Wednesday, June 24, 2015

'A Literary Walking Tour of San Francisco'

Shelf Awareness

Quoting Elaine Katzenberger, publisher and director of City Lights Booksellers and Publishers, who describes San Francisco's iconic bookstore as "a good place to feel like you're among like-minded people," 7x7.com said that that attitude applies to most of literary San Francisco --and offered a tour. Among the highlights:City Lights itself: "Perhaps the literary sight to see, City Lights Books is located next to Vesuvio Cafe and is known for its historic support and publication of paperback titles by poets and writers such as Allen Ginsberg, Frank O'Hara, and Jack Kerouac. Katzenberger describes City Lights as 'a center of gravity,' a place where other writers could gather and feel comfortable. According to Katzenberger, the store also carries unusual books, ones not always found on the bestseller list. 'Here you find things you just didn't know existed,' she says."

San Francisco's First Bookstore (19 Walter U. Lum Place): "Although City Lights Books is perhaps San Francisco's most well-known bookstore, this plaque marks the site of the city's first bookstore, which was opened by John Hamilton Still in 1849. The plaque can be found just across the street from Portsmouth Square
."

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