It’s an axis of activism, a core of counter-culture and a hub for all things left-winged in Gainesville. The Civic Media Center, 433 S. Main St., is a library where self-described liberals and anarchists meet to organize, network and unwind.
In this building, the wheels of rebellion turn.
“The CMC plays a role in our lives somewhat in the way the church plays a role in a religious person’s life,” said store coordinator James Schmidt. “There’s no other place like this in Gainesville, that’s for sure.”
The center is the only “info shop” in the city, a place that lends out books, DVDs and other materials public or university libraries don’t have.
About 10,000 books on protest case studies, theories of power and tales of life outside the social norm line the shelves seven levels high.
A heart-shaped bowl that holds free Crown condoms and an accompanying bilingual how-to pamphlet sit on the main desk.
Schmidt, 40, said the Alachua County Public Library is slowly starting to update its database to include the store’s books, everything from “Communists, Cowboys and Queers” to “The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.”
Romy Newbold, a 22-year-old store volunteer, said the center tries to weed out well-published items to make room for rare ones.
“It sucks,” she said. “We just don’t have room for everything.”
Stop by at 2 p.m. when the store opens, and it will feel like a library — quiet and calm. Stop by at night for an event, and it’s a different story.
One of the stranger events the Civic Media Center held was a nude drawing class, Schmidt said.
In the late 1990s, the City Commission instituted an ordinance against nudity within a certain radius of downtown. The ordinance was meant to prevent a strip club from being built, but a Gainesville nudist decided to protest.
The center blocked out its windows and set up stations where people could draw him.
“Anyone who walked in the space would encounter a live, nude human,” Schmidt said.
He said the library originally opened on University Avenue in the building that houses Mochi Frozen Yogurt and 101 Cantina.
Activist groups came together and realized there was one thing they were lacking — a place of their own. Usually, the activists met in a house or a church, but they needed something more.
They decided on a library and filled it with stacks of books and other periodicals that Charles Willett, the founder of the alternative magazine Counterpoise, kept after his magazine reviewed them.
“He didn’t know what to do with the stuff, but he was excited about the material,” Schmidt said.
While they were planning, the group decided it would be inspirational to have Noam Chomsky, a well-known political activist, speak in Gainesville. They booked his appearance two years in advance.
Members of the group scheduled the store’s grand opening to coincide with Chomsky’s visit, Oct. 18, 1993.
Six months later, the center moved to 1021 NW University Ave., right next door to Gator Dawgs.
About 10 years later, the center moved to its Main Street location.
Schmidt said the library stays in business because of the community.
“Frankly, for most of its existence, the center has existed from month to month,” he said, holding a donation record that read “How to Feed the Civic Media Center.” “For the first time in a few years, we have money in the bank again.”
Visitors and volunteers said the center is just too special to them. They couldn’t bear to see it go under, so they give time and money.
“People bend over backwards for this place,” Newbold said.
