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 weekend!
Refresh your browser to catch a show in progress!
Visit our Facebook page or YouTube channel!
But nothing beats being in the room with the music & the musicians!
Sunday, March 23rd – 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Americano Social Club
music for la dolce vita
Americano Social Club plays the perfect music for a sultry summer evening on the terrace of a beachside restaurant on the Adriatic, an idyll in Bahia, a midnight dalliance in a North Beach cafe…  or a lazy afternoon in a cozy little bookshop on the outskirts of town. Michael Zisman, mandolin, Jason Vanderford, guitar, and Joe Kyle,…
Sunday, March 23rd – 2 pm
Writer A. D. Winans reads
short stories from In the Pink
S.j. Cruz reads from
The Flowers Won’t Die
A. D. Winans will read from his first short story collection, In the Pink — erotic tales released in January by Pedestrian Press with a cover too scandalous for Amazon.com, and thus issued simultaneously in a cover tame enough for that demure literary institution. For decades, we’ve admired A.D. as a straight talker, poet and West Coast small…
Friday, March 21st – 5:30-8:00 pm
Scott Foster and Friends
play the music of Billy Strayhorn
Every third Friday, guitarist Scott Foster brings in a newly constituted ensemble for the occasion. On March 21st, saxophonist David Boyce, bassist Scott Chapek and drummer Tom Hassett will join Scott to explore the compositions of Billy Strayhorn. Â Strayhorn was a significant force behind the beautiful music of Duke Ellington, working with Ellington from…
Monday, March 17th – 7 pm
POETS!Jennifer Barone featured reader, followed by an open mic
Jennifer Barone has been a featured poet at the Red Poppy Art House, the Beat Museum, SFMOMA, the DeYoung, the Randall Museum, the San Francisco Public Library and other venues. She was a winner of the 2007 and 2012 Poets Eleven city-wide contest to represent North Beach, selected by Jack Hirschman, former SF Poet Laureate,…
Sunday, March 16 – 4:30 to 6:30 pm
The Jesse Foster Quartet
Jesse’s vocal style has evolved from a deep immersion in the work of musicians like Wes Montgomery, Marvin Gaye, John Coltrane, Smokey Robinson, David Ruffin, Nat “King” Cole and Miles Davis.  He has developed an original composition and arranging style that conveys deep and personal messages through songs crossing a wide range of musical genres. For…
Sunday, March 16th – 2:00 pm
Ivan Arguelles, Jack Foley and Clara Hsu: a Presentation of Poetry Hotel Press
Three titles from this new press will be presented by their authors, the poets Ivan Argüelles, Jack Foley and Clara Hsu. Of the press and its intentions, co-publisher (with Clara Hsu) Jack Foley puts it well indeed: ¶The point of “publication†is to make something public:  “the song of me rising from bed and meeting…
San Francisco Neighborhoods
on the Brink: A Panel Discussion on Displacement, Gentrification, Rising Rents & the Loss of Affordable Housing
Wednesday, March 12th – 7:00 pm
Alejandro Murguia (SF Poet Laureate) leads off a panel discussion with John Avalos (District 11 Supervisor), Gen Fujioka (Public Policy Director, Chinatown Community Development Center) and Sarah Brant (SFUSD teacher & Ellis Act target). Join us to discuss the dilemma facing long-time residents and renters of modest means — and the gutting and gentrification of…
Sunday, April 6th at 2:00 p.m.
Finishing Line Press:
six poets read from their books
Poets Judy Bebelaar (Walking the Pacific), Raffi Del Bourgo (Inexplicable Business), Ellaraine Lockie (Wild as in Familiar), Kathleen McClung (Almost the Rowboat), Laura Schulkind (Lost in Tall Grass) and Zara Raab (Rumplestiltskin, or What’s in a Name?) read from their work.
Sunday, March 9th – 4:30-6:30 pm
Betty Wong & CMC Friends
in a transcultural musical celebration of the Year of the Horse!
Happy New Year! Â Celebrate with us the Chinese Year of the Horse — and the advent of Daylight Savings Time: Â come and enjoy a multicultural concert featuring faculty and friends of San Francisco’s Community Music Center! Yi Ming Li, guqin (ancient Chinese zither) Peter Frentzel, shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) Betty Wong, huluxi (Chinese folk…
“Basic Mysteries”
David Meltzer seminar
on poetry & poetics
Tuesday, March 4th – 7-10 pm
Call the bookshop for reservations – 415-586-3733. $40 tuition David Meltzer, a poet whose roots are in the San Francisco Renaissance and Beat eras, will explore some of the “basic mysteries” of poetry & poetics in three sessions spaced over five weeks. David’s thoughts on the poetic calling range from the discipline’s roots in oral culture…