653 Chenery Street
in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood

 

1-415-586-3733
[email protected]

 

Open to walk-in trade and browsing
Tuesday to Sunday
noon to six

Live Streams Every Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm, and more!

View them on our Facebook page or YouTube channel

The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project was created in 2007 "to present, document and archive the creative work of significant living writers and musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, for a neighborhood audience and future generations." We've been doing that very thing for more than a decade and a half, continuing the work we began when the store was established in 1999.

Due to lapses in tax filings during and post-pandemic, the BBCLP's status as a registered nonprofit was suspended at the beginning of April 2024 while we reapply, which is expected to take about six months. Donations made after April 1st will not be tax-deductible until nonprofit status is restored.

However, we continue to present a full slate of programming live music and poetry, and producing literary chapbooks, and we seek and welcome your continued financial support in the interim. If a tax-deduction is not a major reason for your support to date, we hope you'll continue to ride with us while we navigate these next several months.

Established in 2007 to take over responsibility for an ever expanding slate of cultural programming at the bookshop (est. 1999), the BBCLP presents several weekly concert series, poetry readings, and many other cultural programs, and also publishes the occasional small book and AMERARCANA: A Bird & Beckett Review.

The BBCLP depends on individual as well as institutional support. The bookshop and the BBCLP operate independently of each other; but the bookshop offers a courtesy discount to all those who've donated $50 or more in the past year.

Help us keep the arts alive and thriving!

Due to lapses in tax filings during and post-pandemic, the BBCLP's status as a registered nonprofit was suspended at the beginning of April 2024 while we reapply, which is expected to take about six months. Donations made after April 1st will not be tax-deductible until nonprofit status is restored.

Click above to donate, drop off a check at the bookshop, or drop one in the mail to:

Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project
653 Chenery Street
San Francisco, CA 94131

Call us at (415) 586-3733 to find out how else you might lend your support.

Membership Circles

Billy Berg Circle (up to $99) Named in honor of Los Angeles nightclub owner Billy Berg, who contracted with Dizzy Gillespie to bring a bop sextet including Charlie Parker (aka "Bird") to the West Coast in December 1945. Signifying the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project's commitment to presenting important performers and writers to appreciative audiences.

Sappho Circle ($100-499) Named for the Greek poet (ca. 600 B.C.), whose crystalline work has come down to us in time-burnished fragments through the efforts and care of countless scholars. Signifying the Cultural Legacy Project's commitment to keeping the creative contributions of our writers and musicians from being lost in the recesses of time.

Paulo Freire Circle ($500-999) Named for the revolutionary 20th century Brazilian educator and humanist, whose theories of pedagogy have been critical tools in the ongoing struggle for human liberation. Signifying the Project's commitment to the notion that education in our shared cultures makes us all stronger, more respectful of ourselves and each other, and more human.

Saraswati Circle ($1,000 & up) Named for the ancient Hindu goddess of knowledge, music and the arts. Signifying the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project's respect for the sacred nature of human endeavors in the creative realm.

THANK YOU

Saraswati Circle

Allison Arieff; Carlota del Portillo; Dan Lanir; Dow Street; Elizabeth Joyce; Georgina Rice; Jay Miller; Jean Conner; Jo Kaufman; Jodell Scott; Joe Mockus; Juliana Grenzeback; Keith Felton; Marianne Viau; Marty Bigos; Michael Shane; Nancy Wakeman; Ronnie Fuchs; Scott Baker; Simon Donovan; Susan Harloe; Susan West; Sylvia Hochede; Thomas Huber; Wes Lukaszek

Paulo Freire Circle

Adda Fleiner; Alberta Mischke; Angela Bennett; Angela Shukert; Anna Sears; Anonymous; Barbara Hauser; Betsy Eddy; Carmen Vega; Dan Liberthson; Debbie Degutis; Diane Carr; Donald Melville; Ellen Rosenthal; Evelyn Kelsey; Gail Bensinger; Gary Mankin; George Woyames; Harvey Hacker; Heather Shane; James O'Donnell; Janet Popesco Archibald; Jon Frank; Joyce Romano; Judith Bernhard; Kathryn Keller; Killian Murphy; Laura Trupin; Lawrence Cohen; Lida Guion; Linda Hmelo; Linda McGilvray; Lisa Mezzacappa; Mark Heydon; Mark Kartman; Michael Siegal; Nelson Barry; Phil Gravitt; Ralph Gutlohn; Rose Katz; Rosemary Hallacy; Tracy Wymer; Wilson

Sappho Circle

Al Mazzie; Alice Rogoff; Alison Chaiken; Anne Crawford; Arlene Eisen; Barbara Kobayashi; Beatrice Plack; Benson Fong; Christy Wise; Danny Yanow; David Anderson; Dennis Dybeck; Diane Douglas; Elizabeth DeCarli; Eric Wells; Harvey Ingham; James Stavoy; Janice Bressler; Jason Friedman; Jeanmarie Sganga; Jo Ellen Brainin-Rodriguez; Joe Cunningham; John Schott; John Watkins; Josephine Arce; Kathleen Hurley; Kym Sites; Lani Asher; Leslie Simon; Lisa Kadyk; Lisa Lozo; Lucy Friedland; Margaret Handler; Marijke Rosen; Mario Guarneri; Mary Lee McNeal; Nancy Mackowsky; Nicole Montalbano; Pat M; Patricia Chinn-Gambale; Paula Levine; Paula-Jo Husack; Philip Zeyliger; Richard Butterfield; Sara Scanlan; Sheila Arcelona; Sheila Balter; Steven Condiotti; Susan Palleschi; Valerie Lawrence; Wendy Poinsot; William Vartnaw

Billy Berg Circle

Alfred Randolph; Amy Markowitz; Anna Horrocks; Bob Siegel; Bonnie Miller; Charles Bernstein; Corliss Lee; Cynthia Doll; Daniel Grobani; Daniel Miller; Deborah May; Debra L. Montgomery; Elva Reyes-Espinoza; Francesca Pera; Franklin Greenwald
George Sottero; Hanna Hart; Ingrid Tyson; Isabel Sobozinsky-Wall; J Robert Kennedy; James Hoadley; Jeff DeMark; Jeff Gardiner; Jerry Logas; Joel Sachs; Joey Scuderi; John Alan Togashi; Julienne Fisher; Kenneth Frank; Kenneth Sisson; Kitty; Larisa Stillo; Larry Harmon; Leslie Finlev; Lester Bruens; Linda Cook; Lindsey Dupriest; Loretta Litke; Maureen OConnor; Nellie Wong; Norma Smith; Pamela Peniston; Philip Perkins; Ralph Whittington; Ruth Geos; Ruth Rosenblatt; Sigrid Hackenberg; Stacey Haysler; Stephen Lubin; Steve Ode; Suzanne Herko; Sydney Clemens; TS Gravel; Wen Xing

As Duke Ellington always said, we love you madly...

Thanks!

To take our SURVEY, click here, and help the BBCLP get to know you better! As Duke Ellington always said, we love you madly...

Our events are put on under the umbrella of the nonprofit Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project (the "BBCLP"). That's how we fund our ambitious schedule of 300 or so concerts and literary events every year.

The BBCLP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit...
[Read More ]

The Independent Musicians Alliance

Gigging musicians! You have nothing to lose but your lack of a collective voice to achieve fair wages for your work!
The IMA can be a conduit for you, if you join in to make it work.

https://www.independentmusiciansalliance.org/

Read more here - Andy Gilbert's Feb 25 article about the IMA from KQED's site