City Lights Booksellers & Publishers and the Howl trial

City Lights was founded in 1953 by poet-publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti and became a central gathering place for Beat Generation writers. In 1957 City Lights published Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl," and Ferlinghetti and the bookstore were defendants in a high-profile obscenity trial that concluded a judge found the work to have "redeeming social importance." The store continues to operate at its original North Beach location.