Summer Stride

Author: Chris Carlsson, Hidden San Francisco

Sunday, 6/14/2026
2:00 - 3:00
Excelsior Meeting Room
Excelsior

4400 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94112
United States

415-355-2868

Discover a side of San Francisco you won’t find in typical guidebooks. In Hidden San Francisco, writer and historian Chris Carlsson reimagines the city through four interconnected themes—ecology, labor, transit, and dissent—offering a layered exploration of place, power, and people. Moving beyond familiar landmarks, Carlsson traces the city’s deep history, including the lives and cultures of its Indigenous inhabitants prior to the 1849 Gold Rush, and examines how these forces continue to shape the city today. Thought-provoking and richly detailed, this talk invites you to see San Francisco with fresh eyes.

Chris Carlsson is a San Francisco–based writer, historian, and publisher. He is the co-founder of the independent publishing house City Lights’ Shaping San Francisco project and has written extensively on urban history, culture, and politics. Carlsson is also the author of several books, including Nowtopia and Ten Years That Shook the City, and is known for his engaging, community-centered approach to exploring the past and present of San Francisco.

 

Nowtopia | San Francisco Public Library | BiblioCommons

Ten Years That Shook the City | San Francisco Public Library | BiblioCommons

 

Summer Stride

Summer Stride is the Library's annual summer learning, reading and exploration program for all ages and abilities. Read and learn with the Library all summer long.

This program is sponsored by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Attending Programs

All programs are drop-in (no registration necessary) unless otherwise noted. All SFPL locations are wheelchair accessible. For accommodations (such as ASL), call (415) 557-4557 or contact accessibility@sfpl.org. Requesting at least 3 business days in advance will help ensure availability.

This program will be conducted in English unless otherwise noted.

Notice: This event may be filmed or photographed. By participating in this event, you consent to have your likeness used for the Library’s archival purposes and promotional materials. If you do not want to be photographed, please inform a staff person or the photographer. A sticker will be provided to help identify you so that we can avoid capturing your image.

Public Notice and Disclaimer

This program uses a third-party website link. By clicking on the third-party website link, you will leave SFPL's website and enter a website not operated by SFPL. This service may collect personally identifying information about you, such as name, username, email address, and password. This service will treat the information it collects about you pursuant to its own privacy policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of each third-party website or service that you visit or use, including those third parties with whom you interact through our Library services. For more information about these third-party links, please see the section of SFPL’s Privacy Policy describing Links to Other Sites.

The views and opinions expressed in programs presented by groups unaffiliated with SFPL do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SFPL or the City.