Westporters of a certain age remember the Remarkable Book Shop.
The pink building at the Main Street/Parker Harding Plaza corner was as funky inside as it was colorful outside.
For over 30 years — from 1963 to 1995 — owner Esther Kramer and her band of bright, devoted and eclectic employees made the bookstore a home away from home for anyone looking for anything to read.
If they didn’t have what you needed, Esther and her crew found it for you.
And if you didn’t know what you wanted, they did.
A classic photo of a classic store.
Roaming the crooked aisles of “Remarkable” — and sitting in one of the over-stuffed chairs — was like wandering down a rabbit hole.
Now — nearly 30 years after it closed — there’s another Remarkable Book Shop rabbit hole to explore.
It’s there for everyone: those who remember the store fondly. Those who moved here too late, and know it only as Talbots (or more recently, Westport Local to Market). Even those too young to know what an independent bookstore is.
This Remarkable Book Shop rabbit hole is accessible to anyone with a browser. It’s a website that’s both a historical archive, and a labor of love.
Fittingly, it’s the product of a collaboration between the owner’s son, and a woman who never set foot in the place.
Mark Kramer is a writer (National Geographic, New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic), founding director of the Nieman program on narrative journalism at Harvard University, and a writing instructor at Smith College, Boston University and abroad.
Mark Kramer and his mother Esther. He inherited his love of writing from both parents.
Maya Reisz is a neighbor of Mark’s in Newton, Massachusetts. A professional organizer, she helped him sort through thousands of photos, letters and news clippings belonging to Esther and her husband Sidney Kramer, an attorney, literary agent and co-founder of Bantam Books, who died in 2014, a month before his 100th birthday.
For years, Mark had been impressed at the impact his mother’s store made.
“Every time ‘06880’ mentioned the Remarkable Book Shop, dozens of people commented affectionately,” he says.
“I’ve come to realize it represented human connection, in a world where connections have become more and more distant.
“She had a vibrant spirit. She was vivacious and effervescent,” he says. “And she created something that was like public art.”
As he and Maya sorted through stacks of photos and news clippings, she too grasped what Esther had done.
“I’m a storyteller,” Maya says. “I saw we had enough substance to tell that story, and bring back memories.”
She has the technical skills to make it happen. For the past few months, she and Mark worked to bring the “Remembering the Remarkable Bookshop” website to life.
Together, they created a — well, I tried for a synonym. but there is none better — remarkable online archive.
There’s the back story (of course), plus photos, news clippings and artwork.
The painter of this downtown holiday scene is unknown.
But the fun comes — as it did in the store — by burrowing deep.
At the end of each “chapter” — “Esther Through Time,” shelves stocked with more than books, author signings, customers — there’s a link to the next.
Throughout the site, visitors can leave comments (and memories).
The Remarkable Book Shop hosted many noted authors for readings. Pictured here: Erica Jong.
The project was as important to Maya as it was to Mark. As she worked, she felt she got to know Esther and Sidney. She grew nostalgic for a place she never knew. She felt the responsibility — and pride — of producing something that will mean a lot, to a lot of people.
Esther and Sidney Kramer, on TV.
Including those who, like Maya, never set foot inside the Remarkable Book Shop.
And not just new Westporters.
While Mark was teaching recently in Bergen, Norway, the owner of a bookstore asked him where he shopped at home. He told her about his mother’s place — and the website. She said, “I want to see it!”
The Remarkable Book Shop is gone. It lives on now, happily, as a website.
But there are still physical reminders of the legendary store around town. Jane Green’s Bookcycle — a mobile free library — is painted pink, and proudly sports “The Remarkable Man” (the Edward Gorey-inspired dancing figure that hung for years on the front of the store).
The store — and the Remarkable Man.
That’s not the only place to see the famed mascot. The actual, real live (okay, wooden) Remarkable Man now lives inside Cold Fusion. He gazes happily from his new home, at his old one.
Which gave Mark another idea: How about a gathering — at Cold Fusion — for everyone who remembers the Remarkable Book Shop? Friends and former employees could have a very cool time.
Or who goes down its website rabbit hole, and wishes they did?
What a remarkable event that would be!
(Click here to enter the Remarkable Book Shop website. Happy “browsing”!)
(“06880” is your source for remarkable Westport history. Please click here to support this hyper-local blog.)
The Remarkable Bookcycle (and the Remarkable Man), outside the former book shop last year.
The “unknown” illustration looks a little Richard Scarry -esque… Could that be?
Great job by Mark and Maya! I do have several pics that I will send to them.
A quick question for Mark: did it open in 1962 or 1963? Thanks.
This is fabulous!! I always found something I wasn’t looking for! At one time I bought a light-weight wide wicker basket that I use for passing around popcorn.
What a wonderful legacy! How amazing that the radiance of a bookstore could live on in our town’s collective memory (and website!) — ♥️.
What an incredible gift to us all. Thank you so much!
We have a painting by Tony Marino, who was my Little League coach, of The Remarkable Book Shop hanging in our home. It is one of my favorites because it is quintessential Westport from my youth and … I mean … who knew coach was painter!
Hello Dan,
What fun! We would love to see this painting. Could you take a photo and email it to us at RemarkableBookshop@gmail.com?
The closing of The Remarkable was the turning point as e-commerce and chains began to proliferate. It was the closing chapter of the Westport of the 20th century.
I remember living in Hollywood Florida and seeing on tv that the Remarkable was closing. It was such a big deal, it made the national news!
I moved back up north in 1994, so it must have closed before that…?
Could the unknown painter be Al Wilmot?
Remark is Kramer spelled backwards.
The painting looks similar to a Kathy Jakobsen – artist from here in CT.
The Remarkable Book Store and Kleins were the Crown Jewels in the best downtown, in the best suburban town at the height of its glory. No other town came close or has since.
Neither has Westport.
That’s right. All things must pass.
Love that busy painting and I think the unknown artist was Tom Funk.
Onre of the unidentified photos is of me and Esther Kramer – the other is of her with my father, Hollywood producer Armand Deutsch, author of BOGIE AND ME. I asked Esther if she’d hold a book signing for him since he was in his ’80s when he wrote his first book. At first she was reluctant since he was an ‘unknown’ author, but I assured her I’d assume all the expenses and promised a creditable crowd. As it turned out, according to her, he sold/signed more books that one day than any other author they’d ever hosted a party for! He said it was one of the happiest days of his life.
The ‘unknown illustrator” is Kathy Jakobsen. A local artist who visited Coleytown El many times.
remember the remarkable cat?!!!
Well done!
I loved the Remarkable Book Store… Esther and Sidney were Westporters nonpareil… generous, inventive, dedicated… and the website delivers so much rich nostalgia… but are so many click through ads necessary? They seem incongruous given who and what is being memorialized.
Hi Werner, Thanks you for this feedback. We also did not like the ads and have upgraded the account. https://remarkablebookshop.wordpress.com/ is now ad free!
Good decision… great memories, great presentation.
I remember the big cat named Heathcliff
I remember its creaky white floor and a pleasant musky aroma. Good ol’ day!
The painting is magical and captures the spirit I remember of Christmas shopping in Westport. The shopping always included several trips into Remarkable. Love the painting!