Dharma Bum Books, named after the novel The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac, is currently taking shape at a storefront at 45 West Broad Street in Hopewell [NJ]. The store will carry works by Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, and other literary giants of the Beat Generation. Gombar sees the shop not as a money-maker, but rather as an antidote to big-box stores and a refuge for people who share his nostalgia for an era gone by and his love for the printed word.
Click here for more details. The store will open officially in September.
Alas, there goes one name I was considering for the bookstore I'm going to open some day. Damn.
I wonder if Mr. Gombar got permission from the appropriate source(s) (Penguin? The Kerouac estate?). Not trying to cause trouble, but I know what would happen if I opened a business with a Kerouac novel's title in its name. Sue city, and we're not talking Iowa.
Book titles can't be copyrighted. Titles of series of books, can be copyrighted, but not those of single titles. So there's no need to get permission from anyone to use one as a business name or even for another book.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the Dharma Bums Books name is great!
My own business takes its name from the title of a Ginsberg poetry collection, "Empty Mirror." (Although it is also a Buddhist term, so is nowhere near as specific as "Dharma Bums".)
Love your website! Thanks for all the great posts!
cheers ~
Denise