By Sue-Jean Sung

Black Bird Bookstore and Café, the Outer Sunset staple serving coffee and good reads, was not Kathryn Grantham’s first foray into opening and operating a community-oriented, mission-driven space.

Before Black Bird on Irving Street and 46th Avenue, there was Black Bird on Judah Street and 45th from 2017 until 2022. And before Black Bird on Judah and 45th, there was Bluestockings Cooperative Bookstore in New York City in 1999. Given Bluestockings’ continued success and its Wikipedia description as “a radical bookstore, café and activist center,” it is easy to see that the apple does not fall far from the tree.

When Grantham moved to San Francisco in 2015, she settled on the west side with her children and partner at the time. She noticed families being drawn to the Outer Sunset and felt a rising energy of discovery: Folks who grew up here moved back, and families found their way west from other parts of the City. As more kids populated the avenues, she found herself fantasizing about opening a children’s bookstore.

“Growing up, I would sit on the floor of chains like Barnes and Noble and read under fluorescent lights,” Grantham reflects. “Even though the setting was generic and corporate, I would feel so grounded as I read books that opened worlds I didn’t have access to. I felt a deeper connection to humanity as I learned about different cultures and went on adventures I wasn’t personally experiencing. Providing windows and doors to ‘otherness,’ so to speak, is a social justice role that bookstores can uniquely fill in their communities.”

When a space on Judah became available in 2017, on the heels of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Grantham took the plunge and established the first iteration of Black Bird with blind optimism and a 1-year-old in tow. She rode the wave of society’s motivation to decouple from the administration’s role in defining people’s identities and instituted a third place centered around books and human connection. To serve everyone as best as she could, she decided to source materials for both adults and children.

With the move to a bigger space, including a yard and second floor, two and a half years ago, programming was able to expand. Not only can events like art shows, open mic nights, and flea markets hold more bodies, but the coffee shop attracts people who might not normally seek out a bookstore. The block on Irving has become a destination over the years, with neighbors like Hook Fish, Yoga Beach and Mollusk Surf Shop.

“Everyone who walks in and buys a book or a coffee is investing in the community,” Grantham said. “We all live here. The money goes to the staff, who then pay rent here, grocery shop here, eat out here. It feels good to feed our own village through the local economy.

“This is especially true when people feel disconnected and dismal about the world. Certainly, we have to be following what’s happening at a global and national level, but investing in our own neighborhood and creating the world we want to live in feels more possible and rewarding.”

Grantham’s intentional prioritization of elevating the diverse voices of the local and global majority through book curation, programming and employment models reflects Black Bird’s mission. She wants to underscore that not only is Black Bird a place in the neighborhood to tighten the knit of the community by seeing one another, celebrating creativity and raising the new generation together, but it is also a place with inclusive representation that considers its “first community,” the employees, first.

“If our first community is healthy, then we can serve the greater community in a healthy way,” she said. “That means providing livable wages, health insurance, and a shared vision. And in the end, it’s not about me personally opening 16 different Black Birds. We want to grow within our walls and in the fun things we can do. The goal is a sustainable model, not a growth model, that can ideally be replicated. My dream would be to see a community-built bookstore in every neighborhood.”

Grantham spoke about the best way for people to support the bookstore.

“Come share your art, your words, your creative spirit!” she said.

Whether attending and perhaps even reading for the first time at an open mic night or pitching and teaching a workshop, the spectrum of opportunities for involvement at Black Bird is wide.

Grantham also shared her vision for the future.

“In the next year, we will be working on deepening our offerings to reflect this neighborhood’s diverse cultures, languages and storytelling, she said. “That includes further integrating and collaborating with the Chinese community – those who have been crucial to the foundation of the Sunset.”

Black Bird Bookstore and Café is located at 4541 Irving St. It is open daily 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Learn more at blackbirdsf.com or call 415-742-5203.