City Lights Bookstore

A  L  O  H  A !

“Suppose 

we suddenly 

wake up and see 

that what we thought 

to be this and that,

 ain't this and that 

at all?” 

                       Jack Kerouac, 

                                     The Dharma Bums

Alley outside is the link between Chinatown
& Italian neighborhood. Full of art! [and tourists!]

“I am waiting

for the meek to be blessed

and inherit the earth...

without taxes” 

                         Lawrence Ferlinghetti

                                  [Still going strong in his 90's!]

Sign reads: "Poet For Hire"

“The Beats and the Pranksters showed us 

different ways of opting out of society. 

They were both the personification of 

countercultural movements. The Beats 

were trying to change literature, 

and the Pranksters were trying to 

change the people and the country. 

Kesey, in fact, was his own 

cultural revolution, striving 

to keep the upbeat, 

freedom-loving spirit 

of America alive.” 

                 Sterling Lord, 

                                Lord of Publishing: A Memoir

[///]

" Founded in 1953 by 

poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti 

and Peter D. Martin, City Lights 

was our nation's 

first all-paperback bookstore. 

This great independent bookstore

 hosted Allen Ginsburg 

and other famous Beat Poets

 for their earliest readings.

Visitors from across the country 

and around the world come every day 

to browse, read, and just soak in 

the ambiance of alternative culture's 

only "Literary Landmark." "

Back in the early 1960's tour buses 

showed tourists the "beatniks" by 

pulling up in front of City Lights! 

Today, the Beats' legacy of 

anti-authoritarian politics and 

insurgent thinking continues to

be a strong influence in the store."

" The City Lights masthead says 

A Literary Meetingplace since 1953, 

and this concept includes publishing books 

as well as selling them. 

In 1955, Ferlinghetti launched 

City Lights Publishers with the now-famous 

Pocket Poets Series; Today, City Lights has 

well over two hundred titles in print, with 

a dozen new titles being published each year. 

The press is known and respected for 

its commitment to innovative and 

progressive ideas, and its resistance to forces 

of conservatism and censorship. 

All City Lights Publications 

that are currently available are proudly 

featured in the bookstore and 

on their website as well.

With this bookstore-publisher combination, 

"it is as if," says Ferlinghetti,

 "the public were being invited, in person 

and in books, to participate in that 

'great conversation' between authors of all ages, 

ancient and modern." City Lights has become 

world-famous, but it has retained 

an intimate, casual, anarchic charm. 

It's a completely unique 

San Francisco experience, and 

a must for anyone who 

appreciates good books. "

From the Webpage

LINK

Thank YOU

for joining us

today!

May you feel

liberated from the 

same old arguments

into a realm of 

possibility, and 

personal creativity!

                    Fondly, cloudia