Setting the Scene 4 - North Beach

Li'l Tom and the Pussyfoot Detective Bureau:  The Case of the New Year Dragon will be released on Kindle and in paperback on March 20.  You can pre-order the Kindle version of the second book here.

Next up on our tour of central Li'l Tom locations is San Francisco's North Beach.  North Beach is a dynamic Italian neighborhood, filled with restaurants, bars, and shops, adjacent to Chinatown and right down Telegraph Hill from Li'l Tom's offices.  It was the historic center of the beatnik culture in the 1950s.  Li'l Tom frequents Mario's Bohemian Cigar Bar and Restaurant for lattes - hold the espresso,


the Saloon, where he often sits in with the band on bass guitar,


the Vallejo Central Police Station to glean information from his contact there to assist with his investigations,


and Got Milk behind the famous Savoy Tivoli to relax in the evenings with a few milk shots.



Jack Kerouac Alley, previously Adler Alley, runs between the City Lights Bookstore and Vesuvio Cafe.  City Lights Bookstore was founded by poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter Martin in 1953 as a bookstore-publisher, and published works by Beat Generation authors.  It is currently an historic landmark and publishes works related to San Francisco culture.  It became widely known after the obscenity trial of Ferlinghetti for publishing Allen Ginsberg's collection Howl and Other Poems in 1956. 




It is said that the golden dragon named Gum Lung, the famous 268-foot dragon who is the star of the San Francisco New Year Parade, used to live in a cellar under the City Lights Bookstore and emerged every year for the parade.


Vesuvio Cafe, established in 1948, was a hot spot for the Beat Generation where they gathered to enjoy jazz, poetry, art, and life in general. 



If you're lucky, you might just catch Basil Ratbones there holding forth at a poetry slam. 


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