Bookstore & Chocolate Crawl

A free event for people who love books and chocolate. To support our independent bookstores, we will be visiting several local favorites.

The Bay Area is so lucky to have high-quality independent bookstores, so join us to show some of them a little extra love. And eat chocolate. Starting at Bolerium*/Mission Comics and Art at noon, we'll crawl a route that includes:

Bolerium* - a historic hidden gem specializing in LGBTQ and social movements that is usually only open by appointment as much of their business is online.

Mission: Comics and Art - where they will also be celebrating Batman Day by offering free masks and new Batman books for purchase.

Sour Cherry Comics - a small but mighty space offering a diverse mix of indie comics, graphic novels, manga, zines, sapphic fantasy, local art, and more.

Love Potion Library - a relatively new bookstore in the Castro sure to become a local favorite specializing in romance books that has a tea room and a wine bar.

Fabulosa Books - a stunningly gorgeous neighborhood bookstore with shelves full of literary fiction and LGBTQ+ titles, witchcraft, mushrooms, art, social justice, and other fun stuff. During the crawl, the staff at Fabulosa will be accepting book donations on behalf of Larkin Street Youth Services, which helps young adults who have experienced or are at risk of homelessness. They will also be hosting a birthday party/anniversary celebration that day and invite Bookstore & Chocolate Crawl-ers to stay for the 4 p.m. drag show.

Along the way, there will be opportunities to stop at local bakeries, ice cream shops, and candy stores to purchase chocolate in various forms.

This event is free and open to everyone of all ages and descriptors that support our core beliefs of reading books and eating chocolate. Dogs are also welcome, but please be aware that they may not be allowed in all businesses, and, of course they can't eat chocolate.

*Bolerium is a secret treasure, but may not be for everyone. As a largely online business, it has limited space for casual browsing. So we will be "metering" visitors to avoid overcrowding. (details will be provided) Staffers describe the content as "Trotsky and naked men" and the tight space packed with some rare and fragile books and media won't allow for strollers, so the alternative/complementary stop will be Mission Comics and Art. However, if you're interested in these topics, don't miss this rare opportunity to to experience this unique and wonderful bookseller in person.