It's no secret that I love independent bookstores. I am down in Los Angeles and yesterday dropped into the new Diesel Bookstore in Brentwood, even though I had spent the previous two days surrounded by authors and books at the LA Times Festival of Books. Still, I wanted to see what they had and what caught my interest. I almost never pass up a chance to browse in an independent bookstore.
That is why I am so pleased to report that the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association has named Towers of Gold a Best Book of 2009. It won in the regional category against some amazing books, including Philip Fradkin's well-regarded biography of Wallace Stegner. (To the left is a poster of the award winners. T of G is in the middle on the right.)
The people who voted for Towers of Gold are the booksellers who are on the front lines, showcasing new authors and literary writers while fending of the threat from Amazon and other on-line sellers.
My book, a biography of Isaias Hellman, a banker and my great great grandfather, is not an obvious "must buy." While Hellman was nationally-known in his lifetime, he is virtually forgotten today. So when people browse the non-fiction section, they might not take notice of a book about a man of whom they have never heard.
Yet booksellers in the extended Bay Area have been very generous with Towers of Gold, and have recommended it to their customers. It spent a few weeks on the NCIBA bestseller list and is still displayed in many bookstores.
This is the beauty of independents: their owners and clerks are knowledgeable about books and have opinions. I owe much of the success of Towers of Gold to them. Thank you.
1)That my cousin Warren Hellman and I will be on Michael Krasny’s Forum on KQED on Tuesday Dec. 23 at 10 a.m. Listen in to hear an original song on Isaias Hellman performed by Warren and his band, the Wronglers. I have listened to Krasny’s show for years and have always dreamed of being on it.
2)For all the people who came to my readings – it was great to see so many friends and to meet so many new people.
3)For all the relatives I have met through the publication of this book
4)For getting the chance, via radio, to talk to people in Montana, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Los Angeles, and elsewhere
7)That Towers of Gold made the Marin Independent Journal bestseller list for two consecutive weeks. That really means that one of my favorite bookstores, Book Passage, is selling a lot of copies
8)That Towers of Gold has sold so well it is going into its second printing
9)That after 8 years of working on this book, it is out in the world.
10)That Isaias Hellman’s contribution to the creation of California will now be noted
In my book on my great-great grandfather, Isaias Hellman, I go on and on (and some say on) about his prescience in backing business partners who would go on to do great things for California. For example, Hellman formed partnerships with the founders of Lehman Brothers, with Harrison Gray Otis, who bought the LA Times, and with the men who jump-started California's oil industry.
A number of these businesses have failed or are about to fail in the wake of our country's economic collapse. This is causing a number of financial wizards to scour Towers of Gold to see the next business to collapse so they can do some short selling. (or so says my brother, Steven Dinkelspiel in this scathing critique)
Here's the news:
Associated Press....December 8, 2008...With the announcement today of bankruptcy filings for the Tribune Company, the media conglomerate purchased just twelve months ago by Chicago real estate tycoon Sam Zell for a then-record $8.2 billion dollars, investors on Wall Street have turned their attention to a recently published book about the early days of California’s financial history. “Towers of Gold”, author Frances Dinkelspiel’s first book, is an examination of the life of Isaias W. Hellman, the author’s ancestor who was one of California’s first bankers. Dinkelspiel describes Hellman as having a kind of “Midas touch”, with many of his financial involvements leading to success for some of California’s most storied businesses, including Wells Fargo Bank (WFC) and the oil fields of Southern California. But what strikes interested parties on Wall Street has not so much been the engaging story of Hellman’s triumphs, but rather how – since the book’s publication - the author’s choices of examples for these triumphs have proved to be a kind of dell knell for the cited businesses.
“When the book came out just after Lehman Brothers went under, we felt sorry for the author about the timing of it all.” said Robert Zemakism President of St. Martin’s Press, the publisher of “Towers of Gold.” “Dinkelspiel had trumpeted the association between Hellman and Meyer Lehman (who were brothers-in-law). However, by the time the book was available to readers, this relationship had a different historical context with the disappearance of Lehman Brothers from the roster of Wall Street investment banks. ”
It seemed nothing more than a quirk of circumstance when the law firm of Heller Ehrman – a century old San Francisco institution which had been founded by Hellman’s sons-in-law – abruptly announced its closure just days before “Towers of Gold” hit bookstores. And few attributed the plummeting price of crude oil to Dinkelspiel’s praise of Hellman’s involvement in that industry.
But with today’s announcement that the Tribune Company – the parent company of the Los Angeles Times - has filed for bankruptcy, investors are turning to “Towers of Gold” for more than an insight into the practices and personalities of California’s early experience in the banking industry. They are looking for hints about the next institution that may fail without notice. “It is uncanny how Dinkelspiel has managed to identify early those companies that are suffering the most in our current economy,” said Thomas Steyer, Managing Partner of Farrallon Capital, a hedge fund known for its risky and successful bets on companies headed for bankruptcy. “The book talked about how prescient Hellman was to lend money to Harrison Gray Otis, the founder of the Times, and less than thirty days after publication they file for bankruptcy. I plan to scour Dinkelspiel’s book for more ideas about investments that are sure to go south.”
In recent days, the impact of “Towers of Gold” has been felt throughout California. An unprecedented rash of foreclosures of Tahoe shoreline real estate has proved inexplicable and the announcement from the City of Seal Beach, California that it only has funds on hand to last through the end of the year has stunned local residents. In another ironic twist, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival founded by Hellman’s great-grandson (and Dinkelspiel cousin) F. Warren Hellman announced that due to financial difficulties it was changing its name to “Occasionally, Sort of Bluegrass” and moving to an all-synthesized musical format. “I am going to kill my cousin,” announced Warren Hellman. “You can take my money, but don’t mess with my music,” he implored.
I just spent five days in Los Angeles and will be home for just 24 hours before leaving for New Jersey and New York.
I flew into the BurbankAirport around 9:30 on Thursday Nov. 20 and was met by Ken Wilson, who is known in the publishing business as a media escort. Ken’s task was to take me around to area bookstores, introduce me to store managers, and see if they would either display Towers of Gold more prominently or order more.
Ken clearly knows his stuff, for he was greeted warmly in almost every bookstore we entered. I came with an armful of books to give away, so Ken would always try to determine the name of the staff’s history buff. I would tell him or her about Isaias Hellman and give them a free book to read.
People in the bookstores got all excited about Hellman and the book since he played such an integral role in the development of Los Angeles. It was gratifying to see their eyes light up and realize that Towers of Gold could be a great holiday present, too.
One thing that struck me about Los Angeles was the dearth of independent bookstores. We visited Vroman’s in Pasadena and Book Soup, but all the other stores were either Borders or Barnes and Nobles. And they are everywhere. Clearly the bookstore business in Los Angeles is much different than the one in the Bay Area. If I just think about my neighborhood independent bookstores, I come up with Mrs. Dalloways, A Great Good Place for Books, Pendragon, a sci fi bookstore on Claremont, and Diesel Books. Those are all within a 5-10 minute car drive.
In the middle of the day, I stopped in at the Huntington Library, where I was the featured speaker for a brown bag lunch put on by Bill Deverell, who runs the Huntington – USC Institute for the Study of California and the West. This is a great place that is trying to bring together academics, journalists and independent historians to use primary documents to explore Western history. (Sound familiar?)
Anyway, this luncheon was really fun. Bill Deverell asked me a few questions and I just talked about Isaias Hellman. I really emphasized some of the stuff in my book that I feel is original research, such as Hellman’s influence on Henry Huntington, the man who built the Pacific Electric red cars and other trolley lines. Few other audiences would have been so interested in the arcane parts of the book, but this group had detailed questions.
On Friday, I taped an episode of the Connie Martinson Show. Connie is an LA institution, having produced a television show on books for decades. The taping was in the TopangaCanyon offices of Time Warner Cable (soon to close) and I had to drive through this moonscape-like environment to get there. Huge rocks, much like the ones at Joshua Tree, loomed up, surrounded by patches of burned earth. It was surreal. The show will be broadcast in December.
Friday night was the night I have been waiting for. I gave a presentation at the Huntington Library in San Marino. About 40 or 50 people came to my talk (not bad for a Friday night) and I think I entertained them with my photos of old Los Angeles and San Francisco. (For those of you who are curious, I wore my new Donna Karan suit.) I signed books and the Huntington sold out!
That was also the case Saturday morning when I gave a talk at Rancho Los Alamitos, once a 26,000 acre ranch owned by Hellman and the Bixby family. More than 100 people came to hear me, and the ranch sold out of the 50 books it had ordered. The audience members were history lovers, and so I really got to indulge in description of early LA and rancho life and the ways Hellman contributed to the region’s growth.
Are you tired yet? I was, yet I had a lot more to do. That evening my cousins hosted a book release party for me at their beautiful home in Brentwood. Lots of Hellman descendants came, people who did not actually know one another well. There was also a man whose family came from the same small town in Germany as Hellman. I also got to meet Kevin Roderick, who runs the fabulous, must-read blog LA Observed. (I must read it two or three times a day)
After a day of rest, I drove back to Pasadena, where I appeared on “Airtalk” with Larry Mantle. This is a very popular show on KPCC 89.3, and lots of book lovers apparently listen in. Mantle told his listeners that Towers of Gold “was a must read for any lover of Los Angeles history.” You can listen to our discussion here. With that ringing endorsement, I watched my Amazon standing go from #22,000 in books to #2,944. Radio is powerful.
Happy, but tired, I am back home, but just briefly. Thanks to everyone who came out to hear me and who bought books.
