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Things To Do in San Francisco

City Lights Bookstore

261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, California 94133

Featured Review : What it’s like: 'A sort of library where books are sold,' is their slogan. I hesitated to include City Lights, since it seems like a San Francisco cliché. Still, it is one of the great bookstores in the country, as it ca...See Full Review

  • #17 most popular
    thing to do in San Francisco
  • Avg. User Rating:
    4 out of 5 stars

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City Lights Bookstore Reviews

Have you visited the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco? We're always looking for more City Lights Bookstore reviews and photos. Contribute yours today.

Must Gross Local Writers Picket Line to Enter

  • 1 out of 5 stars by Clive Barker from Boston, Massachusetts
  • April 15, 2025
Quote: I was hardly impressed with City Lights, to say the least. Perhaps in this businesses golden beatnik era things were different. Small cramped space, rude staff, greatly overpriced titles, and to top it off you have local authors distributing... Read the full City Lights Bookstore review

City Lights Bookstore

  • 5 out of 5 stars by Little Ayun from Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • March 12, 2025
Quote: I'm the sort of traveler who always looks for local independent booksellers in every city I visit, so it's something of a wonder that I'd never gone to City Lights before this trip. I think it has something to do with the fact that every photo I've... Read the full City Lights Bookstore review

From journal San Francisco - On and Off the Corporate Dime

City Lights Bookstore

  • 3 out of 5 stars by jl32 from Chicago, Illinois
  • September 16, 2025
Quote: Famous for its beat-poet owner, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, City Lights has long been the site of liberal, Berkeley-style protests and intellectualism. The store itself is just a bookstore, with an upstairs dedicated to the beats, but the staff get tired... Read the full City Lights Bookstore review

From journal The San Francisco Treat

City Lights Bookstore

  • 3 out of 5 stars by quinty from New York, New York
  • July 25, 2025
Quote: I've only known the famed City Lights in its tourist incarnation, so I have no idea what I'm missing out on. It's still a great independent bookstore that I could easily spend a day browsing around in. With that said, it just doesn't have the... Read the full City Lights Bookstore review

From journal Quick & Dirty in San Francisco

City Lights Bookstore

  • 5 out of 5 stars by pstar_craze from Lennoxville, Quebec
  • August 17, 2025
Quote: I loved this bookstore!!! It was amazing!!! This was one of my favorite sites to see. Situated just at the tip of Chinatown, City Lights bookstore is where Allen Ginsberg and other famous authors used to visit and read frequently. Next door is the... Read the full City Lights Bookstore review

From journal San Francisco is gorgeous!!!

City Lights Bookstore

  • 4 out of 5 stars by Grendelb from Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • March 22, 2025
Quote: It doesn't seem to matter where I go, I always end up trying to find that city's best bookstore. Because of the number of really good bookstores in San Francisco, it's really tough to call one of them the best. But, if for nothing else but the... Read the full City Lights Bookstore review

From journal San Francisco Chinese Parade

Best of IgoUgo

City Lights Bookstore

  • 3 out of 5 stars by Simon Morley from Denville, New Jersey
  • November 9, 2025
Quote: You can't mention the beat poets without speaking about City Lights Bookstore in the same breath. This is the first all-paperback bookstore in the USA and is ground zero for one of the most famous fights about free speech. It has to be something in... Read the full City Lights Bookstore review

From journal A First Time Visitor to San Francisco

City Lights Bookstore

  • 4 out of 5 stars by CalvinMitch from Wilmington, Delaware
  • October 28, 2025
Quote: Beatific! Hip and cool bookstore owned by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, part of the beat movement back in the early sixties. If you ever read 'On the Road,' and liked it - the bookstore takes on a kinda Mecca-like importance. A kinda living memorial to the... Read the full City Lights Bookstore review

From journal Long Weekend in San Francisco

Best of IgoUgo

City Lights Bookstore

  • 4 out of 5 stars by stranger from New York, New York
  • June 6, 2025
Quote: What it’s like: 'A sort of library where books are sold,' is their slogan. I hesitated to include City Lights, since it seems like a San Francisco cliché. Still, it is one of the great bookstores in the country, as it caters to the Academic and the... Read the full City Lights Bookstore review

From journal Ten Days by the Bay