SANTA MONICA—The bookstore, Diesel, located at 225 26th Street in Santa Monica, launched a GoFundMe campaign on September 3, via social media asking for monetary help to get through the pandemic.
“We have always seen our bookselling as an ecology of people, ideas, experiences, places, and conversation,” the Diesel website states. “We are subject to vicissitudes, ups and downs, as part of the wider society and culture, as all of us are. But Covid-19 has had consequences like no other.”
“We are asking for your support to restore us to a sustainable level, to make it through this taxing time.”
Highlighting that many independent businesses are suffering as a result of the financial strain of the pandemic, the company noted the lack of financial support and resources. “Many aren’t making it, and we hope not to be one of them.”
“We have resisted this appeal to our wider community but now we are running out of time. It is either this or ending our run as a quality independent bookstore. If there is anything you can do to help to keep us going, it would be greatly appreciated. Please contribute if you can.”
Their plea is concluded with a quote form biologist Robin Wall Kimmerer who said, “When times are easy and there’s plenty to go around, individual species can go it alone. But when conditions are harsh and life is tenuous, it takes a team sworn to reciprocity to keep life going forward.”
