Our last day in the shop was Sunday, JULY 23, 2023
L: Patrick Marks R: Gent Sturgeon
What a great experience this had been. We still love Market Street— and all who came through our doors over the years--even some of the more "interesting" characters!
R- Andy Gillis from The Green Arcade looks on.
Thomas Piketty, author of CAPITAL, signs books after McRoskey Mattress Factory reading April 22, 2014.
"New bookstores don't appear very often, and when they do, we have no right to expect they'll look anything like the Green Arcade.
But there it is: a near-perfect, delicate bookshop, dripping with yellowy atmosphere, welcoming chairs, and incredible books, which don't seem to be shelved as much as perfectly curated. Everything you've wanted to read, or know you should read, is there, and you'll want to rifle through everything else.
Broadly, the store specializes in environment, politics, food, farming, nature, and sustainability, with niche books that would baffle Borders' corporate buyers. It also has strong local representation, including Erick Lyle's On the Lower Frequencies and SF Weekly alums Silke Tudor and Jack Boulware's Gimme Something Better.
No wonder: The owner, Patrick Marks, was the former buyer for Cody's. It's good to see he's found another shop to craft a legend around."
- SF Weekly Best of Award 2010
Gent Sturgeon makes final adjustments to the blade.
Being on Market Street has its advantages. High visibility, as bike and Muni routes go right up to our door. The up Franklin, down Gough auto arteries are constantly pulsing, pulsing, pulsing.
(mouse over image)
Many protests and demonstrations near and dear to The Green Arcade go right by the window and stir us from our retail reveries onto the street. Here is the Green Arcade owner Patrick Marks and San Francisco printmaker Margie Burke putting in their two cents about Prop 8.
The Green Arcade at night
We close now at seven, but as we grow we hope to stay open later. As the sun travels towards Spring and the time changes yet again, at seven it will be light.
Children and pets seem to find The Green Arcade a fine place to sate the appetite for books and ideas.
The Green Arcade has hosted numerous events over the years. Here we have a presentation on the PM Press book Teaching Rebellion: Stories from the Grassroots Mobilization in Oaxaca.
Photographer Gustavo Vilchis and Melissa Mundt, from C.A.S.A. Collective traveled the US and brought news about the historic teachers' struggle for justice in Oaxaca, Mexico.
The shop mascot.
Pinnochio by Gent Sturgeon.
