Crammed with literature both popular and obscure, Bird and Beckett Books and Records stands as a pillar of the Glen Park community and a gathering place for the local intelligentsia. Leftist-existentialist volumes seem be stacked everywhere, and you'll smell the anti-war ambience as soon as you enter, but this is San Francisco, and we're OK with that. The shop opened in 1999, and while times are tough for independent bookstores, Bird and Beckett's got the support of a loyal neighborhood following. Social events each month bring together poets, writers, and musicians, and an underlying theme of jazz and old vinyl gives the shop a resemblance to some of the old hangouts of Kerouac and the beatniks. Every Friday night at 5:30 a jazz show of local talent draws a small crowd to the tight premises. At least we assume it's the jazz. They could really be coming for the potluck of wine, cheese and hors d'oeuvres. Hell, they might even come for the books.