Book Marks: This Ain’t the Rosedale Library

(Words and photos by Elizabeth Mitchell)

Many who wander into This Ain’t the Rosedale Library in Kensington Market might think they’ve stumbled upon a new find, but they’d be wrong. Although the bookstore has only been in the Market since May 2008, it has a storied history and is a vital part of the city’s hipper cultural heritage. Owner Charlie Huisken fist opened This Ain’t in 1979 on Queen Street East after a stint at Yorkville’s famed Book Cellar—where he’d put together curious dual author signing/mash-ups such as Paul Quarrington and Kathy Acker—left him frustrated at his inability to really support local authors. Even then Charlie had his ear to the alternative scene, hanging with and learning loads from both Victor Coleman, an original Coach House Books editor, and Tom Hodgson, founding member of the pioneering Canadian abstract group Painters Eleven. Charlie knew there was an audience not only for local writers but local writers and artists who clicked with a broader scene well outside the city’s boundaries.

“Victor and Tom were very much mentors and I learned a lot from them,” Charlie explains. “Tom taught me about creative knowledge, that it’s accumulative and comes from many sources.” With this in mind, Charlie built his book store, adding his own key ingredient: listening. “Right from the get go,” he says “I’ve listened to my clientele.”

In 1981 his longtime pal and fellow American Dan Baziun moved up to become a business partner and together they moved the store to its Church Street location in 1986, where it stayed for over 20 years. On Church, This Ain’t earned a name for itself as a community bookstore that blew the notion of general interest out of the water. Where else could you find an impressive variety of small press publications, graphic novels, counter culture, gay, lesbian, and children’s fictions alongside one of the largest collections of Canadian poetry?

“Being an auto-didact has served me well,” adds Charlie. Indeed, it has. Famed book readings soon followed and Charlie found himself in the company of many notorious and soon-to-be-notorious writers—from William S. Burroughs to late local poet Daniel Jones. There’s a popular postcard of Hunter S. Thompson standing outside the Church Street location not only looking right at home but pretty much summing up This Ain’t mid-life reputation as the place where the underground flirts with mainstream pop culture.

The original spirit of the store continues at the new Kensington store. Charlie now runs the business with his son Jesse, who’s also a junior partner (Bazuin, now Partner Emeritus, still minds the book table at various literary evenings and events around the city.) The store’s physical space is inviting and easy to navigate, with one half dedicated to art-related books and the other to fiction and general interest. There’s also an impressive selection of magazines that continues the theme of the local rubbing shoulders with the international. On nice days, carts laden with samplings from the store’s shelves are wheeled outside to the patio the bookstore shares with i deal coffee and inside the main space shelving units are on wheels for easy arranging to accommodate the active and not-so-traditional readings schedule.

“The public needs to be encouraged to take their time and really get to know what’s available, away from Amazon.com,” Charlie says. He wants customers to come in and take their time, to get to know what’s on his bookshelves and, if and when they do make a purchase, he’ll no doubt talk to them about it. “I want them to come back,” he continues, “to tell me what they thought about what they bought, even if they didn’t like it.”

(This Ain’t the Rosedale Library is located at 86 Nassau Street in Kensington Market. Hours are Monday – Wednesday 11 – 8, Thursday – Saturday 10 – 10 and Sundays 10 – 6.)