Fans raise $430,000 to rescue iconic San Francisco bookstore shut by pandemic

Bereft of customers by state and city shutdown orders, San Francisco’s iconic City Lights bookstore quickly found itself in dire straits, CNN reports.

“Unlike some shops, we’re unable even to process online orders, since we want our booksellers to remain safely at home,” wrote Elaine Katzenberger, publisher and CEO of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, on GoFundMe.

“With no way to generate income, our cash reserves are quickly dwindling, with bills coming due and with a primary commitment to our staff, who we sent home with full pay and healthcare, and who we hope to keep as healthy and financially secure as possible,” Katzenberger wrote.

But literary fans came to the rescue, raising more than $430,000 by Sunday morning, just days after Katzenberger posted her GoFundMe plea Thursday.

“How can I ever articulate the impact of seeing a community of people from all around the world respond so immediately and enthusiastically to our call for help?” she wrote in an update Friday.

“Knowing that City Lights is beloved is one thing, but to have that love manifest itself with such momentum and indomitable power, well, that’s something I don’t quite know how to find words for,” Katzenberger wrote.

The store, founded in the 1950s, has been closed since March 16 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced non-essential businesses to shut down across the nation.

More than 1.7 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 109,000 deaths as of April 12, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 530,000 confirmed cases with more than 20,000 deaths.

The World Health Organization has declared the COVID-19 virus a global pandemic. In the United States, President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.

City Lights became famous for publishing Alan Ginsberg’s “Howl and Other Poems,” and became known as a meeting place for authors, artists and counterculture figures, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. It was named a city landmark in 2001.