Donna's Chronicles, "The highest civic or military order of merit..." - San Francisco Bay Times sfbaytimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sfbaytimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The LGBTQ advocate helped make Paris and San Francisco sister cities. France will present him its highest honor to mark his contributions to Franco-American relations.
Tony Bravo April 21, 2021Updated: April 21, 2021, 7:19 am
Poet and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice, The Chronicle
When Lawrence Ferlinghetti died in February, for some it felt like the poet and City Lights Booksellers & Publishers co-founder took a piece of San Francisco with him.
Like the store, Ferlinghetti was a literary landmark, his presence in North Beach and around the city as much a given as the fog or cable car bells. While his death at age 101 was perhaps not surprising, the loss came with a kind of shock that this living institution would no longer be here.
In his century of life, Ferlinghetti was many things: San Francisco’s poet laureate, a book merchant, an activist, a visual artist and a neighbor. Memories shared by the community with The Chronicle and on social media reflect those multitudes. Here are a few tributes celebrating Ferlinghetti’s place in the city and his lasting impact on our culture.