San Francisco Poetry

BOB KAUFMAN

aboutBobKaufman

The Abomunist Manifesto Bob Kaufman
The Abomunist Manifesto, written completely in scat phrases. , rivaled Ginsberg's Howl in its status as signature Beat text, and the term "beatnik" was coined by San Francisco columnist Herb Caen to describe Kaufman.

The Ancient Rain: Poems, 1956-1978 by Bob Kaufman
includes poetry collected by Kaufman's friend, Mary Beach, during his first period of silence.

Cranial Guitar by Bob Kaufman

edited by Gerald Nicosia this book contains the complete text of Golden Sardine (City Lights, along with Kaufman's broadside Abomunist Manifesto,some fine poems from currently in-print collections, Solitudes Crowded With Loneliness  and The Ancient Rain and includes eight previously uncollected poems/prose poems.

Golden Sardine (Pocket Poets)by Bob Kaufman
City Lights Books (December 1967)  This collection consists of poetry collected from scattered bits of manuscript found in a leather-bound valese by his friend Mary Beach after a fire in his apartment. The book's title is a portion of a phrase he had written on a brown piece of wrapping paper. These poems show Kaufman's ability to successfully manipulate a wide variety of forms, as he examines the political and social issues of his time. This book is available used or new.

Second April by Bob Kaufman
(City lights 1959)Kaufman interweaves his autobiography with historical and popular cultural events. available used

DOES THE SECRET MIND WHISPER? by Bob Kaufman Available used.

Would You Wear My Eyes: A Tribute to Bob Kaufman
by Jack Hirschman(editor
After Bob Kaufman's death in 1986, Hirschman edited this collection of more than 50 tributes to Bob Kaufman (San Francisco: Bob Kaufman Collective, 1989).
This book is very rare. I was very fortunate to find a copy for sale used at Amazon.com

This tribute is a excerpt one of them.
I KNOW WHERE RAINBOWS GO TO DIE
Marty Matz
(On The Death of Bob Kaufman):

TOGETHER WE WALKED THROUGH A FABLED CITY
OF HALLUCINATING GREEN
AND TALKED AWAY
A THOUSAND SMOKING NIGHTS
AS YOUR ACHING HEART
BEAT ITS BONES
IN TIME TO BIRD'S BRILLIANT SOUNDS
OVER THE NEON STREETS OF MURDERED SCHEMES

A Crystal for Bob Kaufman by Ira Cohen, the incomparable amazing American poet, publisher, photographer and filmmaker
And for about Ira Cohen see his slendid The Ira Cohen AkashicProject

Jazz - Jail and God: An Impressionistic Biography of Bob Kaufman
by Mel Clay
This is a impressionistic biography and is like a long jazz riff cutting down through the beatitudes to touch us all.

NEELI CHERKOVSKI
Cherkovski's latest book
From the Canyon Outward by Neeli Cherkovski
(October 19, 2009)
Leaning Against Time by Neeli Cherkovski
Elegy for Bob Kaufman
by Neeli Cherkovski
Whitman's Wild Children
by Neeli Cherovski

GREGORY CORSO

Mindfield: New & Selected Poems by Gregory, Corso
new introduction by David Amram, this publication includes forewords by two legendary Beat writers, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.

An Accidental Autobiography: The Selected Letters by Gregory Corso, Bill Morgan , Patti Smith (Foreword)
 In these letters from Gregory Corso, written in the 1950s and '60s, he ruminates on his own poetry and that of others, and reminisces about his difficult early years, which included orphanages, reform school, mental institutions, and prison.

LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI
City Lights Pocket Poets Anthology
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Ferlinghetti and Peter Martin started a magazine there called 'City Lights'.
They decided to open a bookstore on the floor below as a side venture, naming it after the magazine.
The City Lights Bookstore became one of the most famous bookstores in the world, and still stands proudly in its original location.

A Coney Island of the Mind : Poems
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Ferlinghetti was one of the more politically-minded of the Beats, and has been continually active on behalf of liberal causes. Ferlinghetti is still active today as a poet and as the proprietor of City Lights.

Poetry As Insurgent Art Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born 1919) is not only a major American poet, he is a national icon. Through his publishing and bookselling at City Lights Books in San Francisco, his inspiration of the Beats, his steady publication of and coverage of poets both classic and avante-garde, there is nothing about poetry that he does know and in this his latest book, he shares what poetry is, could be, and should be.

'I went into the Navy as Lawrence Ferling. Took part in D-Day and after the war I attended the Sorbonne on the G.I. Bill. ... Lots of guys did it. Spent four years in Paris, painting and translating poetry. And landed in San Francisco in 1950 with a sea bag over my shoulder. I liked the city; it had this insular feeling, like Naples. People there are Neapolitans first and Italians second. I came to North Beach, which was 90 percent Italian then, and I put the -hetti back on my name, and bought a partnership in the bookstore for $500, and here I am.'
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American writer born on March 24, 1919, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, January 5, 2003

Beat by Christopher Felver
This book is the most comprehensive photography collection of the people, players, and friends of the Beat era in American literature. How could I resist? I bought it and it is outstanding!...Nicole, sfheart

ALLEN GINSBERG

The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice:
First Journals and Poems 1937-1952
by Allen Ginsberg

Reality Sandwiches: 1953-1960 (City Lights Pocket Poets Series) by Allen Ginsberg 
Planet News: 1961-1967 (City Lights Pocket Poets Series) by Allen Ginsberg 

The Fall of America: Poems of These States 1965-1971 (City Lights Pocket Poets Series) by Allen Ginsberg 
Journals : Early Fifties Early Sixties by Allen Ginsberg
Here are journal entries, notes, dreams, and reflections from the period when Ginsberg and his fellow Beats led the insurrection that profoundly altered America's cultural landscape.

First Blues
Bob Dylan (Contributor) and Allen Ginsberg
This reissue of a long out-of-print LP is a 2 CD set spanning 1971-1981 collects Ginsberg performing 24 pieces - sometimes accompanying himself, some tracks collaborating with Bob Dylan, New York underground legend Arthur Russell, and visionary producer John Hammond. It also contains the original detailed liner notes by G insberg, and a cover photo by the legendary Robert Frank.
Release Date:02/ 21/ 06

WILLIAM EMERSON
William Everson: The Life of Brother Antoninusby Lee Bartlett
Everson was one of the San Francisco Renaissance poets (the Beats) and a member of the Dominican Order.This biography of explores the poet's life that began on a San Joaquin Valley farm as a young poet , later finding himself in a camp for conscientious objectors during World War II—writing and printing pacifist poems and literature from a printing press from the camp. and a monk in the Dominican Order for 18 years.One of the most controversial figures of the pre-beat San Francisco Renaissance and—of course—a key personality of the Beat Generation.

DEVORAH MAJOR

Where River Meets Ocean (Poet Laureate Series (City Lights Foundation), No. 3.)
by Devorah Major
"A visionary of hope, with a heart big enough to embrace every neighborhood, street and alley in this magical and -poetical city. Here is a poet who shoots straight as Cupid's arrow. Zing! Right to the heart."-Alejandro Murguia

The Other Side of the Postcard
In conjunction with the San Francisco Public Library, poet laureate devorah major made a public appeal for poems that explored the realities of people's lives in a city as tough and tragic as it is beautiful and exhilarating. This anthology collects the best of this poetry by celebrated writers, school children with fresh eyes, homeless people and students, perceptive elders and working people from every ethnicity and class. A cross section of the city's voices offers a passionately experienced response to the city, the nation and the world.

Street Smarts by devorah major 

PHILIP LAMANTIA
Tau & Journey to the End (City Lights Pocket Poets Series)
Philip Lamantia's mystical poems and the long-lost "Six Gallery" poems by legendary hipster John Hoffman.
This is the latest installment of the Pocket Poets Series and two long-lost books from the classic Beat period.

Overtime: Selected Poems (Penguin Poets)    by Phillip Whalen, edited by Michael Rothenberg
The degree of respect and admiration the beats had for Whalen is remarkable. He was adored by Kerouac, who found him easy to be with and confide in. Philip's nonjudgmental nature and education is probably one the keys here in that. Ginsberg considered Whalen the only Zen Master Poet practicing in America.The spirit of honor and admiration for Philip Whalen extends beyond the Beat Generation.~ Michael Rothenberg

JACK SPICER

My Vocabulary Did This to Me: A Tribute to Jack Spicer.
Bay Area authors Kevin Killian, Lewis Ellingham, D.A. Powell, Robert Gluck, Leslie Scalapino, Lisa Robertson and many others pay tribute to this influential writer. (November 30, 2008)
Jack Spicer poems and bio

Poet Be Like God: Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance
by Jack Spicer
Unlike his contemporaries Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Gary Snyder, Jack Spicer was a poet who disdained publishing and relished his role as a social outcast. He died in 1965 virtually unrecognized, yet in the following years his work and thought have attracted and intrigued an international audience. Now this comprehensive biography gives a pivotal poet his due. Based on interviews with scores of Spicer's contemporaries, Poet Be Like God details the most intimate aspects of Spicer's life -- his family, his friends, his lovers -- illuminating not only the man but also many of his poems.

Love Works (San Francisco Poet Laureate Series)
by Janice Mirikitani
Janice Mirikitani is the author of three books of poetry. She has, over the past 35 years, created and directed programs for young people and people in need at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco's Tenderloin district.

The Beautiful
by Michelle Tea
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2004 and a Lambda Literary Award finalist.

City of One: Young Writers Speak to the World   by Colette DeDonato
A moving collection of poetry comes from children and young adults involved in the WritersCorps program, which works with disadvantaged youth to help them develop creative writing and literacy skills. Their words depict the violence and harsh realities of their daily lives, their aversion to war and prejudices, pride in their identities/ethnicities and home countries, and their hopes for peace. A beautiful collection. Foreward by Isabel Allende.

As If the World Really Mattered: Poems by Art Goodtimes 
Poems which joyfully expound on the natural world and our relationship to it. Lyrical but root essential, Goodtimes speaks as one of the ancient storytellers—wise and sly...Dolores LaChapelle
Conceived in New Mexico but born in San Francisco, Art Goodtimes -- poet, journalist and organic potato farmer-- is serving his forth term as a Green County Commissioner in southwestern Colorado. Former poetry editor for Earth First! Journal and founder of the Talking Gourd poetry tradition, Goodtimes has served as poet-in-residence for the annual Telluride Mushroom Festival for the past 25 years and makes his home near Norwood on Wright's Mesa at the western edge of the San Juans.

Bohemia: Where Art, Angst, Love and Strong Coffee Meet
by Herbert Gold
To visit what many consider to be Bohemia’s golden age, there is no better source than Gold.
Herbert Gold was awarded the Sherwood Anderson Prize for fiction in 1989. Raised in Cleveland, he has lived in various Islands of Bohemia, including Greenwich Village, Paris, Haiti, and South Beach in Miami. He is a longtime resident of San Francisco. Publisher: Axios Press (Sept. 2007)

California Poetry: From the Gold Rush to the Present  
by Dana Gioia (Editor), Chryss Yost (Editor), Jack Hicks (Editor)
Heyday Books; (November 2003)
CALIFORNIA POETRY is the first historical anthology to provide a comprehensive survey of California poetry. This groundbreaking new book presents the work of 101 authors across two centuries, and includes poets as diverse as Ambrose Bierce, Yone Noguchi, Robinson Jeffers, Josephine Miles, Charles Bukowski, Ishmael Reed, Francisco X. Alarcón, and Marilyn Chin. With ample biographical and critical notes for each author, California Poetry goes beyond the limits of the ordinary anthology and provides a detailed and often intimate account of the Golden State's rich but often neglected cultural history.

KENNETH PATCHEN

Kenneth Patchen Books

Kenneth Patchen (Poetry with Jazz) AUDIO CD'S

Rebel Poets of America Kenneth Patchen
Kenneth Patchen Reads His Love Poems
Selected Poems of Kenneth Patchen: Read By Author
Untitled [RARE] John Gage and Kenneth Patchen
Kenneth Patchen Reads With Jazz in Canada

Puts Muscles in Your Ears - Kenneth Patchen Reads His Poetry with the Chamber Jazz Sextet VINYL
If You Can Lose Your Head LP Kenneth Patchen Reads with Allyn Ferguson and the Chamber Jazz Sextet VINYL

OTHER POETRY & JAZZ CD's

Poetry Readings in the Cellar Kenneth Rexroth
The Best of Word Jazz, Vol. 1 Ken Nordine
His Royal Hipness Lord Buckley
The Best of the Beat Generation various artists
The Beat Generation various artists box-set
The Voice of Langston Hughes

JACK KEROUAC
CD: Pull My Daisy Jack Kerouac and David Abram...and other Jazz Classics
CD: The Jack Kerouac Collection 3 disc Box Set

One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Music from Kerouac's Big Sur (CD/DVD) Benjamin Gibbard, Jay Farrar
Original Release Date:October 20, 2009
2 Disc ~ Label: Atlantic

DVD:
What Happened to Kerouac?
Starring: Gregory Corso, Jan Kerouac
Director: Lewis MacAdams, Richard Lerner
Run Time: 96 minutes 41/2 stars

DVD:
Beat Angel - the Spirit of Kerouac
Starring: Vincent Balestri; Frank Tabbita; Lisa Niemi; Amy Humphrey Director: Randy Allred
134 minutes 41/2 stars

San Francisco Poet Laureate
DIANA  dI  PRIMA

Recollections of My Life as a Woman: The New York Years
by Diane di Prima
chronicles the intensity of those years as the Beat movement emerged on both coasts, and the country accelerated into the sixties. Poetry, painting, dance, and theater flowed into one another, and well-known figures from all those worlds-including Merce Cunningham, Frank O'Hara, Audre Lorde, Trisha Brown, and Franz Kline-move through her story. Diane Di Prima was a deliberate single parent at a time when that was unheard of, and her relationships and sexuality were as revolutionary as her writing. This is a powerful and unique remembering of how one woman's life revealed itself to her.

Revolutionary Letters by Diane di Prima  
Pieces of a Song: Selected Poems by Diane di Prima
City Lights Publishers (January 1, 2001)
Loba (Poets, Penguin) by Diane di Prima
first released in 1978
This epic poem, originally published in 1978 as a work in progress (eight parts) in a nicely illustrated edition, appears here (pub.August 1, 1998) in its completed form (16 parts) for the first time.
Dinners and Nightmares by Diane di Prima
Last Gasp; 3 edition (July 1998)
Seminary Poems Floating Island Publications (May 1991)

SHARON DOUBIAGO
My Father's Love: Portrait of the Poet as a Young Girl
(Volume 1) by Sharon Doubiago
Wild Ocean Press (October 31, 2009)
Doubiago's memoir is a breathtakingly honest and poignant account of the her struggle to come to terms with sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father, as well as its seeming acceptability in both her family and the world at large.
Love on the Sreets by Sharon Doubiago
Hard Country by Sharon Doubiago

JACK HIRSCHMAN ~ 4TH San Francisco poet laureate.

All That's Left by Jack Hirschman  
(San Francisco Poet Laureate Series) by Jack Hirschman
Jack Hirschman is a San Francisco poet, translator, and editor. His powerfully eloquent voice set the tone for political poetry in this country many years ago. Since leaving a teaching career in the 60s, Hirschman has taken the free exchange of poetry and politics into the streets where he is, in the words of poet Luke Breit, "America's most important living poet." He is the author of numerous books of poetry, plus some 45 translations from a half a dozen languages, as well as the editor of anthologies and journals. Among his many volumes of poetry are Endless Threshold, The Xibalba Arcane, and Lyripol (City Lights, 1976).

The Last American Valentine by Jack Hirschman
an anthology of exhilarating modern love poetry. Each author has been paired up with some of the best American graphic designers for this annual collection of stunning work. Featuring acclaimed authors, musicians and barflys such as MICHAEL MCCLURE JACK HIRSCHMAN MINDY NETTIFEE RICHARD SWIFT NATHAN WILLET (cold war kids) RICK LUPERT BRENDAN CONSTANTINE BEAU SIA AGNETA FALK MICHAEL ROBERTS MICHAEL C FORD BUDDY WAKEFIELD AMBER TAMBLYN JOHN GARDINER CRISTIN OKEEFE APTOWICZ SHAPPY SEASHOLTZ ROGER BONAIR AGARD LYNNE PROCOPE VICTOR INFANTE DERRICK BROWN 216 pages.

Only Dreaming Sky: Poems by Jack Hirschman
San Francisco's award-winning Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman reveals his lighter, humorous side with this new book. "Poetry is really a weapon. It's a spiritual weapon for the transformation of the world. And, of course, all my poems are love poems. The nicest thing in the world is to propagandize for love." -Jack Hirschman.

Art on the Line by Jack Hirschman
Cultural Writing. "Art on the Line" is a collection of essays by writers and artists from the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa who believe art can move people to action and speaking about where their own social commitment and their art intersect.

DAVID MELTZER

San Francisco Beat: Talking With the Poets by David Meltzer
  An essential archive of the Beat Generation, a rich moment in a fortunate place. America, somnolent, conformist, and paranoid in the 1950s, was changed forever by a handful of people who refused an existence of drudgery and enterprise, opting instead for a life of personal, spiritual, and artistic adventure. In these intimate, free-wheeling conversations, a baker's dozen of the poets of San Francisco talk about the scene then and now, the traditions of poetry, and about anarchism, globalism, Zen, the Bomb, the Kabbalah, and the Internet.

 Beat Thing by David Meltzer   
Author DAVID MELTZER began his literary career during the Beat heyday in San Francisco, reading poetry to jazz accompaniment at the famous Jazz Cellar. He is the editor and author of many books of poetry, including Arrows: Selected Poetry 1982–1992. He teaches in the Humanities and graduate Poetics programs at the New College of California. He lives in the Bay Area. A Tribute to David Meltzer

David's Copy : The Selected Poems of David Meltzer  
David's Copy, released in 2005, is the first major collection of Meltzer's poetry in nearly ten years. It spans a career in a bohemian underground rich with diverse social experiments in life and art. Meltzer, the renowned San Francisco beatnik from Brooklyn began his literary career during the beat heyday in San Francisco, reading poetry to jazz accompaniment at the famous Jazz Cellar. This new selected collection gleaned from 30 previous books published over the course of 40-plus years proves why he is one of my very favorite poets and anyone familar with his work will most certainly want to have this book. If you do not know of David Meltzer, buy this book and you will discover why so many poetry lovers revere him. David lives in the Bay Area and taught in the graduate Poetics and undergraduate Humanities programs at New College of California.

Poet with Jazz David Meltzer ~ Audio CD

David Meltzer reading in Petaluma, CA from Rockpile on Vimeo.

MICHAEL McCLURE

Mysteriosos and Other Poems
by Michael McClure
New Directions (April 23, 2010)
A spiritual odyssey by preeminent Beat Generation poet Michael McClure.
These new poems explore the last seven years and speak of working toward freedom and beauty during a time of interminable war, and the destruction of our natural surroundings.

The Third Mind DVD
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alan Ginsberg, Ray Manzarek, Michael McClure (VI), Jim Carroll
Equal parts documentary and performance film, THE THIRD MIND is former Doors organist Ray Manzarek and legendary Beat poet Michael McClure discussing the impact of Beat poetry on 1960s and '70s music while illustrating their observations with piano-spoken-word collaborations featuring footage of Allen Ginsberg, Jim Carroll, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Rain Mirror: New Poems
  by Michael McClure (Sep 1, 1999)
These poems by McClure are divided into two sections. "Crisis Blossom" records the traumatic aftereffects of a near-fatal airplane accident, following McClure from tarmac to hospital. "Haiku Edge" focuses, Zen-like, on life in Oakland, California, where McClure has lived.

Scratching the Beat Surface: Essays on New Vision from Blake to Kerouac
  by Michael McClure (November 1, 1994)

Touching the Edge
 
by Michael McClure (April 6, 1999)

Antechamber, and Other Poems
  by Michael McClure (April 6, 1999)

I Like Your Eyes Liberty by Terry Riley and Michael McClure (Audio CD - Jan 3, 2005)

The Beard and Vktms: Two Plays by Michael McClure

Love Lion  Audio CD by Ray Manzarek and Michael McClure (Aug 21, 1993) out of print but available new and used

The Real Work: Interviews and Talks, 1964-1979 
by Gary Snyder
This book show much of Gary Synder's usual wit and concision.
The most illuminating remarks in this book pertain to shamanism and poetry. As Synder points out, Shamanism is a world-wide phenomenon, and its core is learning from the nonhuman, "not a teaching from an Indian medicine man, or a Buddhist master. The question of culture does not enter into it. It's a naked experience some people have out there in the woods." Snyder has written about the experience in his poetry and his prose has taught a generation where the documents of shamanism can be found.

The Gary Snyder Reader    by Gary Snyder

Poets on the Peaks: Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen
by John Suiter    

Mountains and Rivers Without End by Gary Synder

Turtle Island by Gary Synder
This book won Gary Snyder the Pulitzer back in 1975

Riprap and Cold Mountain Poemsby Gary Snyder

“The world is our consciousness, and it surrounds us. There are more things in mind, in the imagination, than ‘you’ can keep track of—thoughts, memories, images, angers, delights, rise unbidden. The depths of mind, the unconscious, are our inner wilderness areas.”Gary Synder, the poet, Buddhist, and eco-activist, teacher

O Powerful Western Star: Poetry & Art In California by Jack Foley
    This is not only an engrossing and original book. It is also–for Californians–a necessary one. Foley’s collection ranks high among the few serious investigations ever written of San Francisco literary culture. It is, however, by no means a conventional study. O Powerful Western Star is by turns historical, critical, philosophical, visionary, and poetic. It is also often autobiographical. Foley has lived in the Bay Area for nearly four decades, and his insights grow from personal involvement as well as active research. Literary criticism is rarely so intellectually wide-ranging, imaginatively suggestive, or unabashedly personal.

PETER COYOTE

What Book!?: Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop by Peter Coyote
  Five years in the making, What Book!?: Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop is a major, active anthology of modern, mindful poetry, featuring over 330 selections from over 125 authors.

GEORGE TSONGAS

The Trieste Chronicles by George Tsongas
Reflecting upon the soul of North Beach's Cafe Trieste, George Tsongas successfully captures the energy of San Francisco's valuable social landmark with The Trieste Chronicles. George has been writing poems, plays, and novels since he arrived in San Francisco in 1945. The 81-year-old poet continues to be a regular at Caffe Trieste and is putting the finishing touches on his new book which will be coming out later this summer. Trieste Chronicles is Out of Print but available used from Amazon.com

... like a finely woven tapestry... Tsongas is one of the true masters of the short poem... -- A.D. Winans, author of San Francisco Streets

ANNE WALDMAN
In the Room of Never Grieve:
New and Selected Poems 1985-2003 
by Anne Waldman

Beat Book by Anne Waldman
foreward by Allen Ginsberg. Contributors are: Amiri Baraka, Gary Snyder, Gregory Corso, Diane Di Prima, Jack Kerouac, Peter Orlovsky, Joanne Kyger, Philip Whalen, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, Lew Welch, Michael McClure, William S. Burroughs, John Wieners, Bob Kaufman, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Also with "A Literary Guide to Beat Places" and an excellent bibliography.

First Baby Poems by Anne Waldman
This book was begun when Anne Waldman wad spending most of her time with her infant son in a small cabin in the mountains.During that time it felt natural for her to begin writing in the voice of the baby.

Women of the Beat Generation: The Writers, Artists and Muses at the Heart of a Revolution
by Brenda Knight and Ann Charters (Foreword) Anne Waldman
Women of the Beat Generation shares the stories of the wives, lovers and literary companions to many of the founders of the Baeat Movement.The writers include: Carolyn Cassady, Joyce Johnson, Edie Parker Kerouac,Joan Burroughs, and Lucian Carr.Many other selections covering the work of
Diane di Prima, Anne Waldman, Denise Levertov, Joanna McClure and others. Thisl book a must for anyone interested in Beat history from woman who loved it.

New American Underground Poetry, Vol 1: The Babarians of San Francisco--Poets from Hell
By Alan Allen, David Lerner and Julia Vinograd - Editors
Paperback book of poetry from the legendary Cafe Babar from the mid - late 1980s. Many photographs included.

A Writer's San Francisco: A Guided Journey for the Creative Soul  
by Eric Maisel (Author), Paul Madonna (Illustrator)

Farming in San Francisco: Poems 
by Daniel Richman
Dan Richman’s book of poems, Farming in San Francisco, is a love letter to a city from one who has lived in it long and hard, carved a life out of it, loved in it, lost in it, won in it, worked like hell in it, laughed and cried in it, walked a thousand miles in it, then thanked it for endless surprises and gifts of beauty, huge and small.

Songs of Gold Mountain: Cantonese Rhymes from San Francisco Chinatown 
by Marlon K. Hom
220 rhymes from two collections of Chinatown songs published in 1911 and 1915. The songs are outspoken and personal, addressing subjects as diverse as sex, frustrations with the American bureaucracy, poverty and alienation, and the loose morals of the younger generation of Americans and are arranged the songs thematically and gives an overview of early Chinese American literature

The City's Voice: Pioneer Prose And Poetry From The Overland Monthly (Early California Writers Series)
by Devorah Knaff
From Mark Twain and Bret Harte to Ambrose Bierce and John Muir, many well-known writers of the Early American West got their start at The Overland Monthly — San Francisco's first successful literary journal. These authors and more are represented in this collection of essays, short stories and poems, published together for the first time in over a century.