Crepes and omelets at Higher Grounds coffee shop in San Francisco. Photo by Susan Caba

Music, Books & Crepes Add Up to Pajama-Level Comfort in Glen Park

SantaBGirl
Digital Global Traveler
5 min readAug 15, 2023

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Two hidden gems where everyone knows your name

The twangle of guitar notes greeted me just inside the door to Bird and Beckett, the durable independent bookstore in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood. After grazing the artful stack of used books to the right of the entrance, perusing the shelves of new books to the left, I ambled toward the source of the music.

The bookstore is just around the corner from Higher Grounds Coffee Shop and Creperie, where I had lingered over a savory crepe fragrant with a dusting of nutmeg. The egg filling was cushioned in mozzarella and ricotta, then wrapped in a crisped-just-right, delicate pancake. A cloud of mixed greens salad and a side of country fried potatoes completed the plate.

Bird and Beckett and Higher Grounds are the kind of places you want to be when you don’t want to be home, but you don’t want to be anyplace away from home, either. You’ve heard of two-bite brownies — brownies just big enough to satisfy an urge for sweets without over-indulging? That’s what B & B and Higher Grounds are — two levels above couch-potato comfortable, places you can meet friends or wallow in solitude without actually being alone.

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SantaBGirl
Digital Global Traveler

Writer, Collaborator & Idea Person: Traveling house-sitter, thrift-store denizen, resale maven and former newspaper reporter. Inspired by people and art.