Birthplace of the Beat movement, and one of the most famous bookstores in America, City Lights has been in North Beach since the 1950s. Owned by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the store still stocks the masters of the Beat genre like Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs, and continues to host readings as well as publish new titles under the in-house imprimatur City Lights Publishers. Come to browse the stacks for art, poetry, and some mainstream fiction.