Location Spotlight: Eso Won Bookstore
A Home for Black Literature and Liberation
Detroit native and Eso Won co-founder James Fugate grew up as an avid book lover, developing his Black consciousness during the Civil Rights Era. From managing bookstores at Florida A&M to Compton College, he learned firsthand the impact of access to Black literature in fostering learning and critical discourse in Black communities. By the late 80s, he was immersed in the literary scene in South LA and met a like-minded literature lover and business partner in Tom Hamilton. Together, Tom Hamilton and James Fugate turned a passion for quality Black literature and curating a community around it from a weekly book-selling project into a cultural cornerstone, known as Eso Won Books. Eso Won’s journey is invaluable for its lessons on the power of Black cultural spaces and intellectual resistance.
Eso Won’s Journey
Fugate and Hamilton chose the name Eso Won, a phrase meaning ‘water of rocks’ that originated from the indigenous Amharic name for Aswan(the gateway city to the Nile River). Beginning as a mobile bookstore, Eso Won Books on Wheels began serving the communities of Los Angeles in the summer of 1988.
In 1989, Eso Won Books opened its first physical space on Slauson & Crenshaw Avenue, selling books out of a small bedroom. Eso Won relocated between multiple brick-and-mortar locations and expanded into various communities in South LA to make their services more accessible. For nearly a decade, Eso Won operated in the Inglewood community between locations on La Brea & Plymoth and La Brea & Rodeo, building a loyal clientele. At one point, Fugate and Hamilton opened a second location in the historic neighborhood of Altadena to make their selection more accessible to a larger number of patrons who live closer to the Valley.
In 2006, when Eso Won Books moved to the Leimert Park community, they found the location that they would become synonymous with. Although many other businesses in the community experienced challenges staying open, Eso Won committed to joining this hub of Black businesses, eventually becoming a cornerstone in Leimert Park.
Eso Won’s Books housed the largest selection of books representing the vast African American and Black diasporic canon in the country. They placed classic works and revolutionaries alongside emerging voices and thought leaders, and in the process, built a cultural presence in LA. Their mission centered on making high-quality literature accessible to the Black community. By building community with local groups and community events, they reached out to all readers interested in Black authors, stories, and ideas.
A Hub for Black Literary and Political Life
Eso Won is known as a bookstore that platformed transformative Black voices before they entered the mainstream lexicon. In their earlier years, hosting literary events for revolutionary voices such as Muhammad Ali, Kwame Ture (aka Stokely Carmichael), and Nina Simone put Eso Won on the map. They continued to bring diverse Black voices across industries to their bookstores to connect with local communities. From readings led by literary titans like Gloria Naylor, Alice Walker, Octavia Butler, Nikki Giovanni, and Sonia Sanchez, to scholars like Yosef AA ben-Jochannan, Asa Hillard, and musicians like Pattie LaBelle and B.B. King, Eso Won made South LA a mandatory stop for any public figure on national book tours or press runs needing to connect with Black audiences.
Eso Won’s reputation continued to grow and maintain relevance throughout the 2010s and 2020s. They built a decades-long relationship with President Barack Obama, hosting book signing events for his books Dreams from My Father (2004) and The Audacity of Hope (2006), with the latter event helping Eso Won become part of US History. Author-journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates listed Eso Won as one of his favorite bookstores, describing its impact as:
“It is part of the larger community of independent bookstores that writers celebrate, but its specific mission is to make sure black authors always have a home. This is important to me, not because it’s the world that I spring from but because it is the river I continue to drink from.”
Multi-hypenate Creator Issa Rae also claims Eso Won as one of her favorite bookstores and credits them with sparking her writing career, as it hosted her book signing and connected her to her future show runner, Prentice Penny, even paid homage to them by featuring the store in an episode of Insecure and interviewing Fugate for the UNINTERRUPTED podcast.
More Than a Bookstore, A Community Resource
Eso Won fostered a safe space for dialogue, debate, and healing since its first signing event with Mohammad Ali. In 1995, UCLA’s Prof. Richard Yarborough spoke on how critical Eso Won was in the development of LA’s literary scene after the civil unrest of 1992.
“It’s great to come to an event here and see young people, old people, people who would have never come to a talk or lecture. Eso Won is a place outside of academia, outside of college campuses and classrooms, where all black people can come for education.”
Eso Won was one of the Black-owned businesses that saw a surge in customers in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the protests of 2020. In an interview, Fugate described how Eso Won’s legacy of political education and collective consciousness was valued following the death of George Floyd.
“Because people said, ‘Wait a minute. Enough. We do want to support these types of stores because we’ve been doing it for a long time.’”
People nationwide turned to businesses like Eso Won’s as trusted resources in new or invigorated journeys to educate themselves on the US’s history of racial justice, antiracism, and institutional violence. More than just a bookstore, customers sought out Fugate and Hamilton’s expertise; their recommendations, advice, and insights on all things literature and how they intersect with our everyday lives.
Eso Won was a prominent part of a broader cultural ecosystem of Black-owned businesses and Black-led organizations, such as Vision Theatre and KAOS Network, that became trusted resources for learning, artistry, economic development, and community within the broader Black cultural ecosystem of South LA.
End of an Era: Closure of Eso Won
After becoming so integral to Leimert Park, the 2022 announcement of Eso Won’s closing hit the literary scene hard. Author Rachel M. Harper encapsulated Eso Won’s impact, stating,
“A bookstore like Eso Won is a treasure because it holds so much more than books—it holds our history, personal and collective,
Eso Won’s closure was bittersweet. On one hand, the community grieved the end of an era. Eso Won helped pioneer a wave of independent bookstores that emerged to cater to the diverse needs of Black Angelenos. They were inspirational to generations of booksellers and small business owners wanting to build cultural spaces in their communities.
On the other hand, Eso Won weathered many storms during its 33 years of operation. They shared in the struggles to sustain financing and customers that their Leimert Park neighbors experienced. Their recent surges in business, both in-person and online, became increasingly difficult for their two dedicated, but aging, founders to accommodate. Ultimately, the community celebrated the closure because they understood how deserving Hamilton and Fugate were of rest and a slower pace.
Eso Won’s Next Chapter
Eso Won became a model for resistance through knowledge, community, and care. Its legacy is cemented in new generations of Black booksellers and entrepreneurs, and has ignited a drive to build and innovate the frameworks for cultural institutions. Eso Won was able to close on its own terms while maintaining its integrity and values throughout its run.
As the new generation picks up the mantle, it’s important for the businesses and the communities they serve to learn from Eso Won’s blueprint and keep the momentum going on investing in Black-led literary and cultural institutions.
About the Author
Kathleen Anaza
Kathleen ‘Kat’ Anaza is a multi-genre storyteller, organizer, and entrepreneur whose works center on narratives and experiences of the Black Diaspora. She has been featured in Vogue Magazine, Lonely Planet, Viator, and more. Connect with her work at https://linktr.ee/Kat_Anaza.
View profile