Lifestyle
A bookstore named for James Baldwin is counting down to his 100th birthday
James Baldwin’s face is painted on a decorative bookcase inside the Baldwin & Co. bookstore in New Orleans.
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Baldwin & Co. opened only three years ago, but the bookstore was packed on a recent summer afternoon. Over the past year, the Black-owned shop has featured a splashy countdown to what would have been the 100th birthday of its namesake. James Baldwin, the bookstore’s website says, is “a literary giant whose work on race, identity, and social justice continues to resonate today.”
Baldwin was born on Aug. 2, 1924, in New York City. Baldwin & Co. was born in a gleaming white building of around the same vintage in the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans. The bookstore is the brainchild of DJ Johnson, who grew up in the city among a family of avid readers.
“We never had much of anything else, but we always had books in the home,” he recalled. “And my dad was a huge proponent of us reading Black literature.”
Johnson remembers his childhood as defined by the tensions of a racially segregated neighborhood. Suspicions between Black and white residents ran high. His family lived on a street with only Black families. “There was a literal wooden fence,” he said. “And on the other side of that rickety wooden fence was what we called ‘the white people lane.’”
If a friend or family was foolhardy enough to venture there, police were called, Johnson said. False accusations, violence and injustice often followed. “As I’m witnessing that, I’m reading James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time,” he said. “It spoke to me.”
DJ Johnson, the owner of Baldwin & Co., in the apartment reserved for visiting writers that’s located above the bookstore.
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As an undergraduate at Clark Atlanta University, a historically Black institution, the young Johnson studied technology, rather than literature. But his favorite memories include late-night rap sessions with Daniel Black, a Baldwin scholar. “It was electric,” he said. “The energy was so vibrant.”
Johnson became a tech executive and real estate developer in Washington, D.C., but he always visited independent bookstores while traveling. In Paris, he sought out the legendary Shakespeare and Company, where literature nerds sometimes stand in line to get in. While waiting, Johnson dreamed, for the first time, of opening someplace similar.
“If I was ever to open up a store … I would call it Baldwin and Company, and I would want people to stand in line like this,” he recalled. “I would want them to stand in line just like they’re standing here, [but at a bookstore] that pays homage to a Black literary great.”
Soon after that, Johnson moved back to New Orleans to care for an aging parent.
“I got bored,” he admitted. “As I was walking around the community and talking to people, talking to the young kids, I always had a book in my hand. People would ask me, why do you always have a book in your hand? And I was like, why don’t you have a book in your hand?”
That question helped fuel the bookstore’s creation. Although he says he wasn’t motivated by financial success, Johnson is now convinced that his independent bookstore sells more books by Baldwin than any other, anywhere. “They’re our No. 1 seller,” he said. “Every single week, we have recurring orders. Every single week, we are ordering large shipments of James Baldwin books.”
Baldwin fans visit from all over the world, with a notable number from China, but Johnson said his primary goal is for Baldwin & Co. to serve as a community hub.
“We do book festivals where we give away thousands of books for free to kids,” he explained. “We just held a banned-book festival. The books they’re banning, we’re giving them out for free. At our book festivals, we provide free food, free drinks and free entertainment.”
“We allow local authors to come in and set up tables,” he continued. “They can sell their books. There’s no commission. Whatever the authors sell the books for, they get to keep. We allow vendors to come and sell their personal handicrafts. We don’t charge anything. We also do free summer literacy tutoring services and financial literacy services, because we are dedicated to ending generational poverty and building financial wellness within our communities. We also offer community meetups where individuals can come to Baldwin and discuss issues from health care to childhood obesity, young parenting and needs for new mothers.”
Every child who attends the store’s monthly story time gets a free book, he added. “Because we’re dedicated to building home libraries.”
Along with all his celebrated novels, essays, short stories, plays and poems in print, Baldwin’s book for children, Little Man, Little Man, is available at the bookstore.
“James Baldwin has changed my life,” Johnson said. “His literature, his perspective, his insight. They have changed my life. And I wanted to give that opportunity to others.
“The first week, we had lines three blocks long every day, the entire day, to get in,” he added. “And I was like, ‘Oh, this is like Shakespeare and Company. That’s what this is like.’”
A place of pilgrimage for readers from all over the world who find in James Baldwin truth, beauty and guidance for how to bear being in this world.
Ariana Grande arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif.
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The brightest stars in TV and film kicked off the 83rd annual Golden Globes tonight in Beverly Hills, Calif. with Ariana Grande, Noah Wyle, Teyana Taylor and George Clooney are just some the names who walked the red carpet. This year’s ceremony was hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser.
Here’s a glimpse of what some of the attendees are wearing tonight.
Michael B. Jordan
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Ryan Coogler and Zinzi Evans
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2026 Golden Globes
Nikki Glaser Shouts Out Rob Reiner …
Dons ‘Spinal Tap’ Hat at Close of Show
Published
Rob Reiner wasn’t forgotten at this year’s Golden Globe awards … because host Nikki Glaser paid tribute to him just weeks after his murder.
Here’s the deal … during the sign-off for the awards show, Nikki came onstage wearing a black and white “Spinal Tap” hat — the band which serves as the subject of Reiner’s iconic 1984 mockumentary of the same name.
Worth noting … the Golden Globes do not typically air an in memoriam — so this was the only time Reiner was mentioned at the show.
As you know … Rob and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead in their Los Angeles home last month. Their son Nick Reiner has been arrested for murder in connection to the case.
TMZ.com
Nick’s arraignment was scheduled for last week … but, his lawyer Alan Jackson dropped out of the case — leaving Nick with a public defender and new arraignment date set for late February.
Jackson told a gaggle of reporters outside the courthouse that Nick’s not guilty … but, he simply can’t defend him. He did not provide a reason for his withdrawal.
Our new documentary “TMZ Investigates The Reiner Murders: What Really Happened” dives into Rob and Michele’s grisly deaths … as well as Nick’s history of mental health issues and even how his weight gain set him on a dangerous path.
“TMZ Investigates The Reiner Murders: What Really Happened” is now streaming on Hulu.
On-air challenge
Today’s puzzle is called “Pet Theory.” Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name in which the first word start starts PE- and the second word starts T-. (Ex. What walkways at intersections carry –> PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC)
1. Chart that lists all the chemical elements
2. Place for a partridge in “The 12 Days of Christmas”
3. Male voyeur
4. What a coach gives a team during halftime in the locker room
5. Set of questions designed to reveal your traits
6. Something combatants sign to end a war
7. Someone who works with you one-on-one with physical exercises
8. Member of the Who
9. Incisors, canines, and premolars that grow in after you’re a baby
10. Nadia Comaneci was the first gymnast to score this at the Olympics
11. What holds the fuel in a British car
Last week’s challenge
Last week’s challenge was a numerical one from Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website mathpuzzle.com. Take the nine digits — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. You can group some of them and add arithmetic operations to get 2011 like this: 1 + 23 ÷ 4 x 5 x 67 – 8 + 9. If you do these operations in order from left to right, you get 2011. Well, 2011 was 15 years ago. Can you group some of the digits and add arithmetic symbols in a different way to make 2026? The digits from 1 to 9 need to stay in that order. I know of two different solutions, but you need to find only one of them.
Challenge answer
12 × 34 × 5 – 6 – 7 + 8 – 9 [or] 1 + 2 + 345 × 6 – 7 × 8 + 9
Winner
Daniel Abramson of Albuquerque, N.M.
This week’s challenge
This week’s challenge comes from listener Ward Hartenstein. Think of a well-known couple whose names are often said in the order of _____ & _____. Seven letters in the names in total. Combine those two names, change an E to an S, and rearrange the result to name another famous duo who are widely known as _____ & _____.
If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, January 15 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.
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