Link to Carl Nolte's 'Native Son' column in the August 15 San Francisco Chronicle.
Excerpt: I thought I'd pay a nostalgic visit to the Mission branch of the public library on 24th Street, near Mission. My little brother and I used to go up there on summer afternoons and check out adventure books by Rafael Sabatini ("Captain Blood" was a favorite) or by P.C. Wren, who wrote about brave Englishmen who joined the French Foreign Legion.
I went by on Wednesday afternoon. I expected a mostly empty place, quiet, with dust motes in the air and the familiar library smell of print. The joint was packed, hardly a seat to be had in the second-floor reading room.
Downstairs were shelves full of reserved books and CDs, ready for pickup by folks. Their names were wrapped around the reserved books: Navarro, Ko, Velez, Van Duzen, Huang and Kelly, the full mosaic of people who live in the Mission these days.
Oops! Well, at least Carl used last names only. Let's hope Mission's library materials on the hold shelves are well wrapped.
Carl otherwise delivers a great library message.
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