Play & San Francisco, CA
Expertise Provided By: “Lonely Planet San Francisco Encounters”
Best Bookstores
City Lights
Famed North Beach cultural and political institution founded by Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who rang the chimes of 1st Amendment freedom when he published the “lewd” work Howl by Allen Ginsberg. The upstairs poetry room, devoted to all things Beat, is an ode to the writers and poets who presaged the sea change of the 60s.
Green Apple
Described as “the opium den of San Francisco’s literary set”, you can gorge yourself on excellent staff selections, the latest releases, remainders, poetry, and an adjacent annex with used novels and CDs.
The Booksmith
The Booksmith Author’s Series lures the best and the brightest for readings and booksignings. Authors ranging from Timothy Leary, Kazuo Ishiguro, Art Spiegelman, Ray Bradbury, Maya Angelou are some of the members of the literary pantheon who have made the scene.
Adobe Books & Backroom Gallery
Magnet for used and cheap books in a funky shop strewn with couches and stray cats, offering everything for a bibliophile from art books to German philosophy. Bargain local artwork in the tiny art gallery.