261 Columbus Ave., San Francisco, CA
City Lights has loomed large in my literary memory for decades, and as far as bookshop hunting goes it has been a sort of great white whale for me, waiting out beyond the horizon for some future visit. Well, this autumn I finally had the opportunity to stop in and wander the same aisles so many of my early literary inspirations roamed and see the impressive space for myself. And what can I say about this shop that hasn’t already been said by countless others? It’s legendary for a reason, not the least of which their extensive, wide-reaching selection over multiple floors.
You’ll find three floors of books, each story full of gems, from the earliest classics to the Beat Poet collections all the way through to brand new releases by exciting writers on the edge of new horizons. The top floor is almost all poetry and “Beat Literature,” including fiction and memoirs/biographies of Beat poets, San Fran legends, and sixties-era literary giants. This is the heart of this shop’s collection, and if this is in your particular area of interest, there’s really nowhere else better to go to dive deep into these poets and artists. There was a nice tribute to former owner Ferlinghetti upstairs too. He had a phenomenal eye for talent and was an excellent poet in his own right. The shop has continued his tradition of highlighting poetic excellence.
The main floor takes up a few rooms and is jam packed full of fiction, breaking down in all manner of sub-genres and categories of interest, from “left coast staff picks” to new hardcover fiction, biographies and art history, Black voices, Indigenous voices, Latin voices, and political, sexual, and social explorations in both fiction and nonfiction. The fiction is also broken down into geographic and cultural origin, like Latin fiction, Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Asian, etc. If you have a particular cultural interest, they have a shelf for you.
Downstairs contains even more extensive nonfiction offerings: film, music, jazz, philosophy, religion, topography, science, praxis, and more world and regional history, including information on “stolen continents”. There’s an LGBTQ+ section, a large children’s section with YA and Middle Grade, and subterranean nooks for mysteries and science fiction. You’ll also spot the famous “I Am The Door” door hidden down amongst the brick archways, snug aisles, and odd little nooks where the likes of Kerouac, Kesey, and Hunter Thompson wandered in the shop’s heyday. Just walking around the shop is an experience all its own, much less plucking books from its hollowed shelves and taking a part of the shop home.
I did just that with a few purchases, waiting in line behind tourists buying City Lights shirts, stickers, mugs, and asking for the best local bagels and coffee. The clerk’s unruffled stoicism as he bagged them up and sent them on their way was amusing, and I imagine they deal with a lot of strange visitors, from fanboys to those just looking for an Instagram photo before moving on. But either way, I was glad the shop was so busy. It’s an institution that deserves to stick around for the long haul, and I can’t wait to return.
Atmosphere — From the Beat-era artwork to the brick walls and ceilings in the basement, this shop holds tight to its history while leaping into the future with great new voices everywhere you look. It’s a bustling, fascinating store that is as visually appealing as it is artistically important.
Quality — High quality books top to bottom, many of which you’ll be hard pressed to find elsewhere.
Quantity — A veritable trove across all three floors, jammed into every nook. There’s a lot to browse through here so don’t try to go for a quick visit. Set aside an hour or so just to look around.
Diversity — The diversity is vast, especially in the fiction section, which collects voices from every corner of the globe and across numerous cultural and social spectrums. This is also a great place to go for poetry, as they have not just a ton of Beat poetry but poets from other eras and movements all upstairs on the third floor.
Affordability — New books at new book prices.
Amenities — There are some stools and chairs scattered throughout. Otherwise, you’re there to browse.
Location — Not far from Chinatown, right at the corner of Broadway and Columbus. It’s across the intersection from the Beat Museum.
Customer Service — The staff there were doing their best to handle a variety of customers, from the book hounds to the tourists.
Overall — This shop is living history, a bastion of left coast literary evolution, and the bookshop lives up to its reputation by maintaining a beautiful collection, spanning fiction, history, poetry, and drama titles both new and old. It’s as much a destination as a place to buy books. Simply put: this is a Mount Rushmore bookshop. Get there.
