Leave the Strand Alone! New at Reason

For book lovers, the Strand near Manhattan’s Union Square is a more treasured landmark than the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty. The hallowed haunt was opened in 1927 by Lithuanian immigrant Benjamin Bass, who initially filled its shelves with his personal collection of titles. While the store can’t match the convenience of Amazon, its patrons are invited to spend hours browsing in its narrow passageways. “Eighteen miles of books” (as the tote bags say) are stuffed into towering cases and every flat surface across four floors.

Already a cultural landmark, the Strand is now asking the city not to declare it one officially. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has proposed making it a protected building—but as store owner Nancy Bass Wyden, wife of Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, tells Reason‘s Nick Gillespie and Jim Epstein, the Strand has outlived its competitors by remaining “commercially nimble.” Regulating the building to preserve it, Wyden explains, could end up destroying the cherished business inside.

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