City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore

City Lights is an independent bookstore-publisher combination in San Francisco, California that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. It also houses the nonprofit City Lights Foundation, which publishes selected titles related to San Francisco culture. It was founded in 1953 by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter D. Martin (who left two years later). Both the store and the publishers became widely known following the obscenity trial of Ferlinghetti for publishing Allen Ginsberg's influential poem Howl and Other Poems (City Lights, 1956). Nancy Peters started working there in 1971 and retired as executive director in 2007. In 2001, City Lights was made an official historic landmark. City Lights is located at 261 Columbus Avenue, on the nexus of North Beach and Chinatown in San Francisco.

Read more about City Lights Bookstore:  History, Publishing, Howl

Famous quotes containing the words city, lights and/or bookstore:

    Och, Dublin City, there is no doubtin’,
    Bates every city upon the say;
    ‘Tis there you’ll see O’Connell spoutin’,
    An’ Lady Morgan makin’ tay;
    For ‘tis the capital of the finest nation,
    Wid charmin’ pisintry on a fruitful sod,
    Fightin’ like divils for conciliation
    An’ hatin’ each other for the love of God.
    Charles James Lever (1809–1872)

    Glorious the northern lights astream;
    Glorious the song, when God’s the theme
    Glorious the thunder’s roar:
    Glorious hosanna from the den;
    Glorious the catholic amen;
    Glorious the martyr’s gore:

    Glorious—more glorious is the crown
    Of him that brought salvation down
    By meekness, called thy Son;
    Thou that stupendous truth believed,
    And now the matchless deed’s achieved,
    Determined, Dared, and Done.
    Christopher Smart (1722–1771)

    I went to the bookstore and God was not there.
    Doctor Faustus was baby blue with a Knopf dog
    on his spine. He was frayed and threadbare
    with needing.
    Anne Sexton (1928–1974)