Ok, it was 3 p.m. on Friday after the New Communications Forum had wrapped up -- what are two midwestern white boys in Palo Alto supposed to do for fun? We head to San Francisco, of course, and to one of the holiest places on the planet: City Lights Book Store in North Beach.
Andy and I are both big fans of beat writers, and City Lights is ground zero of the beat movement on the west coast. It was co-founded in 1953 by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and quickly became a hangout for Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and other famous beat writers. The place gained major notoriety in the late 1950s when Ferlinghetti published Ginsberg's Howl (the second edition) and was arrested by local police on charges of publishing and selling obscene material. A trial followed and was closely watched by many Americans because of its First-Amendment implications. Ferlinghetti was acquitted, and Howl is now celebrating its fiftieth year of continuous publication.
The place is amazing. It's like a shrine. It's tiny, really, with books everywhere. And you'll find very few of these titles in Barnes & Noble.
The beat-writers' poems are upstairs, and that little room felt like someplace holy -- like church felt when I was a kid -- someplace I shouldn't talk so I wouldn't disturb the ghosts.
There's art all over the place, and even a few reminders that this is indeed not a Christian bookstore.
After about two hours there, we went next door to Vesuvio bar, another beat hangout, and we did what I imagine the beats did -- we drank and talked about important issues of the day.
It was a great time and a fitting end to our trip.
Jack Kerouac was my favorite; must be the square peg in a round hole part of me! Cool trip!
Posted by: Jodie | March 06, 2006 at 08:09 AM
Another stop for when I return to the Bay Area. Thanks, Jeff!
Posted by: Jack Yan | March 13, 2006 at 06:05 PM
I was at New Comms Forum and in San Francisco the next day - guess where I spent the afternoon? Reading Subterraneans in Vesuvio's, carrying books bought from City Lights - another Beat memory to add to meeting Allen Ginsberg and interviewing Carolyn Cassidy.
Posted by: Philip Young | March 26, 2006 at 02:01 AM