City Lights Bookstore

City Lights Bookstore Review

The city's most famous bookstore is where the Beat movement of the 1950s was born. Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac hung out in the basement, and now regulars and tourists while hours away in this well-worn space. The upstairs room holds impressive poetry and Beat literature collections. Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the owner, remains active in the workings of this three-story shop. City Lights Publishers, which issued the poet Allen Ginsberg's Howl in 1956, publishes a dozen new titles each year.