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Cool Gray City of Love
Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco | Gary Kamiya
4 posts | 6 read | 2 reading | 3 to read
Cool, Gray City of Love brings together an exuberant combination of personal insight, deeply researched history, in-depth reporting, and lyrical prose to create an unparalleled portrait of San Francisco. Each of its 49 chapters explores a specific site or intersection in the city, from the mighty Golden Gate Bridge to the raunchy Tenderloin to the soaring sea cliffs at Land's End. This unique approach captures the exhilarating experience of walking through San Francisco's sublime terrain, while at the same time tying that experience to a history as rollicking and unpredictable as the city herself. From her absurd beginnings as the most distant and moth-eaten outpost of the world's most extensive empire, to her instantaneous fame during the Gold Rush, from her apocalyptic destruction by earthquake and fire to her perennial embrace of rebels, dreamers, hedonists and misfits of all stripes, the City by the Bay has always followed a trajectory as wildly independent as the untrammeled natural forces that created her. This ambitious, eclectic, and beautifully written book draws on everything from on-the-ground reporting to obscure academic papers to the author's 40-year life in San Francisco to create a rich and insightful portrait of a magical corner of the world. Complete with hand-drawn maps ofthe 49locations, this handsome package will sit comfortably on the short shelf of enduring books about places, alongside E. B. White's Here is New York, Jose Saramago's Journey to Portugal, or Alfred Kazin's A Walker in the City.
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quote
teainthelibrary
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“This book is a love letter to the place in the world that means the world to me — my city, San Francisco.” 🌁

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blurb
BooksForEmpathy
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I love the fog. We took a long bike ride and I wanted to snap a picture of Alcatraz in the distance. It also reminded me of this tagged book; if you have an affinity for San Francisco, check it out ☁️💕.

JHSiess Ah, SF. And not too far beyond, The Q, my home away from home. Good times. 💛 6y
Jen_Reads I can‘t wait to go back in September! 6y
Leftcoastzen I miss my cool grey city of love, but I also enjoyed watching the Giants sweep the Dbacks! 6y
76 likes1 stack add3 comments
review
Plaguedocs
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Might not be so meaningful for those who don't know San Francisco fairly well. But for those of us who do, it is a series of love letters in essay form. Geology, natural history, history from pre-city days to more recent times… Only thing missing is maps. I know I have some more exploring to do!