Come Hear Gary Kamiya

If you're a San Francisco history buff (if you're reading this blog, you most certainly are), you probably know about Gary Kamiya's best-selling book, Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco. You probably know--and have known, maybe for decades-- about Gary Kamiya: journalist, editor, author, reviewer and critic, co-founder of Salon, and all-round lover of his (and our) city. And if you're a card-carrying San Francisco Public Library enthusiast, you probably know that Gary Kamiya will be reading here at the Main Library next week on Wed., Aug. 28 at 6:00 p.m. In anticipation of the event, here is a shortlist of "you-might-also-like" reads. Such shortlists (here's a link to SFPL's) might be said to constitute their own staple genre among librarians. And while they tend to be thematic rather than source-based, they're secretly loved by archivists, too. So, here is

The San Francisco History Center Archivist's

While-You're-Waiting-for-Gary, You-Might-Also-Like

List

Premiere issue of Frisko. Summer 1989. Co-founded by Gary Kamiya. He was also a senior writer. The cover sports supermodel Carré Otis; "The Pop Revenge of Penelope Houston" is inside on page 30 in the "Our Kind of People" section. San Francisco History Center has all 14 issues in the Reading Room.

Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit. 2000. Another of our historical-lyrical-critical writers who loves this city and loves, well, walking. Although "Friskan," to call either Solnit or Kamiya a "local writer" would belie their wider geographical-topical scope and notoriety.

 

Stairway Walks in San Francisco by Adah Bakalinsky with Marian Gregoire. It's been through several editions since 1995 and wears well. Shortly after publication of the 2010 edition, the author was spotted in the library wearing a fleece and sturdy shoes.

Shadow Knights: The Secret War Against Hitler by Gary Kamiya, illustrated by Jeffrey Smith. 2010. Kamiya's other full-length feature, far from home.

We hope you'll come to hear Gary Kamiya read from his book Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco here at our city's free-access-for-all bibliographic stomping ground next Wed., Aug. 28 at 6:00 p.m. in the Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room at the Main Library, and then go see him again the next night up the street at the McRoskey Mattress Factory, where The Green Arcade Books is hosting. If you're so moved, send us a comment comparing the two evenings!