The Beat Museum — Attraction in San Francisco

I must admit that when I first spotted the Beat Museum on a visit to San Francisco a few years back I dismissed it as a tourist trap and didn't go in. I corrected that when last in the SF Bay Area in January. It is a trove of Beat Generation memorabilia and literature with very reasonable prices on their wide variety of books. I should add that it is across the street from City Lights Bookstore, founded in the early 50's by Beat poet and author, the late Lawrence Ferlinghetti. I had a wide ranging conversation with Brandon (the guy with the beard in one of my photos) about Jack Kerouac and the Beat Era. Brandon is extremely knowledgeable about Kerouac and one cool guy. If you find your self in North Beach, San Francisco's coolest hood, don't make my initial mistake, go on in and check out the...

If you have any interest in the Beats and their place in culture, history & literature, the Beat Museum is for you. Filled with photos, information, art, artifacts and rare examples of books - the museum is small, but dense; you can spend quite a bit of time here. Start out on the 1st floor with general items and a cultural overview, then you go upstairs for more specific material on the core members. When you go back downstairs, there's a room showing a film about the Beats. The book store is excellent with tons of books by everyone represented in the museum, including some rare pieces in a case. But they also have a wonderful selection of general topic used books as well. If you're stopping at City Lights Book Store - this is just across the street and...

This is a museum that's all about the vibes! This is not an interactive museum with the all the bells and whistles, it's opposite the City Lights bookstore and is a pretty immersive look into the history of the Beat movement with sections devoted to the main players. It's a blend of biography, books, and artefacts with a real feel of love and appreciation for the literature that emerged from it. It is quite a small museum with a cool gift shop and very friendly staff too! The owners are busy so do check the days it's closed. The website and Google says the opening time is 10am but I think it's a bit more flexible so head into City Lights or grab a coffee and come back...