Outwardly, it offers the broader world no clear articulation of local goals and values. Cities create artistic excellence by setting up standards to recognize and acclaim it. San Francisco once reveled in its own high standards. Those sentiments might still be expressed in New York or London, but they are inconceivable in California. Out here it isn't chic to take literature so seriously.
Confidence is a necessary component of genius.
Bierce believed that one person could make a difference to local culture. And West Coast literary history repeatedly demonstrates how influential a single writer or editor can be. Ferlinghetti virtually created the Beat movement with tiny City Lights' innovative Pocket Poets Series. He also revived the reputations of John Fante and William Everson by publishing them in handsome standard editions. Although City Lights and Black Sparrow now seem to have aged as artistic enterprises along with their founders, their past achievements exemplify how much the survival of West Coast literature depends upon individual conviction and informed local sponsorship.