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Praveen Madan, Christin Evans, Gary and Debbie Frank.
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On Saturday evening, friends and fans filled the Booksmith to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this beloved institution in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. The store was founded in 1976 by Gary and Debbie Frank--who met as undergrads at UC Berkeley's bookstore--and in 2007 the Franks carefully selected their successors: Christin Evans and Praveen Madan, who at the time had no significant bookstore experience. (They were always book people, of course.) Since then, Evans and Madan founded the Berkeley Arts and Lecture Series and bought Kepler's in Menlo Park and expanded its Arts and Lecture Series on the Peninsula.
Saturday's party was all about Booksmith's success in the Haight. Evans said it took the "whole village" of their staff to create the festive event. In particular she cited three staffers--Amy Stephenson, Camden Avery and Lauren O'Neil--who stepped up to managerial roles after Madan and Evans took over Kepler's. "They really keep this place running," Evans said.
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| A packed store with Evans's parents in the foreground talking with a customer. | |
Beneath a screen displaying streaming images of customers and of the many famous faces who have held events at the store (Neil Gaiman, Patti Smith, Grace Slick...) over the years, people shared their favorite moments at Booksmith. Gary Frank recalled the time when Robin Williams--a regular customer--challenged his friend Harlan Ellison to write a short story with the premise "Computer Vampyre" while sitting in the window of the store, which he did; the San Francisco Chronicle ran a story about it with the headline "How Much Is that Writer in the Window?"
But as much fun as it is host big-name authors, Evans said, an equal pleasure of owning Booksmith is the relationships she and the staff enjoy with all their customers. One such customer and neighbor, author Kevin Smokler, offered this summation: "Booksmith is the Golden Gate Bridge of Haight-Ashbury. It's beautiful, anchoring and vitally necessary." --Bridget Kinsella