826 Valencia

826 Valencia is the address, and name, of San Francisco's "only independent pirate supply store". The store has the look and feel of an authentic pirate shop, and sells pirate clothing, eyepatches, compasses, spyglasses, pirate dice, skull soapflags, and secret treasures. It features handmade signs, scattered around the store, offering such tongue-in-cheek wisdom as "Uses for Lard" (#5: "Lard Fights") and "Guidelines for New Shipmates" (#4: "No forgetting to swab"). You can also, if you look hard enough, find back-issues of McSweeney's magazines for sale, as well as books published by McSweeney's Press.

The store is really just a front for a writing workshop, whose aim is to help "students, ages 8-18, with their writing skills, in the realm of creative writing, expository writing, or English as a second language." It is run by Dave Eggers, with help from a staff made up of volunteers and Bay Area professionals.

A second shop in Brooklyn, New York, is a superhero supply store. More 826 writing centers are opening in Los Angeles, Seattle, Michigan, and Chicago.

External Links

• Pirate Store Main Page
• Information on the Writing Workshops