Before there was an LGBTQ community center, Pride parades, or what is now known as the “Gayborhood” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there was Giovanni’s Room—a gay and lesbian, feminist bookstore.

“When the store was founded in 1973 there might have been a dozen gay and lesbian books on the market… not written by gay people,” said former co-owner, Arleen Olshan.

In many ways, the story of Giovanni’s Room is also the history of a community coming into awareness and power. The store and its clientele has weathered Anita Bryant, homophobic attacks and the HIV AIDS crisis. It wrestled with separatist movements, anti-porn movements and collective structures. It witnessed and spearheaded the explosion of independent publishing.

After forty years in operation, Giovanni’s Room faces a change in ownership and may close within months. On December 22, 2013, the Social Movements Oral History Tour—a network of oral historians, independent producers and activists—interviewed former volunteers, longtime lovers, patrons and admirers of the bookstore.

W. Stephen Breedlove

Puck Lo's stories and oral history interviews by the Social Movements Oral History Tour 

W. Stephen Breedlove

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