Many years ago I went into a shop kitty-corner from what is now Powell's, on 10th and Burnside.  Stacks of books askew or on scant shelves on the first floor with a 19th century desk. All quiet. A sorta old man with a short salt n' pepper beard came down a tiny spiral metal staircase and sat down on a bench and watched me as I picked up  Tale of Two Cities .... hard-bound. He just let me read...in the half-light of the late summer day.  That little corner shop became the most famous bookstore in the US.