom I also saw at meetings of the local chapter of Mystery Writers of America. At the store I discovered all sorts of authors.

I remember going to a signing by Sue Grafton, whom I'd met at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference about the time A is for Alibi came out. The books was C is for Corpse, and I was the only person there. At the store I met local authors like Bill Pronzini and Collin Wilcox.

When I won the St. Martin's Press/PWA contest for best first PI novel, Bruce was one of the first people I called. When Kindred Crimes came out in June 1990, I got a phone call from Toni letting me know that the store's shipment had just arrived, so my friend and I hopped in the car and drove from the East Bay to San Francisco so I could see all those copies of Kindred Crimes on the shelves. When Bruce moved to the bigger store my parents were here visiting so I dragooned them into helping. Mom emptied boxes and put books on shelves, and Dad went back and forth between the stores with boxes of books on a dolly.

Bruce and I share a love of Broadway musicals so when I'd come to the store he was always trying to stump me. One time he was playing a collection of songs and he was sure he'd get me, but when he started the CD track and I heard the first few notes I said, "that's 'Once in Love with Amy,' sung by Ray Bolger, from 'Where's Charley?'" "All right," he grumbled. "What year?"

From Bruce Taylor:

Thirty years? Really?

Sometime back during the Ford (remember him?) administration The San Francisco Mystery Bookstore opened its doors. Murder Ink was up and running in New York City and Scene of the Crime (now defunct) was in the Los Angeles area but that was about it for mystery bookstores. My then wife (Carol) and I each had "real jobs" and the bookstore was sort of a lark/look to the future. The original location was a tiny storefront on the corner of Diamond and 24th Streets and we were open every Friday and Saturday from noon until six. For the first three years our sales never varied: on Friday we did $50.00 and on Saturday we did $100.00. If Friday was $60.00 then Saturday was $90.00. Really.

After a while the local newspapers began to do features on the store and we got mentioned in Herb Caen (remember Him?) and sales started to build. The marriage broke up but the store survived and grew. I lost my day job and the store relocated to its current location (about ten years ago) and business got even better.

The emphasis changed gradually from second hand books to new books and I started to burn out. It happens. The business had been very good to me but it was time (to paraphrase JFK) to pass the torch to a new generation. Diane expressed interest in purchasing the business and we managed to arrange all that without a lawyer anywhere in the room. She has changed the profile of the business to suit herself and the new realities of retail bookselling in the 21st Century. I'm delighted that her checks haven't bounced and her business continues to do well.

A very special Thank You to Gary MacDonald (note the spelling), Toni Symons, Lynn Pond, and Larry Lynch. They worked long and hard and I couldn't have made it without them. If I tried to list all the customers I miss I would leave someone out and we both would feel bad. I simply say thank you to all the local customers -- then and now -- and as the Irish say... "May you be in heaven ten days before the devil knows you're dead."

From Diane Kudisch:

I was having a hard time deciding what to write until I received an email from a woman who asked for my advice about buying a bookstore. Something clicked and this was my response:

If you don't have a passion for the adventure upon which you are embarking, forget it because you will most likely fail. When you own a business, any business, you will eat, drink and sleep that business. Even if I'm lying on a beach in Maui, riding the underground in London, or munching popcorn at the theatre, I'm thinking to myself "Did I forget an upcoming signing"? "What bills did I not pay this week"?, "Did we do well today"?

The list goes on and on. If you don't have a passion for opening a bookstore, or a restaurant or any other type of small business, you will get burned out, frustrated, discouraged. Don't get me wrong, I would never trade what I do for anything else, I love it, but I know that were I not passionate about this store and my love of books and reading, I would probably not be here anymore. A year or so after I bought the store I wrote about what I had learned in the past 12 months. 3+ years later I have learned so much more but the most important thing I learned was to cherish what I do and relax.

That's it for advice, which maybe you didn't even need. What I really want to say is thank you to all of our customers, current and future, as well as all of the authors who make this adventure of mine so sweet. Who woulda thought that April Fool's Day could turn out to be such a fantastic thing! I want to thank the Noe Valley neighorhood as well. This is a terrific neighborhood in which to do business and the fellow merchants and residents can't be beat. Most of all I want to thank Gary MacDonald who has been here through thick and thin, who knows more about mysteries that anyone else could possibly know, (save Mr. Holmes), and has also introduced me to the delight of Funions, beef jerky, and Baconettes.

Any business makes some mistakes, and we have made our share. BUT, we survived the dot.com bust and the recession that followed. The store has survived 6 mayors, 6 presidents (hopefully 7), and an earthquake and it keeps going -- and going. This is a once in a lifetime experience, and owning this bookstore was a dream come true for me and I love it as much today as I did on April 1, 2001.

© 2002-04 by the San Francisco Mystery Bookstore.

San Francisco Mystery Bookstore
4175 24th Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
415-282-7444 (SF) - 877-332-8979 (toll-free)
diane@sfmysterybooks.com