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Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Enduring San Francisco

nytimes.com

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Re: Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Enduring San Francisco

#11

Post by abalone »

LeanderK wrote: post #3
the_decider wrote: post #2

Unfortunately, Ferlinghetti's San Francisco is long-gone; the artists have moved on. Tech rules the City now.

are there any pockets of artists left? I don't mean famous ones, there's probably someone who can pay enough to compete with tech-workers

Only the ones with rent control from 10+ years ago, which the techie-YIMBY types are for the most part opposed to as well to make more room for them. Fortunately there is some positive backlash brewing in local politics which is focusing on expanding tenant protections and actual affordable housing. See for example Dean Preston and the very active SF DSA chapter.[1]

Another challenge: affording commercial gallery space.

[1] https://www.votedean.com/

Re: Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Enduring San Francisco

#12

Post by sswaner »

What a delightful article. On my first visit to City Lights I bought a copy of Ferlinghetti’s “A Coney Island if the Mind” and a copy of Dharma Bums (Kerouac’s best book). I didn’t really know what Lawrence looked like (pre-internet days). I asked how often he came into the book store, the clerk said: “He is upstairs now”. I walked up that narrow wooden staircase, looked at him, he looked at me. I said “hi”, he smiled, I left. Really,really wish I had been brave enough to say more. Hadn’t realized it was him when I went up there before and picked out one of his books.

Re: Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Enduring San Francisco

#13

Post by kovacs »

crushcrashcrush wrote: post #9
aznpwnzor wrote: post #7

I had no idea the history behind City Lights. But I loved it for very obvious reasons. 1. it's open late. almost nothing else is in SF. 2. it has a wonderful basement where the shelves are almost haphazardly placed.

Why is NOTHING in this city open late? Including restaurants. Who wants to eat at 6:30?!

Because SF is a town, not a city. And with the cost of doing business only on the rise there isn't room for places to be open during non-peak hours anymore. The number of coffee shops and restaurants that stay open later has noticeably decreased in my 19 years of living in SF.

Believe me I wish it were different but there are diners that are open late.

Dave Chappelle goes to Grubsteak when he's in town and they're open till 4AM. Or you can go hang out with the USF students at the 24hr Starbucks over in Laurel Hts.

Re: Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Enduring San Francisco

#14

Post by newnewpdro »

crushcrashcrush wrote: post #9
aznpwnzor wrote: post #7

I had no idea the history behind City Lights. But I loved it for very obvious reasons. 1. it's open late. almost nothing else is in SF. 2. it has a wonderful basement where the shelves are almost haphazardly placed.

Why is NOTHING in this city open late? Including restaurants. Who wants to eat at 6:30?!

SF is a party city. There's a shitload going on every night all night, it's just a bit underground.

The CA 2AM last-call is at least partly responsible.

Re: Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Enduring San Francisco

#15

Post by techieyimbi »

abalone wrote: post #11
LeanderK wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

are there any pockets of artists left? I don't mean famous ones, there's probably someone who can pay enough to compete with tech-workers

Only the ones with rent control from 10+ years ago, which the techie-YIMBY types are for the most part opposed to as well to make more room for them. Fortunately there is some positive backlash brewing in local politics which is focusing on expanding tenant protections and actual affordable housing. See for example Dean Preston and the very active SF DSA chapter.[1] Another challenge: affording commercial gallery spa…

>YIMBY types are for the most part opposed to as well to make more room for them

I'd like to say, that's an extremely uncharitable and untrue view of YIMBY positions. When you have intense housing pressure, landlords will abuse the law if they think they can get away with it.

This is instead of legislating locking people into place (for example, having to commute 10 miles across sf like one of my friends does due to rent control "lock" in).

I would rather rents be dropped by matching demand. It's working in Seattle, it's working in Portland. Building housing to match the influx of people moving into all cities (there are more people today than when they were built), in combination with moderate rent control and strict tenant protection is the only way out of this mess.

Re: Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Enduring San Francisco

#16

Post by mykowebhn »

sswaner wrote: post #12

What a delightful article. On my first visit to City Lights I bought a copy of Ferlinghetti’s “A Coney Island if the Mind” and a copy of Dharma Bums (Kerouac’s best book). I didn’t really know what Lawrence looked like (pre-internet days). I asked how often he came into the book store, the clerk said: “He is upstairs now”. I walked up that narrow wooden staircase, looked at him, he looked at me. I said “hi”, he smile…

City Lights is one of my favorite bookstores anywhere, and I feel its fiction collection is second to none.

There are a handful of novels I use to judge how broad (and good) a bookstore's fiction collection is. Hermann Broch's Sleepwalkers, Robert Musil's A Man Without Qualities, and Witold Gombrowicz's Ferdydurke. I would say 90 percent of the bookstores out there would not have any of these three books in stock, and certainly not Barnes & Noble. The last time I checked, City Lights had all three in stock.

Re: Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Enduring San Francisco

#18

Post by soccernee »

sswaner wrote: post #12

What a delightful article. On my first visit to City Lights I bought a copy of Ferlinghetti’s “A Coney Island if the Mind” and a copy of Dharma Bums (Kerouac’s best book). I didn’t really know what Lawrence looked like (pre-internet days). I asked how often he came into the book store, the clerk said: “He is upstairs now”. I walked up that narrow wooden staircase, looked at him, he looked at me. I said “hi”, he smile…

Thanks for sharing. Just wanted to add that I too think Dharma Bums is Kerouac's best book, I really enjoyed reading every page.

Re: Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Enduring San Francisco

#19

Post by tropo »

aznpwnzor wrote: post #7

I had no idea the history behind City Lights. But I loved it for very obvious reasons. 1. it's open late. almost nothing else is in SF. 2. it has a wonderful basement where the shelves are almost haphazardly placed.

Enjoy that basement with haphazardly placed shelves while you can. Before long, an ADA lawsuit will wipe it out. Lawyers and disabled people team up to do this on purpose, searching for places to sue. It's not normally a disabled person randomly showing up and being inconvenienced; this is an industry. For example, in my neighborhood every business on a particular street got hit all at once. These teams know exactly what to look for, and will use the smallest insignificant violation to start a lawsuit.

Re: Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Enduring San Francisco

#20

Post by abalone »

techieyimbi wrote: post #15
abalone wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only the ones with rent control from 10+ years ago, which the techie-YIMBY types are for the most part opposed to as well to make more room for them. Fortunately there is some positive backlash brewing in local politics which is focusing on expanding tenant protections and actual affordable housing. See for example Dean Preston and the very active SF DSA chapter.[1] Another challenge: affording commercial gallery spa…

>YIMBY types are for the most part opposed to as well to make more room for them I'd like to say, that's an extremely uncharitable and untrue view of YIMBY positions. When you have intense housing pressure, landlords will abuse the law if they think they can get away with it. This is instead of legislating locking people into place (for example, having to commute 10 miles across sf like one of my friends does due to…

> It’s working in Seattle...

Not for artists it’s not.

“in spite of decades of indisputably strong development, Seattle’s share of cost-burdened renters has barely budged.”

“...by overbuilding housing for the wealthy, Seattle has achieved some short-term improvement in affordability for the middle class, at the expense of substantial displacement and continued upward pressure on the most vulnerable. In this, it is similar to California as a whole, with the state’s 300,000-unit surplus for above-moderate income earners, in spite of Seattle’s proportionally superior housing production. As the city considers a greater emphasis on inclusionary zoning, even supporters of robust development have begun to question some of the core assumptions of supply-side models.”[1]

[1] Seattle, a Cautionary Tale for Supply-Side Housing Advocates https://knock-la.com/seattle-a-cautionary-tale-for-supply-si...

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