San Francisco: Well-curated City by the Bay

Abstract

May–August 2014 • 5 photo : nico trinkhaus notebook San Francisco City Profile Just as a bookshelf can jam together wildly different books, each book a small box opening onto a different world, so seemed the buildings of my city: every row of houses and shops brought near many kinds of abundance, opened onto many mysteries: crack houses, zen centers, gospel churches, tattoo parlors, produce stores, movie palaces, dim sum shops. – Rebecca Solnit In his 1998 inaugural address, former San Francisco poet laureate Lawrence Ferlinghetti voiced concern over what the Bay Guardian earlier described as “a city undergoing a radical transformation—from a diverse metropolis that welcomed immigrants and refugees from around the world to a homogenous, wealthy enclave.” Fourteen years later, Peter Orner charted the changes in his neighborhood, Precita Park, as it became more affluent and pushed out middleclass renters. Still, Orner saw the character that remained in Precita Park, and a few days in the city proves it hasn’t lost the gentrification battle yet: its diversity, poetic life, and internal contradictions are alive on the streets and in the literature it inspires. Litquake, an annual literary festival in October , attracts dozens of writers from diverse backgrounds and genres and places them in venues throughout the city. At Litquake you can hear poets read at the Rex Hotel and then jump in a cab and attend a rowdy literary death match in a renovated warehouse down in the heart of SOMA. The week ends with a lit crawl, which this year will take visitors through bookstores, streets, galleries, restaurants, a bowling alley, and a police station. Considering the city’s commitment to its literary community, it’s no surprise that independent bookstores survive in San Francisco. City Lights is still worth a visit, not just for its history—best experienced upstairs in the poetry room—but because it is so well curated. But other stores, like Dog Eared Books in the Mission , help pull booklovers south, away from the more touristy parts of the city. While walking the mural-lined streets, you’re sure to catch a writing prompt. For instance, a man ran across the street and said to a woman walking near me, “I thought you was dead!” Perhaps a story like this prompted Oscar Wilde to write, “It’s an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco. It must be a delightful city and possess all the attraction of the next world.” – Michelle Johnson, WLT Managing Editor Books to Read in Dolores Park San Francisco Poems By Lawrence Ferlinghetti The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession By Allison Hoover Bartlett Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco By Gary Kamiya Birds of Paradise Lost By Andrew Lam The Year of the Fog By Michelle Richmond Infinite City By Rebecca Solnit Well-curated City by the Bay ...