Gay-Led SF Center Promotes the Art of Bookmaking

One of the oldest pieces of equipment found behind the doors of the former warehouse space dates to the late 1880s. Made by the F.P. Rosback Company of Chicago (now called the Rosback Company and located in Michigan), it allows users to perforate paper.

Another machine is referred to as the guillotine and is used to slice through thick stacks of paper. There are also machines for gluing, titling, and sewing wood spines of books.

A collection of lithograph stones assists with paring leather to prepare it to be formed into leather binding for books. In the building's main room is a collection of different printing presses that anyone, once certified to use them, can rent by the hour to create paper products ranging from wedding invitations to posters.

Gutenberg would be in awe.

The 7,000 square foot space at the foot of the city's Potrero Hill neighborhood is home to the San Francisco Center for the Book. For nearly two decades it has been promoting and preserving the art of bookmaking.

"When the center was founded, it was founded to promote the book as a contemporary art form," said Jeff Thomas , its executive director. "The paper, ink, printing, binding, covering, and structure itself is meant to be representative of what the artist is trying to create."

Thomas, who is gay, has led the book center since June 2014 and is preparing to celebrate the nonprofit's 20th anniversary in 2016. Co-founded by Mary Austin and Kathleen Burch, it opened its doors to the public on July 30, 1996.

"I was really interested in getting involved in craft," said Thomas, who knits in his free time and was hired in 2012 as the book center's development director. "I love what is done here, although I am an amateur."

Duff Axsom, 70, a gay board member emeritus and longtime volunteer with the center, became involved in its fourth year. He first turned to the book center in search of a social outlet at a time when the city's gay community was still reeling from the AIDS epidemic.

"The reason, frankly, I got more and more involved here was after I came through the 1980s AIDS crisis my community had fallen apart," recalled Axsom, a poet who has used the book center to produce broadsides of his works. "I was looking for other community and this was a natural fit. It's always been open to the gay community."

Leigh McLellan, 65, who identifies as lesbian, designs books and has worked as an instructor at the book center since 2002.

"I think queer people always have been involved in letterpress. There was never a time we had to break in," said McLellan.

Today, the nonprofit center offers between 300 to 400 classes a year, reaching 1,000 students ranging in age from 18 on up. Fridays it hosts a letterpress class from the California College of the Arts.

The technological advances wrought to the graphic arts by the digital age have benefited the book center, said Axsom. Printing plates once arranged by hand using metal or wood type can now be done on computers.

Meanwhile, designers and artists craving a more tactile experience can turn to the book center.

"People want to get ink on their hands after sitting at Adobe all day," Axsom said.

And the hi-tech sector has provided the book center, which operates on an $800,000 annual budget, a new revenue source.

"Our earned revenue has been growing. We offer corporate teambuilding workshops where Google, Facebook, Twitter and other companies will bring their graphic designers in," noted Thomas.

The public is invited to visit the gallery space at the book center, located at 375 Rhode Island Street. Admission is free daily between 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

The exhibits rotate throughout the year, with the newest a pop-up six-day showcase celebrating 50 years of Vermont's Bread and Puppet Theater.

"We've never done a queer focused exhibition," said Thomas. "It is on the dock to do one."

The book center also holds an annual holiday book arts and craft fair that features handmade gifts, hand bound journals, book arts, prints, letterpress printed cards, calendars, wrapping paper, and other items for sale by individual vendors.

This year's fair will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, November 21.

For more information about the holiday sale, gallery shows, and classes offered by the book center, visit its website at http://www.sfcb.org.

Port Bar Readies to Set Sail

With an anticipated opening in early 2016, the Port bar in downtown Oakland this month announced it was looking to hire a part-time project assistant with the possibility of the contract position turning into a full-time bar staff or management role.

In early 2013 Sean Sullivan and his partner, Richard Fuentes, announced they had signed a lease for 2021 Broadway, the former Ragsmatazz shoe store next door to the Paramount Theatre .

Vacant for over a decade, the building required seismic work before the bar interior could be installed. The property owner has also been working to restore the 1930s facade.

"I would say late January or early February in that general timeframe," Sullivan recently told the B.A.R. when asked about the expected opening. "I would say we are very optimistic but I am aware of everything that would delay the project, of course."

The Port bar would be the second gay-owned bar on that stretch of Broadway. Across the street a block away, at 2120 Broadway, is the building that houses Club BnB , formerly known as the Bench and Bar. Both are near the 19th Street BART station in downtown Oakland and a few blocks from the city's Lake Merritt area.

Interest in the Port bar's opening has remained high since it was announced, said Sullivan. Close to 650 people have liked its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OneGayDrink.

"I can't even go out without being bombarded with questions about when the bar will open," he said. "Every single day, whether I am out getting coffee or running around the lake, people will try to stop me and ask about the project."

Honor Roll

San Francisco's worker-owned and operated community food store Rainbow Grocery Cooperative is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month. With 240 workers and more than $50 million in yearly sales, it is one of the largest such grocery businesses in the United States.

To mark its milestone year, the store at 1745 Folsom Street is holding a series of special events Monday, October 26 through Sunday, November 1. The weeklong celebration includes samplings from local food producers, product demonstrations by worker-owned food producers, pop ups and product giveaways.

For more information, visit http://www.rainbow.coop/.