An Independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. Author events at independent bookstores sometimes take the role of literary salons. The bookstores themselves, "have historically supported and cultivated the work of independent authors and poets.

Chances are if it were not for bookstores like McIntyre’s, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg would not enjoy the celebrity they did." This relationship with authors is referenced in the 1988 film, Crossing Delancey which stars Amy Irving. City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, California was founded in 1953 by Peter D. Martin and Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Ferlinghetti became its sole owner in 1955, and started City Lights Publishers that same year. Among the writers it publishes are the Beat poets, including Jack Kerouac, Gregory Corso, and Allen Ginsberg. In 1956 City Lights published Howl & Other Poems as number 4 in its City Lights Pocket Poets Series.

Ferlinghetti and the bookstore manager, Shigeyoshi Murao, were arrested on an obscenity charge for publishing and selling the book.

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