Kate had us take Summer Kraml, the founder and owner of Osento (now going out of business boo hoo), out to dinner at Blue Plate the other night, to thank her for providing Osento to the community for all these years.
She told lots of amazing stories that I think she probably wants to save for her own book, but one thing that was so haunting was the number of women-run, women-only businesses and projects she referred to, up and down Valencia Street. They are all gone now. Old Wives' Tales bookstore, a woman-only bar where the Elbo Room is now (only a block from here!). A women-only restaurant where Radio Valencia used to be. A women's newspaper.
I wish it all could have survived. I wish I understood what it would have taken for them to still be here.
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