Book Passage

Book Passage originated in Corte Madera in 1976 and launched a sister store across the Bay in 2003. (A third location, in Sausalito, opened in 2017.) The San Francisco outpost is a a stunner, tucked in the Ferry Building with big windows overlooking the bay. On Saturdays, it’s swarmed by shoppers from the Farmer’s Market; on weekdays, it regularly hosts readings by writers like Michael Chabon and Andrew Sean Greer. Between the Corte Madera and San Francisco stores, Book Passage puts on more than 500 writers events every year. Co-owners Bill and Elaine Petrocelli pack the shelves with an assortment of new and used books spanning politics and history to fiction and classic lit.