"It’s Not the Kind of Thing People Could Create from Scratch These Days"

"THE same quality that gave rise to the city’s proliferation of small bookstores—compact, walkable neighborhoods with a militant objection to chain stores—makes it easy for visitors to explore the city’s literary terrain. Though the center of gravity has moved around over the years—from the old Barbary Coast in the days of Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce to North Beach during the Beat era to the Haight a decade later—today the scene is most visible in the Mission."

Gregorty Dicum in The New York Times explores San Francisco's bookstores and literary scene.