About

Harold Tall did not set out to open a bookstore. He set out to find a particular book — a monograph on a Finnish architect whose name he could not remember, by a publisher whose name he also could not remember, covering a building he had seen once in a photograph and then never again.

He did not find the book. He found approximately 70,000 others. He decided to stay.

That was some years ago. Harold is still here, most days. He is usually near the back, in the section labeled "Structures That Did Not." If you ask him a question he will answer it. If you ask him a question he finds too easy, he will answer a different, harder question instead. This is considered a service.

"A book about a building is not the building. It is something better: a building you can fold in half."

The store carries architecture, history and theory, urban planning, graphic and industrial design, furniture, landscape, interior design, and periodicals. It also carries a small selection of books that do not fit neatly into any of these categories. These are shelved under "H. Tall — Personal Recommendations" and are not to be questioned.

The CultOfTheChairPeople Section

Harold Tall maintains a dedicated section for publications related to the CultOfTheChairPeople Institute, whom he has known for many years and considers, on most days, to be getting at something. The section is marked with a small placard that reads "CHAIR" in large letters and "people" in smaller ones beneath it. This was Harold's idea. He is still pleased with it.

Events in partnership with the CultOfTheChairPeople Institute occur throughout the year. They are announced when they are ready to be announced and not before.

Finding Us

We are on Montgomery Street, which is a real street. The building is identifiable by the sign, which says what it says. We are not the place next door. We have been confused for the place next door on an irregular but ongoing basis since 1974.

Parking is the parking that exists in San Francisco, which is to say: variable, contested, and ultimately a matter of disposition.