City Lights Bookstore
The Verdict
"Head upstairs to the Poetry Room. Ferlinghetti published the Beats here, and signed and first editions turn up on the main floor."
What you need to know
City Lights Bookstore opened in 1953 in a triangular building at Columbus and Broadway, founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin as the country’s first all-paperback bookstore. Ferlinghetti published Allen Ginsberg’s Howl in 1956; the 1957 obscenity trial ended in his acquittal and set First Amendment precedent for literary publishing.
The Store
Three floors of books fill every surface. The upstairs Poetry Room is where Ferlinghetti edited and published the Beats, with handwritten staff recommendations tucked between shelves. The basement holds the Beat collection, including first editions, with photographs of Kerouac, Ginsberg, and their circle on the walls. Readings and book launches happen regularly upstairs. Vesuvio Cafe sits next door across Jack Kerouac Alley, the same bar the Beats used; City Lights was designated a San Francisco landmark in 2001.
Getting There
The store is at Columbus and Broadway in North Beach, with the 8, 12, and 30 lines and the Powell-Mason cable car nearby.
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