Celebrating Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Life

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I arrived from NY to San Francisco in 1974, and one of my destinations was City Lights. Within months I had not only made it one of my favorite haunts, I was hired to wash their windows.

Last Tuesday I faithfully fulfilled my duties, making the windows sparkle and the tiles glisten, but this was the first time I did this labor of love without Lawrence. I would often see him striding down from his Francisco street home, and I was very proud to play a small part in his fascinating world of poetry and literature and politics and community.

His voice was so alluring, it was as if he was speaking to you over some wine at a North Beach cafe - he was just there with his “lyric escape” to savor, mull and chuckle over. He was a SF legend and a literary giant and City Lights was his citadel of decency, beauty, truth and life. LF was a Life Force, and still is. I’ll be back next month to make sure Lawrence’s windows are clean. -Peter