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Since 2022, the building that once housed the historic French-Italian Baking Company in North Beach has been home to Libreria Pino and Telegraph Hill Books. Where folks once lined up for fresh baked bread, literature lovers now feast on a smorgasbord of Italian and English-language books.
After outgrowing his previous location around the corner, owner Joseph Carboni spent a couple of years renovating the old bakery. The airy, two-story space now boasts exposed brick walls, rows of streamlined white bookcases, and sleek chrome-and-leather seating. With the new room, Carboni was able to expand Libreria Pino’s original all-Italian inventory and add English-language titles via Telegraph Hill Books. Plus, hold gatherings like author readings and an Italian book club.
“I’ve been hosting author events since we started Telegraph Hill Books,” Carboni tells 48 Hills. “We’ve been getting good response from local authors.”
While authors are usually happy to promote their work at his lovely store, getting enough readers to show up is often a challenge.
“In the real world, if you were to break even, that would be the best case, because you always end up buying too much stock,” explains Carboni. “So I decided to start a nonprofit and run events through it for both Telegraph Hill Books and Libreria Pino.”
Called Telegraph Hill Arts and Literature, the nonprofit—which launched earlier this year—is currently funded by individual donations at events or through its website. Eventually, Carboni plans to apply for grants and use any money he receives to beef up his promotional and outreach efforts towards attracting more attendees. He also plans to enhance the event experience for guests by providing more seating, better sound and lighting, and serving food and drinks. In addition, he wants to compensate participating authors for their time and effort.
“We wouldn’t necessarily be paying them to come, but it would be really nice to offer them a little something,” he says.
While Carboni will continue to focus on literary events—his store will be the site of five Litquake events this fall—he also looks forward to occasionally hosting other artistic affairs, such as concerts. The way he sees it, Telegraph Hills Arts and Literature is just another way for him to fulfill his main mission—serving the North Beach neighborhood and the larger San Francisco community.
TELEGRAPH HILL ARTS AND LITERATURE 1501 Grant, SF. More info here.
