Bay Area Book Lovers: We Have Highly Literary Date (or Friend Hang) Ideas for Your Weekend

“May you strive all your lives to meet this commitment, with the same love and devotion that you now possess. And may you always promise to abide by all library rules.”

As wedding vows go, Annie Pho and Damian Elias’ weren’t the kind you always hear. But then, not everyone’s wedding takes place at the San Francisco Public Library.

“Strive to keep your library cards active,” continued their officiant, Per Sia, San Francisco’s own Drag Laureate. “And promise to always help each other return your borrowed books and materials on time.”

These words couldn’t have been more fitting for literature lovers Pho and Elias for their ceremony at the SFPL’s main branch in Civic Center.

The two are avid readers and collectors of books, said Pho, who’s also a librarian at the University of San Francisco. “Libraries seem to be an apt place to start this new phase of our lives together,” Elias said, with a grin.

Pho and Elias were one of the lucky few couples selected to get married at the library this month, as part of SFPL’s 30th anniversary celebrations.

Small, intimate ceremonies were held throughout the main branch before the library officially opened to the public, allowing couples and their families to gather and pose for photos among the bookshelves.

• Jump straight to: Literary-themed date ideas around the Bay Area

“It’s such an amazing place to get married,” Pho said. “I feel on top of the world.”

Sadly, if you’re dreaming of your own SFPL wedding amid the bookstacks one day, the library doesn’t regularly offer these ceremonies, although they hope to make it an annual tradition.

But since countless couples (and friends) connect through a shared love of reading, books can be a truly excellent way to get to know someone — and even plan a date around.

So to celebrate National Library Week this week, we’ve drawn together some of the best literary date ideas around the Bay Area as recommended by the book lovers of KQED. (Which, by the way, could all work equally well as a friend date or a blissful solo outing.)

Browse a San Francisco bookstore together — then take your books to the park

While people might make fun of San Francisco residents for always hanging out on that one hill, setting up a picnic with a newly purchased book is an excellent first, second, and — if things are going well — third date.

Here are just some bookstores within walking distance of San Francisco’s beautiful parks:

Bookstores near Golden Gate Park

• Gardens of Golden Gate Park has its own bookstore in the park, near Lincoln Way and Ninth Avenue. The Helen Crocker Russell Library of Horticulture is also nearby.
• Green Apple Books on the Park is around a minute walk from the Ninth Street entrance to Golden Gate Park.
• Borderlands Books (science fiction and fantasy focused) is around a 3-minute walk from the Stanyan Street entrance to Golden Gate Park.
• Blackbird Bookstore and Cafe is around a 6-minute walk from the closest entrance on Lincoln Way to Golden Gate Park.
• The Booksmith is around a 7-minute walk away from the closest entrance on Stanyan Street to Golden Gate Park.
• Globus Books is around a 7-minute walk away from the closest entrance on Fulton Street to Golden Gate Park.
• Bound Together Bookstore is around an 11-minute walk from the closest entrance on Stanyan Street to Golden Gate Park — but is just around the corner from Buena Vista Park, too.

Bookstores near Dolores Park 

• Dog Eared Books is around a 6-minute walk away from the closest entrance to Dolores Park.
• Fabulosa Books is around a 10-minute walk away from the closest entrance to Dolores Park.
• The International Library of Young Authors, which also houses copies of literature magazines like McSweeney’s (founded by the Bay Area’s Dave Eggers) and the Believer, is around a 7-minute walk away from the closest entrance to Dolores Park.

Other notable ‘bookstore and park’ combos in San Francisco

A special mention must go to Ina Coolbrith Park, a small space with beautiful city views named after the state’s first poet laureate, with North Beach’s City Lights Bookstore only 12 minutes away.

Alternatively, you could take your City Lights haul to Washington Square Park, a little way up Columbus Avenue. Afterward, you can hit Vesuvio Cafe, a spot frequented by figures like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, right next door.

Browser Books is a few blocks from Alta Plaza Park and Lafayette Park, and around a 20-minute walk from the Presidio. (And for a book without the price tag, the Presidio branch of the library is around an 8-minute walk from the Presidio, too.)

Christopher’s Books in Potrero Hill is around a 17-minute walk away from McKinley Square.

In Glen Park, Bird & Beckett Books & Records is around a 3-minute walk away from the Glen Park Greenway. And if your date runs really long, you can return to the storefront for their evening jazz shows.

Go to a book-themed bar

Books and coffee are undoubtedly a classic date combo. But if you’re hoping for more of an evening out, KQED staffers recommend several fancy bars in the Bay Area that either double as a bookstore or are decked out to resemble one, including:

• Book Society in Berkeley
• Clio’s in Oakland
• Mill Valley Depot Café & Bookstore in Mill Valley (where you can also swing by one of the prettiest libraries in the Bay, the Mill Valley Public Library, which is open until 8 p.m. most weekdays)
• Bourbon & Branch’s secret library in San Francisco
• Novela in San Francisco
• Local Edition in San Francisco (although admittedly more journalism-themed than book-themed)
• Bad Animal in Santa Cruz

Browse for a cookbook, then put it to use

Omnivore Books on Food, located in San Francisco, has an entire itinerary dedicated to cookbooks from all different types of styles, cuisines and cultures.

Here, you can really hit the romance jackpot by going to a bookstore together and cooking a fancy (or even not-so-fancy) dinner.

Go on a self-guided writers’ houses tour

Take Sabrina Carpenter’s suggestion (kind of) and retrace literary history by visiting the former Bay Area houses of famed writers. Just remember: Someone new is almost certainly now living in these houses, so urge your date to be cool while you peer together at these places from a respectful, sizable distance.

For example, there’s famed author and poet Maya Angelou, who lived in Berkeley at 620 Colusa Ave. (Angelou also has a monument dedicated to her in front of the SFPL main branch.)

Electric Literature also has a thorough essay walking through Angelou’s East Bay haunts, which similarly delves into the lives of beloved Bay Area-based poets June Jordan and Pat Parker.

Other notable literary figures you could “tour” locally include:

• Alice Walker of The Color Purple lived on 670 San Luis Road in North Berkeley.
• Chilean author Isabel Allende named her San Rafael house after her first, best-selling novel, The House of the Spirits, located on 92 Fernwood Drive.
• John Steinbeck’s birthplace and childhood home are now a restaurant, located on 132 Central Ave., in Salinas.

And if you’re a fan of science fiction and fantasy, you’re especially spoiled in the Bay when it comes to the homes of literary figures.

Some of these houses include:

• Ursula K. Le Guin’s childhood home on 1325 Arch St., in Berkeley. You can take a peek inside the house on a virtual tour.
• 3887 17th St., in the Castro District, where horror queen Anne Rice lived. The house at the beginning of the Interview with the Vampire is also located on Divisadero Street.
• Frank Herbert began his epic science fiction series Dune in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill on 412 Mississippi.
• Philip K. Dick lived on 707 Hacienda Way in Santa Venetia — the same home that was infamously broken into in 1971.

Top off your tour with a visit to a sci-fi themed bookstore like Borderlands in San Francisco, where you could grab a copy of Project Hail Mary, written by Livermore-raised author Andy Weir, which inspired the current hit movie adaptation starring Ryan Gosling.

Speaking of sci-fi, if you are feeling particularly ambitious, you could also try to map out the journey in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, which ends in the Bay Area.

Want even more ideas? Some further-afield literary homes:

• Essential Californian essayist Joan Didion grew up in Sacramento on 2000 22nd St.
• The Tor House, home of poet Robinson Jeffers, is in Carmel
• Not really a house by any means, but the stunning, otherworldly Hearst Castle, a museum in San Simeon.

Pretend to be in Austenland

As an expert in all things romance novels, A Novel Affair’s Le said she also “always” recommends customers visit the scenic Fioli Estate.

It’s around a 20-minute drive away from the bookstore — an historic estate with sprawling landscape gardens that brings pure Pemberley vibes to the Peninsula.

“You cannot beat the Fioli gardens during this time of the year,” she said. “I love recommending it to my customers to go on a bookish date there.”

At around $45 for adults, Filoli is a slightly pricier option for a date, making it perhaps more suitable for a fourth or fifth date with someone you’re sure you actually like. But people with a SNAP (CalFresh) EBT card or a Discover and Go pass from the library can get free and reduced admission.

Cut to the chase and visit a romance-themed bookstore

A Novel Affair in Los Altos is a new storefront dedicated only to romance novels that co-founder Yung Le called “a love letter to the bookish community.”

The bookstore also hosts events, like its Bridgerton-themed afternoon tea, DJ sets, book swaps and silent readings. But on an average day, Lee said it’s common to see couples frequent the space.

“It’s so cute,” Le said to KQED. “I have seen couples come by to take their significant others on a bookish date” and “make a day out of it” by visiting small businesses in a “cozy town like Los Altos.”

“And obviously, a romance bookshop is the perfect date,” she added.

Over in Petaluma, you’ll find The Velvet Chapter, a storefront specifically dedicated to the popular romantasy genre.

And there’ll be a new romance bookstore opening in San Francisco’s Castro District in late April, called The Love Potion Library.

Plan a North Bay day at the Peanuts museum

It’s a comic book, so it counts! Peanuts lovers can head to the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, which has a lovely exhibit and statues of the comic’s cast of characters. Best of all, there’s a super cute ice skating rink with a restaurant right next door. This reporter recommends a delicious combo of grilled cheese and tomato soup, and hot chocolate right after.

Just be wary that you may lose your prospective partner to the irresistible charms of Joe Cool.

Take in the sea breeze at the Cliff House

San Francisco’s Cliff House, perched on Lands End, has worn many faces — and why not make the journey to see how it currently looks?

While the Cliff House was an exclusive gathering spot for many wealthy and notable figures, the house also served as inspiration for writers like Mark Twain, who, according to the National Park Service, wrote one of his first articles about visiting the spot.

In 1864, he wrote, “If one tire of the drudgeries and scenes of the city, and would breathe the fresh air of the sea, let him take the cars and omnibuses, or, better still, a buggy and pleasant steed, and, ere the sea breeze sets in, glide out to the Cliff House.”

Keep in mind that as of 2020, the building isn’t actually open to visitors and is currently vacant. But since it’s surrounded by some of the best views of the Pacific Ocean around, it’s probably still worth the (fun) trek.

Visit the Mechanics’ Institute

If A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket — a.k.a Daniel Handler of San Francisco — was as much of a cultural touchstone for you growing up as it was for this reporter, this pick’s for you.

The historic Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco captures some of the ornate, gothic-meets-noir vibes in the series. Along with taking a stroll through the gorgeous building with its spiral staircase, you and your date can also check out the events hosted at the Mechanics’ Institute, including chess matches and movie nights.

Retrace characters’ locations in Bay Area scenes

If you and your partner want to follow in the footsteps of your favorite characters, trekking through Bay Area locations in your favorite books can be a major adventure.

You might consider:

• Dining at John’s Grill in San Francisco, featured in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, as protagonist Sam Spade’s go-to watering hole. 
• Walking down Waverly Place in the city’s Chinatown, the street featured in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club (in which one of the characters is even named after the street).
• The International Hotel in San Francisco, the heart of the Asian American activist movement and the setting for the novel I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita.
• Strolling down Cannery Row in Monterey, named after John Steinbeck’s novel set on the city’s waterfront.
• A thorough rundown of East Bay cafes and local businesses that served as settings in Adrian Tomine’s graphic novel, Shortcomings.

Take your date to a literary festival

The Bay Area hosts a wide variety of lit and zine festivals, which are packed with retailers, writers and artists. Mark these dates on your calendar:

• The Bay Area Book Festival from May 29 to 31
• San Francisco Art Book Fair from July 23 to 26
• SF Zine Fest on Sept. 6
• Filipino American International Book Festival from Oct. 17 to 18
• Litquake with dates to be announced

The Jack London State Historic Park will also be celebrating the author’s birthday with a festival on May 17.

KQED’s Sonja Pasch, Josh Decolongon, Beth Huizenga, Lori Halloran, Aileen Tat, Sara Gaiser and Carly Severn contributed to this report.