If you’re a bookish type, you know Solomon Everta. As of today he’s owned Eureka Books for exactly one year — happy anniversary! — and he was stationed behind the counter at the historic “J-Lo Building” for several years before that, dispensing recommendations and helping you find what you were looking for, even if you didn’t know quite what you were looking for yourself. 

Everta is an excellent guest for the second episode of Humboldt Tea Time, in which the Outpost’s resident tea aficionado, John Kennedy O’Connor, gets to know a member of the community. This week, O’Connor was pleased to suffer through his guest’s ghastly herbal concoction because that guest was such an interesting guy.

Topics discussed: Everta’s early experiences volunteering for Food Not Bombs. Much later, his stint working for the County Clerk-Recorder’s Office. How both those experiences inform his work today, not only as a bookseller but as an author of “fabulist” history about his adopted hometown, which he loves very much.

His egalitarian vision of the shop goes far beyond moving merchandise. “Eureka Books is a place people can find their stories,” Everta says, “then use stories that have been told in the past to build the story of the future.”

Brew up a pot of your own — ginger-lemon, if you must — and tune in via the video player above. Then, join the anniversary celebration at Eureka Books during Arts Alive! tonight. There will be cake.