{"id":308670,"date":"2026-10-17T10:58:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T10:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/308670\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T10:58:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T10:58:06","slug":"wooden-shoe-books-celebrates-50-years-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/308670\/","title":{"rendered":"Wooden Shoe Books celebrates 50 years in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

An anarchist bookstore run entirely by volunteers might seem an unlikely candidate for longevity. But Philadelphia\u2019s Wooden Shoe Books has survived for half a century on South Street.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m amazed we still exist,\u201d said Carl Craft, one of the store\u2019s founders. \u201cReally, it\u2019s a mystery to me.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The bookstore is marking its 50th anniversary Saturday with a black-flag block party to celebrate the history of radical literature and activism in Philly. Attendees can hear local musicians, listen to poetry, get their hands on free and heavily discounted books, and exchange goods at \u201cswap spaces\u201d on South Street\u2019s 700 block.\n <\/p>\n

Visitors can also browse a miniature museum chronicling the history of left-wing organizing in the city, in which the bookstore plays an enduring role.\n<\/p>\n

How has the store survived for 50 years?\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, the finances are a huge part of it,\u201d Craft said, chuckling.\n<\/p>\n

Wooden Shoe operates on volunteer labor, which has not been free from challenges, he said. But Craft credits its longevity to something less tangible.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, it\u2019s people; it\u2019s the power of an ideology,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got all different levels of participation, but operating with volunteers is a sort of self-selection,\u201d Craft said. \u201cThe people in here are people who really care.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

A Philly fixture<\/p>\n

Aside from selling books, Wooden Shoe has served as a meeting point for groups across Philly\u2019s left-wing political communities since its inception in 1976.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mission statement is pretty soft. We did that for a reason. Everyone on the left is welcome here, not just anarchists,\u201d Craft said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve worked with [Democratic Socialists of America]. We hold deescalation trainings. We have poetry readings. Anything left or anti-fascist \u2014 or fun \u2014 we\u2019ve probably had it here at some point.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Its October calendar includes a lock-picking <\/a>event, a letter-writing <\/a>effort for incarcerated LGBTQ+ people and a music and poetry fundraiser<\/a> for a woman in Gaza who recently gave birth.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great space to get introduced to other spaces,\u201d said Sara Frunzi, a Drexel robotics graduate student and regular volunteer at Wooden Shoe.\n <\/p>\n