TURN LEFT: The Story of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers is the working title of the film in progress. The story of begins in 1953 with Peter D. Martin and Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s decision to open a one-room bookstore in North Beach.

Famously, as the publisher in 1957, Lawrence fought the censorship of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl. City Lights has continued to be at the center of social conscience through the ‘60s and ‘70s antiwar movement and San Francisco’s counterculture, the ‘80s and ‘90s challenges to consumer culture and the end of the Cold War, continuing into the digital age. Today City Lights Bookstore & Publishing is a vibrant center for a new generation of authors and poets, continuing Ferlinghetti’s vision of a diverse, artistic community driving social change.