Philip Adam, a visitor from England, was walking down Columbus Avenue shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday, March 24, when he fell into a line of people that jammed the entrance to City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. “Are they giving something away?” he inquired. They were. At that moment, renowned North Beach poet Jack Hirschman was standing on the floor of the famous bookstore, giving away his reading of the Lawrence Ferlinghetti poem “At Sea.” It was a rare occasion that drew crowds of people who were pressed into the shelves, down the stairs to the cash registers and out the...