Part of the Gay St. Louis Guide — bars, events & things to do.
St. Louis, Missouri
Queer-run indie bookstore in the Central West End since 1969.
Founded in 1969 by Washington University grad students, Left Bank Books is the oldest and largest independently owned full-line bookstore in St. Louis. Owner Kris Kleindienst has been part of the store since 1974, and the shop's social justice roots run deep — it was the first bookstore in the city to carry dedicated LGBTQ+, women's studies, and African American sections. The staff openly identifies Left Bank as a queer bookstore, staffed almost entirely by queer folks. That shows up in the programming: a monthly Lesbian Reading Group (third Thursdays), a Gay Men's Reading Group, Pride-month "Queer Joy June" pop-ups with Blueprint Coffee, and regular LGBTQ+ author events co-hosted with PFLAG Greater St. Louis. The store runs 300+ events a year and eight in-house book clubs across a range of themes. Located in the Central West End at Euclid and McPherson, the store also runs the Left Bank Books Foundation, a literacy nonprofit that distributes thousands of books to underserved St. Louis schools.
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