Sydney Goldstein, a San Francisco impresario who helped pioneer the art of showcasing conversation as a cultural offering, died on Sept. 25 in Los Angeles. She was 73.

Her daughter, Kate Goldstein-Breyer, confirmed the death without specifying a cause.

Ms. Goldstein in 1980 founded City Arts & Lectures, a nonprofit organization that brought notable figures — mostly writers, critics, artists and musicians — to San Francisco for thoughtful, onstage conversations with smart interviewers.

Over nearly four decades, a well-rounded parade of accomplished celebrities were drawn to her stage, among them Stephen Sondheim, Doris Lessing, Bruce Springsteen, Nora Ephron, Maurice Sendak, Pauline Kael, John Updike, Patti Smith, Gilda Radner, Roxane Gay, M. F. K. Fisher, William F. Buckley Jr. and Joan Didion.

Her evenings of literary programming, which were offered as a series, much like subscriptions to the symphony or opera, served as a model in other cities, including Seattle, Pittsburgh and Portland, Ore. They also helped elevate the art of literary conversation, which is vastly more widespread today than it was in the early 1980s. Ms. Goldstein kept ticket prices low so that more people could attend.