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City Lights Bookstore, Columbus Street
The literary landmark, City Lights became the de facto headquarters of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. Bookstore owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti sold and published works no other press would touch, including books by Michael McClure and Jack Kerouac. Ferlinghetti gained national notoriety when he published the apocalyptic and incendiary poem, 'Howl' by Alan Ginsberg. The store's anti-authoritarian influence and championing of the First Amendment continues today. Its legacy may be that the banned books once available only at City Lights are now available all over the country.
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