Appreciation: Celebrated bookseller and major L.A. art player Dagny Janss Corcoran dies at 77 of a stroke
Corcoran co-founded and was the co-president of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles for nearly 25 years. She also was a pioneering book-shop owner.
She died Sunday at her Park Avenue apartment.
In 1980, she closed The Bookbarn at 514 East 7th St. to open Dagny’s Bookshop on 7th. The first floor had no customers but the upstairs held a long line of regulars. People would come for the poetry on the shelves. On the second floor, people would come for the music, which would often stop and start to play at random. The cafe served coffee and pastries but the bookstore was the place where people went to buy their books, including the works of Charles Bukowski, who was discovered in there.
As part of her “radical” philosophy, Corcoran opened a café on the third floor with an array of books, including books by Charles Bukowski.
“I remember she was talking about how people who like books went to the bookstore and got a book, whereas people who like art went to the museum,” said Linda Fieser, a close friend who was at The Bookbarn with Corcoran and her husband, Jerry.
Corcoran was also a major L.A. cultural figure. She was a well-known art patron, gallery owner, bookseller and art-world veteran. She was also a founding partner of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the former co-president of the museum.
Corcoran co-founded and was the co-president of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles for nearly 25 years. She also was a pioneer book-shop owner.
She died Sunday of a stroke at her Park Avenue apartment, according to a statement from her son, Jeffrey Corcoran, who co-