Writer Gary Kamiya is taking Alta Journal readers on a camping story with a wild twist: it takes place in San Francisco. In our latest Alta Serial, Kamiya embarks on a four-night, five-day adventure without sleeping in a hotel or at a campground. His aim was to touch each of this seven-by-seven-mile city’s four corners and to immerse himself in its natural beauty and built environment. Carrying a backpack and a sleeping bag (and a credit card), he stepped away from the familiar comforts of home to begin his journey. Now back home, Kamiya joins Alta Live to explain how this journey was in no way a means to explore or experience the homeless crisis in San Francisco, but rather the bold adventure of a nearly 70-year-old San Francisco author and enthusiast to forge a deeper connection with the city he loves. He’ll reveal stories that didn’t make his five-part series, share reflections and epiphanies, and help us better understand his perspective on this city at a very public crossroads.
About the guest:
Gary Kamiya is a cofounder of Salon, a former executive editor of San Francisco magazine, and a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. He was born in Oakland, grew up in Berkeley, and has lived in San Francisco since 1971. His first book, Shadow Knights: The Secret War Against Hitler, was a critically acclaimed narrative history of Britain’s top-secret Special Operations Executive. Kamiya’s second book, Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco, was awarded the 2013 Northern California Book Award for Creative Nonfiction and has sold more than 50,000 copies. His local history column, Portals of the Past, ran in the San Francisco Chronicle, and Kamiya’s work has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, ArtForum, Sports Illustrated, Mother Jones, and many other publications and has been widely anthologized, including in The Best African American Essays 2010, A New Literary History of America from Harvard University Press, and The Longman Reader. Kamiya is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Ron Ross Founder’s Award from the San Francisco History Association and the Redmond Kernan History Award from the Presidio Historical Association. He lives on Telegraph Hill.•
