Best Mind-Blowing Bookstore: City Lights

Right on our doorstep at 261 Colombus, City Lights is a fantastic place to while away a few hours. Founded in 1953, it's an independent bookstore still strongly influenced by the legacy of the Beat Movement.

It's a proper bookstore, with that real book smell, beautiful old wood floors and shelves right up to the ceilings. On all three floors you'll find chairs placed in quiet corners so you can take a seat among the stacks and read for a while. The top floor is a poetry room with a rocking chair, whilst down in the basement are the non-fiction, genre and children's books, and a larger reading area with a table and chairs. The main floor is fiction.

There are two great pizza places nearby too - Nizario's is two doors away, and Columbus Pizzeria is right across the street.