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City Lights Bookstore is turning 60!
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Will Dockery
Mar 28, 2013, 10:37:06 PM3/28/13
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City Lights Bookstore is turning 60!
Join us at the bookstore & online as we celebrate all year long.
Founded in 1953 in a small shop at the corner of Columbus Avenue and
Broadway in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, City Lights Bookstore
is celebrating its 60th anniversary. Still in its original location, the
store has expanded over the years to fill the entire building, sharing it
with the offices of the fabled City Lights Publishing Company. City Lights
Booksellers & Publishers continues to be owned by its original co-founder,
poet, painter, publisher and defender of free speech, Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Our yearlong celebration will feature a number of special anniversary
events, both in the bookstore and beyond. We'll be inviting everyone to join
us on Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 for a birthday party open house at the
bookstore - mark your calendars now, and start planning your trip to San
Francisco!
If you can't make it in person, you can join in the celebration online.
Throughout the year we'll be featuring historical photos, stories,
reminiscences and more on our here on the City Lights Blog. Keep up with us
on Facebook, Pinterest, and check out our Twitter feed, for up-to-the-minute
news on events and postings.
About City Lights Booksellers & Publishers:
The nation's first all-paperback bookstore, City Lights Bookstore has
expanded many times over the years and now offers both new-release
hardcovers and quality paperbacks, including an impressive range of titles
from smaller, harder-to-find, specialty publishers. Three floors of books in
our historic landmark building offer our visitors a unique browsing
experience, and City Lights' Poetry Room on the very top floor features one
of the most extensive collections of poetry found anywhere. In addition, you'll
find the best in fiction, translations, politics, history, philosophy, art
and music, idiosyncratic collections such as "Situationism," "Commodity
Aesthetics," "Left Coast" - a section featuring books on San Francisco and
California culture and history - and much more, all carefully chosen by our
staff whose special interests in many fields contribute to the hand-picked
quality of what you see on the shelves. And of course, all of the titles
currently available from City Lights Publishers are proudly featured
throughout the bookstore.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti launched City Lights Publishers in 1955 with the
now-famous Pocket Poets Series. Ferlinghetti's much-loved Pictures of the
Gone World (still in print after more than 50 years) was Pocket Poets #1,
and was soon followed by Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems (Pocket Poets
#4), which Ferlinghetti defended in court against obscenity charges. Since
then, the press has gone on to publish a wide range of titles - poetry and
prose, fiction and nonfiction, international and local authors - and has
established a solid reputation for its commitment to innovative literature
and progressive ideas. Today, City Lights has well over two hundred titles
in print, with 15 new titles being published each year.
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."
Asked to comment on the significance of the longevity of his project,
Ferlinghetti enthuses: "The Golden Age of City Lights continues!"
Special Anniversary Events:
In addition to our Anniversary Open House in June, we're putting together a
series of events centered around themes we love, and some that are integral
to our long history. InJuly, we'll partner with the Contemporary Jewish
Museum - host to a travelling exhibit of Allen Ginsberg's photographs - for
an event about the continued struggle against forces of conservatism and
censorship, focusing on Lawrence Ferlinghetti's successful defense of Allen
Ginsberg's HOWL And Other Poems. Also in July, San Francisco Poet Laureate
Alejandro Murguia will host a gathering of writers in Jack Kerouac Alley,
next to the bookstore. In August, some of the fine contemporary poets in our
new City Lights Spotlight Series come together for a group reading to
celebrate the series, while inSeptember the current and past poet laureates
of San Francisco read and celebrate our Poet Laureate Series at the new SF
Jazz Center. That month, we'll also have an evening at City Lights where our
publisher, bookstore buyer, and events director will answer all of your
burning questions about how this place works and how we got here! November
will be the time to focus on Surrealism with an evening that will include
surrealist games and activities. In addition, we'll be sponsoring a series
of Sunday afternoon happenings all summer long, casual literary readings and
musical entertainment outdoors in Jack Kerouac Alley, next to the bookstore.
More events are in the offing, to be announced as details are finalized.
Check our website for details! www.citylights.com
Celebrating the anniversary on our blog!
If you can't make it to San Francisco, do not fret. We'll be keeping you
enlightened and entertained all year through as we comb our archives to
feature vintage and contemporary photos of City Lights, snapshots of our
famous and infamous visitors and events from the past six decades, and
stories and reminiscences from some of your favorite authors and local
luminaries about their own City Lights experiences. Check in often for all
of this and more on our blog: www.blogcitylights.com
Join us at the bookstore & online as we celebrate all year long.
Founded in 1953 in a small shop at the corner of Columbus Avenue and
Broadway in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, City Lights Bookstore
is celebrating its 60th anniversary. Still in its original location, the
store has expanded over the years to fill the entire building, sharing it
with the offices of the fabled City Lights Publishing Company. City Lights
Booksellers & Publishers continues to be owned by its original co-founder,
poet, painter, publisher and defender of free speech, Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Our yearlong celebration will feature a number of special anniversary
events, both in the bookstore and beyond. We'll be inviting everyone to join
us on Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 for a birthday party open house at the
bookstore - mark your calendars now, and start planning your trip to San
Francisco!
If you can't make it in person, you can join in the celebration online.
Throughout the year we'll be featuring historical photos, stories,
reminiscences and more on our here on the City Lights Blog. Keep up with us
on Facebook, Pinterest, and check out our Twitter feed, for up-to-the-minute
news on events and postings.
About City Lights Booksellers & Publishers:
The nation's first all-paperback bookstore, City Lights Bookstore has
expanded many times over the years and now offers both new-release
hardcovers and quality paperbacks, including an impressive range of titles
from smaller, harder-to-find, specialty publishers. Three floors of books in
our historic landmark building offer our visitors a unique browsing
experience, and City Lights' Poetry Room on the very top floor features one
of the most extensive collections of poetry found anywhere. In addition, you'll
find the best in fiction, translations, politics, history, philosophy, art
and music, idiosyncratic collections such as "Situationism," "Commodity
Aesthetics," "Left Coast" - a section featuring books on San Francisco and
California culture and history - and much more, all carefully chosen by our
staff whose special interests in many fields contribute to the hand-picked
quality of what you see on the shelves. And of course, all of the titles
currently available from City Lights Publishers are proudly featured
throughout the bookstore.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti launched City Lights Publishers in 1955 with the
now-famous Pocket Poets Series. Ferlinghetti's much-loved Pictures of the
Gone World (still in print after more than 50 years) was Pocket Poets #1,
and was soon followed by Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems (Pocket Poets
#4), which Ferlinghetti defended in court against obscenity charges. Since
then, the press has gone on to publish a wide range of titles - poetry and
prose, fiction and nonfiction, international and local authors - and has
established a solid reputation for its commitment to innovative literature
and progressive ideas. Today, City Lights has well over two hundred titles
in print, with 15 new titles being published each year.
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."
Asked to comment on the significance of the longevity of his project,
Ferlinghetti enthuses: "The Golden Age of City Lights continues!"
Special Anniversary Events:
In addition to our Anniversary Open House in June, we're putting together a
series of events centered around themes we love, and some that are integral
to our long history. InJuly, we'll partner with the Contemporary Jewish
Museum - host to a travelling exhibit of Allen Ginsberg's photographs - for
an event about the continued struggle against forces of conservatism and
censorship, focusing on Lawrence Ferlinghetti's successful defense of Allen
Ginsberg's HOWL And Other Poems. Also in July, San Francisco Poet Laureate
Alejandro Murguia will host a gathering of writers in Jack Kerouac Alley,
next to the bookstore. In August, some of the fine contemporary poets in our
new City Lights Spotlight Series come together for a group reading to
celebrate the series, while inSeptember the current and past poet laureates
of San Francisco read and celebrate our Poet Laureate Series at the new SF
Jazz Center. That month, we'll also have an evening at City Lights where our
publisher, bookstore buyer, and events director will answer all of your
burning questions about how this place works and how we got here! November
will be the time to focus on Surrealism with an evening that will include
surrealist games and activities. In addition, we'll be sponsoring a series
of Sunday afternoon happenings all summer long, casual literary readings and
musical entertainment outdoors in Jack Kerouac Alley, next to the bookstore.
More events are in the offing, to be announced as details are finalized.
Check our website for details! www.citylights.com
Celebrating the anniversary on our blog!
If you can't make it to San Francisco, do not fret. We'll be keeping you
enlightened and entertained all year through as we comb our archives to
feature vintage and contemporary photos of City Lights, snapshots of our
famous and infamous visitors and events from the past six decades, and
stories and reminiscences from some of your favorite authors and local
luminaries about their own City Lights experiences. Check in often for all
of this and more on our blog: www.blogcitylights.com
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