Myopic is somewhat analogous to the bookstore Quimby’s, in terms of its importance and longevity in the neighborhood; Myopic stocks used books rather than new independent press product, and are somewhat surlier in the face of change.

Following several moves, today the store occupies several floors crammed with all manner of books, with extensive holdings in fiction, academic work, history, politics, conspiracy theory, true crime, and other popular subjects.

The owner, a bald, gaunt academic type, was well known for his irascible nature: he was the first store-owner to forbid filming when MTV’s The Real World was in the neighborhood, and among the first to ban cell phones from his establishment. More recently, though, he spends most of his time on a farm, apparently preferring the simple life to that of a “glamorous” urban bookstore.

Myopic continues to feature a poetry reading series and an experimental music series that have brought in a wide variety of important, cutting-edge artists and writers.