Top Bookstores in San Francisco

As one of the country’s most literary cities, San Francisco is home to many independent bookstores, several of which were founded over 50 years ago. The most famous by far is Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s City Lights, located in the historically Italian North Beach neighborhood and a key venue of the 1950s beat movement. Featured below are bookstores that really couldn’t be found in any other city—they represent the cultural uniqueness of the City by the Bay.

A San Francisco institution that became synonymous with the beat movement, City Lights was founded by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who died in 2021 at the age of 101, and Peter Martin in 1953. Located in the city’s iconic North Beach neighborhood, it was the country’s first all-paperback bookstore, designed to make inexpensive books more accessible to the public. City Lights was almost forced to close for good in 2020, but patrons stepped up to save the store by raising half a million dollars. City Lights is now hosting in-person readings again.

Another San Francisco literary institution, Green Apple Books was founded in 1967 in the Richmond district and now has three locations in the city. The main location on Clement St. is one of the most well-stocked bookstores in the city, and they also buy used books.

Queer-owned Fabulosa Books (formerly Dog Eared Books), was founded in the Mission district in 1992. It has an additional location in the Castro, as well as a sister bookstore, Alley Cat Books, which has one of the best collections of Spanish-language books in the city. Unsurprisingly, the Castro location is known for its in-depth collection of LGBTQ titles, including children’s books. The store also hosts a monthly LGBT Book Club!

Located near Union Square, Argonaut is a rare book shop specializing in books related to California’s early history, including the Gold Rush. It was founded in 1941 and is believed to be the inspiration for the Argosy Bookstore depicted in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller “Vertigo,” set in San Francisco.   

Bolerium Books represents the radical political history of San Francisco, specializing in out-of-print books and material related to various social movements: labor, gay liberation, feminism, and Black, Chicano and Asian American activism. It was founded in 1981 in the Mission district and also sells political posters, leaflets and other ephemera.