For generations, readers have gotten lost in Paul and Caryl Askins’ carefully crafted used book sanctuary in the 600 block of State Street, perusing the cracked spines and gilded covers under the meticulously placed title cards: biography, aeronautics, fiction, dance.The ends of the shelves carry additional stories, not for sale: Wrinkled newspaper clippings, “thank you” cards from children long since grown up, black-and-white photos from Wisconsin’s early years of statehood.“I love my mom, the end,” is scrawled in one child’s messy handwriting on paper that must have been white once. A well-loved Paul Bunyan bookmark promises “tall tales.”But after seven decades in Downtown Madison, the end is near for Paul’s Book Store. Although the last day isn’t certain yet, it will close in February. Its epilogue hangs heavy in the State Street air, where early mourners have come to pay their respects.
People are also reading…
“It’s been a real rollercoaster of emotion,” said Martha Askins, the youngest daughter of the titular Paul and current owner Caryl.
Martha Askins, left, whose father, Paul Askins, founded Paul’s Book Store, talks with customer Beth Karabin during a visit to the State Street store over her lunch break. The store will be closing in February after 70 years in business.
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Nothing specific prompted the closure, Martha said. Business is thriving. The current customer base alone could likely carry it for another 70 years, she said. It was more a matter of time. Her mother has been running the business since Paul’s death in 1975. Now 94, she’s more than earned her retirement.“This was Caryl’s baby and she’s ready to retire,” Martha said. “She’s still calling the shots, she’s just calling them from home.”One of the best stories in Paul’s Book Store won’t be found among the sagging shelves or the jaundiced pages. It’s in the Bodhi plant sunning itself from the big glass windows, the floorboards behind the register where sleeping dogs once lay, the picture of Paul Askins overlooking his handiwork even in death.
Paul was a Navy veteran who got his start peddling books in college, when he and a friend used to scour stores for hard-to-find textbooks and bring them back to campus to sell. He met Caryl while the pair were working at the former UW-Madison co-op, now the University Book Store. He worked in the book department and she in the art department. The pair opened the store in 1954, shortly after the birth of their first child. After moving between a couple of different locations, they moved into 670 State St., the site of many early childhood memories for Martha.“I think being part of a family business is a little bit unique in that it doesn’t stop at the end of the day,” she said. “You know, you talk about the bookstore. It was always the bookstore for us. I feel like it’s just a really unique and beautiful space for people, and I’m just so proud that my parents did this.”
A framed photo of Paul Askins, who died in 1975, is on display at the bookstore he founded.
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
The four Askins children lived between the pages in and out of the shop. Literature was a food group in the household, one they consumed voraciously. Still, they had no plans of taking over the family business, Martha said.“This was my dad’s business and my mom’s business. and I feel like they wanted us to have our own careers,” she said. “I think my parents raised people who wanted to do good things for the world.”And so they have. Martha is a lawyer. Her sister is a teacher, and her brothers, a doctor and an architect. And while their mother has expressed pride in her grown children, their father wasn’t around to watch them grow fully into adulthood. From birth, the kids were taught to seek answers in the encyclopedias and dictionaries at home, and become well versed in the fairy tales housed in the family business, graduating to novels as they aged.“My dad was funny. When you would ask a question, I remember one of his answers was, ‘Let’s look it up,’” she said.
She is certain he would have been proud not only of his children, but of Caryl, her tenacity not only as a mother but as a business owner. After his death, Caryl wasted no time in taking over the reins, learning as she went.“I think what my mom thought at the time was, you know, just give it a try,” Martha said. “It turned out she loved it; she was good at it.”Guiding presenceAiding Caryl’s ascent to the helm of the stacks were a number of longtime employees, her daughter recalled, the kind who joined the family for dinners regularly, talking biology, art. And when things were difficult, Caryl knew she had a bit of extra help in the husband she lost. His spirit swirled in the sunlit dust springing up whenever somebody opened a particularly old tome, in the Bodhi plant beckoning passersby from the big windows. Paul was never far away.“She’s always sort of felt my dad’s presence in the bookstore kind of looking over her shoulder and guiding her,” Martha said.There were also, of course, a few four-legged helpers. Martha recalled Lucy the lab, the first unofficial Paul’s mascot, paid in treats for her faithful work carrying daily newspapers between her teeth. Then there was Bodhi, Polly, Daisy. As Martha recalls it, the Askins home never had fewer than three dogs at a time.“My mom has always been just a big dog fan,” Martha said.
Paul and Caryl Askins opened the first Paul’s Book Store in 1954, moving to a couple of different locations before settling into their longtime home at 670 State St.
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
‘End of an era’As she paged through a hardcover about quartz in the store Wednesday, Madison resident Sandy Schuler said she felt “crummy”; this was her first outing since her recent hand and foot surgeries. She was spending it at Paul’s.Her husband, Greg, faithfully followed her through the stacks, carrying her literary purchases in a tote bag. Sandy’s spent a good chunk of the last 20 years in Paul’s, to the extent that she now has to set a timer for herself when she walks in.“You can get lost in your own thoughts,” she said. “And you have to set your watch, otherwise you’ll be in here a while.”On Wednesday, her self-allotted 30-minute browsing session netted her an eclectic mix of books, covering topics like gardening, James Cagney and Indian winter, as well as a vintage Marilyn Monroe calendar.“These books won’t be found anymore,” she said.Greg, too, is a reader. He tends to go for the books on history, politics and sports.“It’s nice especially with all the crap going on in the world you can just come in here and forget about everything,” he said. “It’s the end of an era, and we’ll never get it again.”
The Schulers have been taking their last long looks down the shelves, thumbing the pages of titles they may never see again, fond goodbyes in their fingertips. A Helen Lowrie Marshall poem, appropriately titled “Afterglow,” is affixed to a shelf near the back, a kind of response from the store itself.I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one,I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done.I’d like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways,Of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days.I’d like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun.Of happy memories that I leave when life is done.
“Afterglow,” a poem by Helen Lorie Marshall, sits at the end of one of the shelves at Paul’s Book Store. The piece encourages joy in the face of loss, as if the store itself is saying its own goodbye to the people who have loved it through the years.
ANNA HANSEN, STATE JOURNAL
Handmade signs complement the bookstore’s homey vibe.
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Hani Sulieman, a junior at UW-Madison, browses Monday at Paul’s Book Store. “It’s one of my favorite spots,” Sulieman said of the store that has been in business for seven decades.
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Eleni Hum, a junior at UW-Madison, shops for books at Paul’s. The ends of the shelves are cluttered with a happy assortment of newspaper clippings, literary-themed pictures and correspondence from customers.
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Martha Askins, whose father, Paul Askins, founded Paul’s Book Store, puts a book back on the shelf after dusting it.
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Pranks, protests and bell bottoms: Life in Madison in the 1970s
1970 – Library Mall
Geoff Cook, left, and an unidentified man play guitar while a third man looks on in 1970 on Library Mall.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#67642
Sterling Hall bombing
Damage from the bombing of Sterling Hall on the University of Wisconsin campus is shown in August 1970. Despite an attempt to detonate the bomb when the building was vacant, a physics researcher conducting research unrelated to the Army Math Research Center was killed in the explosion. The impact of Robert Fassnacht’s death brought a sudden halt to the violence to which anti-war protesters and police had resorted.
WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#28381
1970 – Earth Day
A crowd gathers for the first Earth Day march in front of the Capitol in April 1970.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#48105
1970 – Rock festival
A band plays at a rock festival at the “People’s Fair” in June 1970.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#124528
1970 – Anti-war protests
Anti-war demonstrators wearing garrison style hats reading “Vietnam Vets For Peace” march in a parade carrying American flags and placards while a large crowd watches in 1970.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#67640
1970 – UW Memorial Union Terrace
People hang out on the University of Wisconsin Memorial Union Terrace in 1970.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#67636
1970 – Peace parade
Demonstrators in 1970 carry a banner reading: “VETS for PEACE / Bring the Troops Home Now.”
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#67644
1970 – ‘People’s Fair’
A man wears a vest, furry hat and American Flag cape while holding a tin of sardines in front of a crowd at a rock festival at the “People’s Fair” in June 1970.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#124525
1971 – Wrapping presents
Elizabeth and Katherine Davey and Curtis Liposcak use their creative talents to wrap Christmas gifts under the supervision of Peggy Davey, a member of Women for a Peaceful Christmas, in December 1971.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#67727
1971 – Gates of Heaven Synagogue
The Gates of Heaven Synagogue building is moved in 1971 from W. Washington Ave. to James Madison Park.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#36490
1972 – Postman delivers mail
Postal carrier Carl Wagner displays a Life magazine in his arms while holding a stack of mail in 1972.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123652
1972 – Musician works in studio
Musician Ben Sidran works at a console in a music studio in August 1972.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#93625
1972 – Take Over newspaper
Three boys read Take Over newspapers against a brick wall in front of Rennebohm Drug Store in 1972.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#111698
1972 – Reierson Photography Studio
Reierson Photography Studio is shown in September 1972 in its new location at 14 E. Mifflin St.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#118822
1972 – Circus parade
A crowd gathers on railroad tracks near flatbed railroad cars carrying circus wagons for a parade in June 1972.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#124515
1973 – Mayor Paul Soglin and wife Diane Thayer-Soglin
Mayor Paul Soglin sits at home with his wife, Diane Thayer-Soglin, a month after his election in 1973.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123157
1973 – Bucks vs. Rockets
Milwaukee Bucks star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shoots a skyhook at the Dane County Coliseum in a game against the Houston Rockets in 1973.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#91582
1973 – Meat boycott
Two women picket in front of a shopping center urging the boycotting of meat in 1973. One woman carries a NFO sign reading: “Farm families must be paid for their labor!”
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#25008
1973 – ‘Madison People’s Poster and Propaganda Collection’
J. Wesley Miller poses in October 1973 with some of the campus street posters and handouts he collected. Mayor Soglin, Toby Emmer, Richard Nixon, Melvin Laird and Angela Davis are a few of the people portrayed in the posters. Today the collection is known as “Madison People’s Poster and Propaganda Collection.”
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#99513
1973 – Main Street
A view from Capitol Square shows W. Main St. in 1973.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#39799
1974 – Toonerville Trolley
Sid Boyum stands on the back of the Toonerville Trolley in his backyard holding a shotgun in 1974.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123311
1974 – Elm tree cut down
The last elm tree on State St., with the Wisconsin Historical Society and Memorial Union background, is cut down in 1974.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#1814
1974 – Drive-in theater
Two people watch a movie from their car at the Big Sky Drive-in Theatre in 1974.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#41023
1974 – St. Vincent’s
Women sort donated clothes in St. Vincent’s Thrift Shop in September 1974.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#122292
1974 – Lauri Wynn
Wisconsin Education Association Council President Lauri Wynn speaks at an affirmative action meeting at the University of Wisconsin in 1974.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#115756
1975 – Meat cutters strike
Members of Madison Local 444 of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workers union strike against the Packerland Packing Co. in October 1975.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#66623
1975 – Eugene Parks
Eugene Parks, right, relaxes outdoors in April 1975 with his wife and children, Kendra Parks, from left, Marilyn, Wendy, Stacey, and baby Reggie. Parks had a long career in Madison politics, often as a champion of civil rights issues.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#34584
1975 – Capitol Square
An aerial photograph shows Capitol Square in 1975.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#31120
1975 – Student rally
Students rally in the Great Hall at Memorial Union in 1975 to establish a Chicano Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#128566
1976 – Alice in Dairyland
A woman wears a crown and a sash that reads “Alice in Dairyland,” while standing between two men holding boxes labeled “Wisconsin Cheese” in 1976.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#117277
1976 – Student protest
Students protest the Kuomintang’s authoritarian control of Taiwan in 1976 on Library Mall at the Calvary Lutheran Chapel.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#122307
1976 – Riding in costume
A person in a lion costume rides a motorcycle as part of an Edgerton Lions Club event in May 1976.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#124519
1978 – Vel Phillips
Liesl Blockstein, right, of the Wisconsin Women’s Political Caucus presents guest-of honor Vel Phillips, second from right, with an honorary poem in January 1978 during a reception at the L’Etoile Restaurant.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#126417
1978 – Castle and Doyle
Jack Doyle stands inside the glass door of Castle and Doyle, in the historic firehouse building on State St., in March 1978.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123155
1978 – Nikolais Dance Co.
Alwin Nikolais watches Jessica Sayre rehearse a new dance for the Nikolais Dance Company in December 1978.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123151
1978 – Downtown construction
A bulldozer breaks ground for the construction of the State Natural Resources Building on S. Webster St. in February 1978.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123154
1978 – Carnival swings
A boy rides the swings at the East Side Businessmen’s Club carnival at Milwaukee St. and Fair Oaks Ave. in June 1978.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#125808
1978 – Photographers at Capitol
Photojournalists Bob Rashid, center, and Glenn Trudel, right, work outside the Capitol building alongside a third unidentified man in August 1978.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123205
1978 – Drying tobacco
Albert Hammes, of West Salem, and his young helper spear picked tobacco on stakes to be dried in the barn in October 1978.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#122818
1978 – Man on a bike
A Spring Green resident rides his bike downtown in 1978.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123148
1978 – Juggling on Capitol lawn
Truly Remarkable Loon and his partner perform on the Capitol lawn at the Equinox Festival in 1978.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#122542
1978 – WIAA girls championship
Cheri Sernat, Janice Eimmer, Ann Hall, Mary Beth Wessing, Bev Kuen, and Lisa LaVarda admire the first-place trophy for the WIAA girls basketball state championship in March 1978.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#105210
1978 – Barbara Hoffman trial
Barbara Hoffman, left, sits in an office with her defense attorneys, including Don Eisenberg, center, and an unidentified man, after she was indicted for murder.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123197
1978 – 100-year-old barn
Margaret Kocher and Richard Retzlaff, of Wonewoc, pose in front of their 100-year-old barn. “People are always saying we should tear it down because it’s too old,” Margaret said in 1978, “but I think it’s so pretty.”
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#122735
1978 – WIAA girls championship
Coach Rick Bloohm, left, talks about his team’s victory in the WIAA girls basketball state championship game in March 1978.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#105211
1978 – Anti-nuclear protests
A crowd of protesters gathers with picket signs to speak out against nuclear energy and weapons development in the United States in May 1978.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123169
1979 – Rennebohm Drug Store
Two men enjoy coffee and a cigarette at an unidentified Rennebohm Drug Store restaurant in 1979.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#33784
1979 – UW professor Richard Davis
University of Wisconsin professor Richard Davis plays the bass in 1979.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123195
1979 – Bascom Hill flamingos
A woman pretends to feed bread to flamingo lawn ornaments on Bascom Hill in 1979.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#129850
1979 – Paul Friedman
Paul Friedman talks on the phone at his desk in 1979.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#122822
1979 – Sitting on Lake Mendota ice
A young man enjoys an Old Milwaukee beer while sitting in a broken armchair on a frozen Lake Mendota in February 1979.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123165
1979 – Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfus inauguration
After being sworn in, Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfus delivers his inaugural address in January 1979.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#55048
1979 – Wisconsin vs. Michigan State
Wisconsin Badgers point guard Wes Matthews Sr. hits a game-winning, half-court shot to beat a Michigan State Spartans team featuring Magic Johnson at the University of Wisconsin Field House in March 1979.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#122825
1979 – Dog in gas station
A dog sits on a blanket on top of bags of salt in a gas station office in 1979.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123178
1979 – Day care
Day care worker Gail Hirn plays with 23-month-old Tina Casper at Freedom House Infant Day Care Center in 1979.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123167
1979 – Man and his dog
Bill Toman plays with his dog, Little Niblet, on an icy walkway at Lake Mendota in December 1979.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123179
1979 – Dairy Queen flooding
A man walks through a flooded Dairy Queen parking lot in the downtown area in April 1973.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123162
1979 – Reading newspaper
Felipe Quirós-Pérez reads a newspaper at Rennebohm Drug Store on State St. in December 1979.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#122729
1979 – Mickie’s Dairy Bar
A person enters Mickie’s Dairy Bar in January 1979.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#59864
1979 – Kissing couple
A young couple enjoys each other’s company on a beautiful day in August 1979 at Library Mall on the University of Wisconsin campus.
COURTESY OF WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY – ID#123174
“My dad was funny. When you would ask a question, I remember one of his answers was, ‘Let’s look it up.'”Martha Askins, youngest daughter of Paul and Caryl Askins
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