Beat Poetry Icon Lawrence Ferlinghetti Performed for SF State Poetry Center Several Times

GOLDEN GATE XPRESS -- According to Steve Dickison, director of the Poetry Center at SF State, Ferlinghetti’s first reading at the Poetry Center in 1956 has been the most popular recording for the Poetry Center Digital Archive website.

In the past two decades, Ferlinghetti hosted two benefit readings for the Poetry Center. The first reading took place in Club Fugazi in North Beach and was organized by Ferlinghetti and Dickison.

“Lawrence got in touch with the management, who were happy to waive any rental fee, and his solo reading drew a sold-out crowd to the benefit of The Poetry Center. It was a gracious and generous act,” said Dickison. “That went so well, a few years later we thought, ‘Let’s do that again.’”