G F Wilkinson Books

An experience unlike pretty much any bookstore, and I’ll explain below.
But beware, you’re standing in a real street! There is definitely enough room on the sidewalk to safely browse, but this alley looks so classy it’s easy to mistake for a pedestrian mall and absentmindedly take a step backward into the travel lane, where the occasional car is taking a shortcut.
Now that you are aware, you can lose yourself in the books. It is less a bookstore and more the living room of an erudite older friend who can take you on a tour of his book collection, and let you keep one (for a small fee, of course). You don’t come here to find a book you are looking for, you come to find out what it is you seek.
It has been a long time since I was in Paris, but I seem to remember book stalls on the bank of the Seine, and I think that evokes the right scene, but this is a more upscale display, with some nice antique landscapes of Switzerland for sale, as I write this.

I treasure the Yosemite photo I bought here, only $ 50.00 and wonderfully framed, and the cool Raymond Chandler paperback with its lurid cover (in perfect condition and only $ 5.00). This tiny shop is completely unique in the Bay Area (if not California and the west), yet it harkens back to the grand old tradition of small window, barrow and stall shops that were the chief means by which books were sold in the urban centers of Europe from the middle ages down through modern times and is still a tradition in the Near East and elsewhere with survivals in Paris and London.
What you loose by having a small selection of books like this you gain with the quick, easy and pleasant browsing of the very personal selection of the owner. In this case you are guided by G. F. «Rick» Wilkinson who is one of the most experienced veterans of the Bay Area used/​rare book trade, and who once presided over the old Albatross Book Company on Eddy Street in the heart of the Tenderloin.
With his expertise, and his refined (though bohemian and experimental) taste in books, prints and vinyl you’ll always find quality here, and because he has vast resources to choose from the prices can’t be beat, especially since he doesn’t pay the big overhead of a traditional shop. Talk with him, ask questions, you’ll get friendly, personal and caring answers, no curmudgeonly misanthrope is he, though Rick might get testy if you pick his brain for half an hour then leave for a trip down the Amazon. Yes, with the internet you can get millions of books but not the mind of a book selling genius to guide you. You like that? Then buy something and keep it going.

Stumbled across this tiny bookstore by accident. Charming concept: a little gallery of books in a couple of shop windows that open out to the lane. Felt as if I’d been transported to Paris or medieval London… found some great poetry and cook books and some interesting memoirs, all in excellent condition, and all for under $ 10. Nice to be able to browse real books. Bookseller was knowledgeable too and certainly loves books. Worth dropping by just for a chat with him.
The only negatives are that, of course, given the size, they have a select set of books, but these are always changing. Worth stopping by for the experience.