Board urges sale of Marcus Books building to owner who will preserve historic bookstore

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on July 30 unanimously approved a resolution urging the current owner of the Jimbo’s Bop / Marcus Books building on Fillmore Street to sell the property to a purchaser who will preserve Marcus Books and the structure’s community role. The vote was 11‑0 in favor of the resolution.

Sponsor Supervisor London Breed introduced the measure, recounting the building’s history — originally a late‑19th‑century structure moved during urban renewal and later home to the jazz venue Jimbo’s Bop City and, since 1960, Marcus Books, the nation’s oldest Black‑owned and Black‑themed bookstore. “Marcus Books is more than a bookstore. It’s a historic treasure in our community,” Breed said.

The resolution asks the building’s owner to consider selling the property to an owner who will maintain the site’s community‑serving uses. The sponsors said the request reflected months of constituent concern that the bookstore’s future is at risk and that a sale to an unsympathetic owner could end an institution that has hosted speakers and authors including Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou and others.

Karen Johnson, a co‑owner of Marcus Books, described the store’s cultural role and used a short metaphor: “The well cannot be moved,” she said, urging the board to help preserve the store’s historical function as a community resource.

Several speakers, including long‑time customers, educators and neighborhood advocates, described Marcus Books as a center of cultural memory for both the Fillmore and Japantown communities and urged the supervisors to put the city’s weight behind efforts to find a preservation‑minded buyer. Katty Hawkins O’Kore, a longtime Fillmore resident, said Marcus Books connects the neighborhood’s intertwined histories and must be preserved for future generations.

Supervisor Breed said the board would pursue the matter urgently and placed the resolution on the imperative agenda so the board could act before its summer recess. The resolution marks a nonbinding expression of the Board’s support for preserving the building’s community function; it does not appropriate funds or enact a historic designation, though sponsors said landmarking processes and preservation options could be pursued separately.

Outcome: Motion to adopt resolution urging the owner of the Jimbo’s Bop / Marcus Books building to sell to a buyer who will preserve Marcus Books passed unanimously, 11‑0 (item 74).