The End of the Golden Gate

Writers on Loving and (Sometimes) Leaving San Francisco

By: Gary Kamiya - introduction

Narrated by: Matt Yang King, Tracey Leigh, Wayne Carr, Dan Woren, Betsy Foldes Meiman, Brittany Ishibashi, Will Collyer, Erin Bennett

Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

NATIONAL BESTSELLER! Capturing an ever-changing San Francisco, 25 acclaimed writers tell their stories of living in one of the most mesmerizing cities in the world.

Over the last few decades, San Francisco has experienced radical changes with the influence of Silicon Valley, tech companies, and more. Countless articles, blogs, and even movies have tried to capture the complex nature of what San Francisco has become, a place millions of people have loved to call home, and yet are compelled to consider leaving. In this beautifully written collection, writers take on this Bay Area-dweller's eternal conflict: Should I stay, or should I go?

Including an introduction written by Gary Kamiya and essays from Margaret Cho, W. Kamau Bell, Michelle Tea, Beth Lisick, Daniel Handler, Bonnie Tsui, Stuart Schuffman, Alysia Abbott, Peter Coyote, Alia Volz, Duffy Jennings, John Law, and many more, The End of the Golden Gate is a penetrating journey that illuminates both what makes San Francisco so magnetizing and how it has changed vastly over time, shape-shifting to become something new for each generation of city dwellers.

With essays chronicling the impact of the tech-industry invasion and the evolution, gentrification, and radical cost of living that has transformed San Francisco's most beloved neighborhoods, these prescient essayists capture the lasting imprint of the 1960s counterculture movement, as well as the fight to preserve the art, music, and other creative movements that make this forever the city of love.

For anyone considering moving to San Francisco, wishing to relive the magic of the city, or anyone experiencing the sadness of leaving the bay - and ultimately, for anyone that needs a reminder of why we stay.

Bound to be a long-time staple of San Francisco literature, anyone who has lived in or is currently living in San Francisco will enjoy the rich history of the city within these pages and relive intimate memories of their own.

Essays from: Gary Kamiya, W. Kamau Bell, Margaret Cho, Michelle Tea, Daniel Handler, John Law, Beth Lisick, Peter Coyote, Alia Volz, Stuart Schuffman, Jamie Wong, Larry Smith, Bonnie Tsui, Elissa Bassist, Duffy Jennings, Grant Faulkner, Diana Helmuth, Alysia Abbott, Sarah Coglianese, Elizabeth Khuri Chandler, Andrew Altschul, Terry Ashkinos, Kimberly Reyes, and Fayette Hauser.

GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY: A percentage of the proceeds received by Chronicle Books will be given to Hamilton Families to help those in the Bay experiencing homelessness. Every copy purchased offers a small way to help those in need.

©2021 Gary Kamiya (P)2021 Chronicle Prism

As excellent and varied as expected

I expected the same thrill I got from the “other” Gary Kamiya book, “Cool Gray City of Love,” and I got it.

Two or three of the stories were so good I had to listen to them over and over to absorb their brilliance. Another few were emotional, another few shocking, a few inspiring. Two or three were boring — not a bad ratio for 24 or so stories.

Wonderful, with reservations…

I’m a San Franciscan, 71 yrs old. True, I grew to adulthood in NY State. (I even went to Woodstock [1969].) But I escaped at 24, first to Sacramento, then home to the Bay Area. Two Dolores St locations have been my nests since 1984. I’m grateful to have bought a roomy Tenant-in-Common in 1991 that went Condo just a few years later. I couldn’t leave if I wanted to. In fact, now I’m trying to “age-in-place.”
On to the book:
Except for Gary Kamiya’s essay on loving the City as his true home, I found the book heavily weighted toward those resenting the changes enough to try to get out, and usually succeeding. Sad.
My second disappointment in the book is more petty. Some of the narrators clearly are not from SF, or even the Bay Area. Or were they just having fun pronouncing Duboce “dew-bow-chay”? Or Bernal “burr-nall” (twice)?
That’s all I got.