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Visit the most Parisian bookstore that’s not in Paris
John King, the Chronicle’s urban design critic (and author of “Portal,” a new Ferry Building book) picks the former G.F. Wilkinson Books micro-bookstore, which in 2017 was bought by customer Natalia Kresich and renamed 34 Trinity Arts & News.
“Our downtown bookstores have dwindled in recent years, but the one that remains is a flaneur’s delight: 34 Trinity Arts & News.”
“Trinity Alley takes the prize as the most urbane block in the Financial District.”
The last used bookstore in Downtown San Francisco is one of the smallest bookstores just about anywhere.
LIKE THE PEEPHOLE CINEMA IN San Francisco, this small-scale destination for bibliophiles is similarly out of view, tucked up against a building in a tree-lined urban alleyway/POPOS in Downtown San Francisco.
“When Wilkinson decided to close the store in order to focus on his online bookselling business, a new group took over running the beloved store, which was renamed 34 Trinity Arts and News.
Run by a dedicated cadre of volunteers, this diminutive oasis of reading materials (with a focus on San Francisco-based writers, authors, and subjects) provides a much-needed respite from the glass and steel monoliths that loom over it.”
Beloved alley bookseller’s regulars write a new chapter for the store
“Little things mean a lot, as the old song goes. So when one of those small pieces of the city goes away, you notice. It’s like a light going out.
Not long ago it looked like G.F. Wilkinson, the bookseller on Trinity Place, an alley in the Financial District, was going out of business. Bookstores used to be part of the fabric of the city, like sidewalk flower stands. Times change, old bookstores close, and there are no new ones to replace them.
Little things mean a lot, as the old song goes. So when one of those small pieces of the city goes away, you notice. It’s like a light going out.
But the G.F. Wilkinson story is different.”