The Booksmith

What you need to know

What to expect

The stock covers literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, politics, history, sociology, gender and race studies, graphic novels, magazines, and a children’s section. Author events run regularly. The store also hosts book clubs and silent reading parties.

The Story

Gary Frank opened The Booksmith on Haight Street in October 1976. Current owners Christin Evans and Praveen Madan bought the store from him in 2007. San Francisco granted Booksmith Legacy Business status in October 2016.

Visiting

Open daily from 11am to 7pm. Free to browse.

Getting there

On Haight Street between Cole and Shrader, a short walk from Amoeba Music. The N-Judah stops at Carl and Cole, about four blocks south. The 6-Haight/Parnassus and 7-Haight/Noriega buses run on Haight Street.

Filmed here

All San Francisco films →

3 productions filmed at or beside The Booksmith.

2000Boys and Girls628 Cole Street2018A Taiwanese Tale of Two Cities1653 Haight and 1400-1500 blocks of Haight St2019The Last Black Man in San FranciscoHaight and Belvedere