Historic Vesuvio Cafe North Beach San Francisco 4 Editorial Photo

When this building at 255 Columbus Avenue in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco was built in 1913, originally for a bookstore, it was just a one story Italian Renaissance Revival Style building, with the second floor not added until 1918. It would become the famous Vesuvio Cafe in 1948, catering to the burgeoning Beat Poets and the Beat crowd of the area at the time. One of the regulars at the time was the Beat Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who would go on to co-found City Lights bookstore just across Jack Kerouac Alley, named for another famous Beat Poet of the time. Fun. Food. Adventure. History. As seen 5 June 2024.