by Mike Matzinger
Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti (1919 – 2021) was an American poet, painter, author, publisher, and lifelong Scout who left a lasting mark on 20th-century literature and countercultural activism. Born in Yonkers, New York, his early life was marked by hardship. His father died before his birth, and his mother was institutionalized shortly afterward. He was raised by an aunt and, for a time, lived in an orphanage while she searched for work.
Despite these challenges, Ferlinghetti stayed active in Scouting and earned the rank of Eagle Scout in the 1930s. He went on to attend Mount Hermon School for Boys, graduating in 1937, and then the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received a degree in journalism in 1941. During World War II, he served as a U.S. Navy lieutenant, commanding a submarine chaser during the Normandy invasion. After the war, he pursued further education, earning a master’s degree in English literature from Columbia University in 1947 and a doctorate in comparative literature at the University of Paris, where he focused on the city as a symbol in modern poetry.
In 1953, Ferlinghetti moved to San Francisco, where he initially taught French. That same year he co-founded the City Lights Bookstore, the first all-paperback bookstore in the United States. The store quickly became a gathering place for writers, artists, and activists, and it later expanded into City Lights Publishers. City Lights became a hub for the Beat Generation and beyond, publishing writers such as Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Charles Bukowski, and William Burroughs. Ferlinghetti himself published more than thirty books of poetry and prose. His most celebrated work, A Coney Island of the Mind, was released in 1958 and went on to sell over a million copies, making it one of the most widely read poetry collections of the 20th century.
In 1998, he was named the first Poet Laureate of San Francisco, an honor that reflected his central role in shaping the city’s cultural identity.
