Haven’t seen anyone post this news; poet, publisher, bookstore owner, free speech advocate, dedicated Leftist and San Francisco icon Lawrence Ferlinghetti has passed away. He was 101 years old.
Ferlinghetti was born and raised in the suburbs of New York City and began his career as a writer on the East Coast but didn’t become well-known until he moved to San Francisco where he opened the now widely renowned City Lights Booksellers and Publishers. In 1956 he published a poetry book by Allen Ginsberg that included Ginsberg’s famous poem Howl. He was prosecuted for having published “obscene” material and fought the case all the way to the Supreme Court where we won a landmark case. Ferlinghetti published his best-known work, A Coney Island of the Mind, in 1958.
Ferlinghetti never considered himself a Beat poet yet he was friends with the major Beat writers—Ginsberg, Kerouac, Corso. He was active in turning back the move to put freeways everywhere, including along San Francisco’s waterfront. His book store was designated a World Heritage Site in 2001.
Anyone who enjoys reading should, when conditions allow for it, consider a trip to San Francisco simply to visit City Lights. It’s everything anyone could hope for in a bookstore and is the perfect monument to Ferlinghetti’s life.