City Lights Bookstore Reviews (San Francisco, California)

Must Gross Local Writers Picket Line to Enter

Boston, Massachusetts

April 15, 2010

Email
Print

I was hardly impressed with City Lights, to say the least. Perhaps in this businesses golden beatnik era things were different. Small cramped space, rude staff, greatly overpriced titles, and to top it off you have local authors distributing ...Read more

City Lights Bookstore

by Little Ayun

Cambridge, Massachusetts

March 12, 2007

Email
Print

I'm the sort of traveler who always looks for local independent booksellers in every city I visit, so it's something of a wonder that I'd never gone to City Lights before this trip. I think it has something to do with the fact that every photo I've ...Read more

I'm the sort of traveler who always looks for local independent booksellers in every city I visit, so it's something of a wonder that I'd never gone to City Lights before this trip. I think it has something to do with the fact that every photo I've seen makes it look like a closet. But photos lie! City Lights has three levels, tons of beat-up leather chairs for lounging (and many signs encouraging you to sit and read for a while), and enough old posters and memorabilia on the walls and shelf-ends to make the Beat Museum across the street just a tiny bit superfluous. Make sure to read the walls - framed letterpress editions of seminal short poems line the staircases. Jazz on the stereo, natch, and staff that wants to chat with you about your purchases, which is always fun.

The organization and section naming is exactly what you'd expect from a venerable indie bookstore in a famously lefty city: "Muckraking," "Class Warfare" and "Anarchism" greet you at the foot of the steps down to the basement-level nonfiction shelves, and "Commodity Aesthetics" is just around the corner. My favorite section, "Evidence," is the place to grab all your favorite UFO, Conspiracy Theory, and UFO Conspiracy Theory titles. Up on the top level is the largest poetry collection I've ever seen (and I live within walking distance of a bookstore that sells nothing but poetry!) as well as the entire Beat canon. You don't have to walk all the way up there to grab a copy of Howl, though - stacks of the tiny paperback are tucked into niches all over the store. I left with a book of poems by Chicago Slam Poetry champion Lisa Buscani and a postcard advertising an anarchist book fair to be held later in the month.

A little trivia for you:

Their list is small, but City Lights is a publisher as well as a bookseller, and boasts some titles that will surely never go out of print, including Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems.
The bookstore has been a registered landmark in the city of San Francisco since 2001.
The mural on the Jack Kerouac Alley side of the building is a recreation of a Chiapas mural celebrating the Zapatista movement, and destroyed by the Mexican Army in 1998.

Close

From journal San Francisco - On and Off the Corporate Dime

City Lights Bookstore

by jl32

Chicago, Illinois

September 16, 2005

Email
Print

Famous for its beat-poet owner, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, City Lights has long been the site of liberal, Berkeley-style protests and intellectualism. The store itself is just a bookstore, with an upstairs dedicated to the beats, but the staff get tired ...Read more

From journal The San Francisco Treat

City Lights Bookstore

by quinty

New York, New York

July 25, 2005

Email
Print

I've only known the famed City Lights in its tourist incarnation, so I have no idea what I'm missing out on. It's still a great independent bookstore that I could easily spend a day browsing around in. With that said, it just doesn't have the ...Read more

From journal Quick & Dirty in San Francisco

City Lights Bookstore

by pstar_craze

Lennoxville, Quebec

August 17, 2004

Email
Print

I loved this bookstore!!! It was amazing!!! This was one of my favorite sites to see. Situated just at the tip of Chinatown, City Lights bookstore is where Allen Ginsberg and other famous authors used to visit and read frequently. Next door is the ...Read more

From journal San Francisco is gorgeous!!!

City Lights Bookstore

by Grendelb

Minneapolis, Minnesota

March 22, 2002

Email
Print

It doesn't seem to matter where I go, I always end up trying to find that city's best bookstore. Because of the number of really good bookstores in San Francisco, it's really tough to call one of them the best. But, if for nothing else but the ...Read more

From journal San Francisco Chinese Parade

City Lights Bookstore

by Simon Morley

Denville, New Jersey

November 9, 2000

Email
Print

Best of IgoUgo You can't mention the beat poets without speaking about City Lights Bookstore in the same breath. This is the first all-paperback bookstore in the USA and is ground zero for one of the most famous fights about free speech. It has to be something in ...Read more

From journal A First Time Visitor to San Francisco

City Lights Bookstore

by CalvinMitch

Wilmington, Delaware

October 28, 2000

Email
Print

Beatific! Hip and cool bookstore owned by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, part of the beat movement back in the early sixties. If you ever read 'On the Road,' and liked it - the bookstore takes on a kinda Mecca-like importance. A kinda living memorial to the ...Read more

From journal Long Weekend in San Francisco

City Lights Bookstore

by stranger

New York, New York

June 6, 2000

Email
Print

Best of IgoUgo What it’s like: 'A sort of library where books are sold,' is their slogan. I hesitated to include City Lights, since it seems like a San Francisco cliché. Still, it is one of the great bookstores in the country, as it caters to the Academic and the ...Read more

From journal Ten Days by the Bay

IgoUgo

City Lights Bookstore

Avg. User Rating:

User Reviews

Must Gross Local Writers Picket Line to Enter

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

Compare Rates Across Websites

City Lights Bookstore

What's Nearby?

Nearby Things to Do

Popular San Francisco Hotels

Popular Things to Do in San Francisco

Avg. User Rating:

User Reviews

Must Gross Local Writers Picket Line to Enter

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

Compare Rates Across Websites