
Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Enduring San Francisco - mykowebhn
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/travel/lawrence-ferlinghettis-enduring-san-francisco.html
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the_decider
Unfortunately, Ferlinghetti's San Francisco is long-gone; the artists have
moved on. Tech rules the City now.

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LeanderK
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

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mykowebhn
What about on the East Bay? Isn't there a more lively artist community in
places like Berkeley, Oakland, or El Cerrito?

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mushufasa
My impression is that there was recently a "golden age" for art in the east
bay which is now waning, in large part because it's not seen as an affordable
destination for young artists.

During my pit-stop in SF last November, I made a point of attending the famous
monthly underground art variety show (Tourettes without Regrets) in the east
bay, because I happened to be there that day. I was shocked to see the
audience and performers were much older demographically than I remembered when
I lived in the area 5 years ago; most attendees seemed to be over 30 rather
than under 30.

So, anecdotally, it seems to me that the artists who established there years
ago may still be there, but the east bay's not attracting new artists as much
as it once was.

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ericmcer
I have been in Oakland for about ten years and the only young people I know
who still go to the art/variety shows have been enabled by family wealth. The
culture is still here because people are drawn to this area specifically for
it, but it feels hollow at this point, none of it is coming from an organic
place.

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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.

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mykowebhn
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.

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aznpwnzor
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.

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

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newnewpdro
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.

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dmode
I loved this article because it totally avoids the "SF has changed so much
because of techies" cliche

