There’s a new bookstore on East Third Street in the Huffman neighborhood.
The Cozy Book Nook, a shop focused on indie authors, has recently opened at 1400 East Third Street after relocating from a smaller space on South Dixie in Moraine.
Husband and wife team Tony and Leslie Garcia offer new and used books in a variety of genres and also aim to build a bookish community with events ranging from book clubs to brainstorming and critique sessions for writers.
The shop is located at the western boundary of the Historic Huffman neighborhood on the East Third Street corridor, which consists of a mix of historic homes and commercial buildings primarily constructed from 1860s to the 1890s.
The beautiful 19th century Victorian brick home remained residential until around 1950, after which it was converted to a meeting space and then offices.
It had been listed for sale in 1949, with the listing describing it as “Modern. Large living room, dining room, sitting room with fireplaces. 5 large bedrooms. 2 baths. Beautiful woodwork, fixtures. Automatic heat. Slate roof. 2 car.”
But soon after that it would become the home of the Dayton Hearing Society, which was renamed the Hearing and Speech Center of Dayton and Montgomery County in 1957.
Later tenants included Progressive and Grey’s Inc.
The Corner Over Time: Huffman’s Shifting Landscape in the 1950s
Examining this corner of East Third and Beckel Streets on old maps can also help us see how this major Dayton thoroughfare and the adjacent streets changed over time.
Today East Third is a mix of remaining historic urban fabric and suburban-style buildings set back behind parking lots, while other homes were removed for industrial structures.
And the 1950s were the key decade for these shifts.
This 1950 map shows 1400 E Third (circled) and we can see two more large homes on the block west of Beckel St, as well as more residences on both sides of Beckel.
The “Beer Depot” at the corner of S. Beckel and what was then Pocahontas Ave was previously the bottling works for the Oscar P. Klee Mineral Water Co.
But just 5 years later in 1955, we see some big changes. 1400 E Third has changed from a dwelling to a “clubhouse,” and the homes next to it across Beckel are gone and replaced by an auto sales lot. The homes on the W side of Beckel were razed for what was a beer warehouse at that time.
We can then compare that to the present day (where we see the homes on the E side of Beckel are gone too).
We also see the former Gebhart Folding Box Co building is still standing and is today used as a self-storage facility.
It was previously the Aull Bros Co, manufacturers of paper boxes and pails, in the early 1900s.
East Third Street has changed significantly, but on average it is more intact farther east in the Huffman area, including the great Third and Linden market building.
The Cozy Book Nook had its Grand Opening on Saturday November 22, 2025 with an event featuring door prizes, an art show, a visiting author, and more.
Sources
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
Dayton Daily News Archives via Newspapers.com
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