Endangerments of Other Sorts - Day 2

Today is Monday, errand day, and I'll walk to Trader Joe's a mile away from my home to get basics - which almost always includes Alstromeria lilies. On the way I walk through the mini-park designed by Golden Gate Park designer, John Mc Laren, that surrounds the Presidio Branch of the San Francisco Public Library. The grounds are well tended, approximately a 1/2 square block, and the building is in a small, solid, Beaux Arts designed by G. Albert Lansburgh, a prominent San Francisco architect in the 1920's .

The library and grounds are a lovely, peaceful sanctuary where teens from nearby University High School sit talking on the steps and other neighborhood people walk their dogs. Long forgotten are the heated controversies, East and West, that initially threatened the project. Libraries had become gatekeepers of the social order separating the upper classes from the new immigrant classes who had arrived in the United States by the late 1800's. Around 1860 libraries were much akin to what we consider social clubs today. They were often membership only, governed by a self-perpetuating board of upper class people. Some probably had little space designated for books as they often housed swimming pools, theaters and other places for members to gather.

It became a mission of Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate, to 'democratize' the libraries, and he set up foundations for the very purpose of building public libraries and later, and even more democratic, neighborhood branches so that people would have easy access to books. A few of the first libraries apparently went up with little controversy, but very soon, there was angry rejection of these buildings by people who resented the intrusion of Mr. Carnegie and did not want to ennoble the name and reputation of someone who had built his fortune on the backs of low-paid immigrant labor who toiled in dangerous conditions.

The history of libraries is a history of strikes, public outcry, political wars, long periods of stalemated inactivity, architectural wranglings, and the Presidio Library was no exception. It received its Carnegie grant in 1889 but was not built until 1921, and there was hardly a non-contentious moment during all those years.

http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=2000075001
http://sfpl.org/pdf/libraries/main/about/carnegie_branch_libraries.pdf

A block up Sacramento Street from the Presidio Library is another endangered species: a neighborhood theater named Vogue. Mercifully, it has survived this dire time for art and small movie theaters by being acquired by the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation - which I support emotionally and financially. Ironically I believe that during some of the time the Presidio Branch was undergoing decades of politic wrangling which almost stopped its creation, the building now housing the Vogue was operating as a brothel. Presumably the some of the same people who were glowering at the library were winking at the brothel. Such is the history of San Francisco.

www.sfntf.org/

The San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation (SFNTF) is dedicated to preserving and ... The Vogue is located at 3290 Sacramento St. (at Presidio Ave) ...

However each of these establishments arrived and are able to stay, they lend great soul to my marvelously liveable neighborhood and are beloved by all who live nearby and, hopefully, to all who visit.