The Grand Newsstand: Making a Stand for the Soul of the City
The Grand Newsstand is anything but grand.Housed in one of the green—usually unused—newsstands you find littered around Market Street, it lies a block away from the Ferry Building, near other stalls with local vendors and artists. The circular stand opens up to reveal a counter in the middle, and its two doors are used to prop narrow, wooden shelves that hold zines (or self-published magazines, for the uninitiated). If you’re not looking closely, you might mistake the slim volumes of varying shapes and colors for tourist information pamphlets of some sort.
But oh, though this stand be but little, it is fierce. Quietly yet defiantly, it is selling independent, self-published, print media in an area of the city colonized by tourists, tech startups, and big business. It also regularly hosts pop-up events with artists and other do-it-yourselfers who have something to sell and say.
“Is it too bold to say that I’m taking a stand for art in the city?” owner Courtney Riddle asks me contemplatively. She appears the epitome of an alternative artist, with her bright mop of strawberry blond hair, colorful clothes, and dainty nose ring. But then she smiles, apparently growing comfortable with her statement. “That is my goal—to keep things happening for the local community and culture.”
The magic happens in the morning when Courtney takes the bus to her stand at the corner of Market Street and Steuart Street. She is usually there four or five days a week, between the hours of 10AM and 6PM. It takes her five minutes to go through her routine of opening up the stand, setting up the racks, and putting out the “zine machine,” a vending machine that spits out tiny publications for 50 cents.
During the day, she is entertained by the shenanigans that unfold on Market Street in front of her. “Honestly, it’s like watching the most interesting TV show all day long,” she laughs.
She needs a sense of humor to run a newsstand that gets its fair share of tourists asking for directions or the toilets, and homeless people on the street who get violent once in a while. But for Riddle, the newsstand is a dream come true.
She’d dreamed of owning a store since high school, but despaired of making anything happen given the astronomical—some would say, ridiculous—rental rates in San Francisco. “I was getting pretty down right before opening the shop, considering moving even,” she told me.
But then, opportunity struck. An acquaintance mentioned in passing that he had the contact information for the ad agency who owns the green newsstands around the city, and the idea sparked in her that she could rent one of them to sell her zines and those of other artists and writers she wanted to promote.
Unfortunately, the city government had other ideas. Even though JCDecaux, the ad agency who owned the kiosks, was thrilled with Riddle’s proposal, they told her she still needed to get approval from the Department of Public Works. For no apparent reason other than they would prefer to keep the kiosks empty, the government office kept saying no.
Finally, Riddle found the contract that stated the stands were allowed to sell print media, and it was only in May 2015, six months since she’d started the whole process, that the department caved in and gave their green light to proceed.
“Little did they know who they were dealing with,” Riddle says. “I would make it more work for them to keep saying no.”
The Grand Newsstand opened on July 24, amidst a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by close friends. She says it almost felt like a wedding—not helped by the fact that she wore a white dress. A few friends played jazz and folk music.
“I had them stand right here in front of the kiosk and everyone was clustered around,” she says. “There’s a little bit of acoustic feedback that comes from inside. But it was very intimate because everyone had to get close to hear what was happening.”
At first, collecting inventory for the store was also an intimate process. She contacted friends she’d met through tabling at San Francisco Zine Fest and working at local zine store Needles & Pens for a couple of years. But gradually, as word got out about the store, she started receiving emails from other people who wanted to sell with her.
“I do it all on a consignment basis,” she explains. “So they drop [stock] off, and then once it sells, we trade things off, restock, and I pay them out. For me, one of the best feelings in the world is writing a check to another artist. It’s a real testament to being able to make money from your art.”
And it is this inspiration she unwittingly provides to other people that keeps her going. It’s the reason it’s important for her to hold cultural events at the stand, which she believes “keep this city thriving.” Over the past few months, she’s had pop-up events with LitQuake, printmaker collectives, and independent publishing outfits like Last Gasp and Little Paper Press.
She recounts, “One of my favorite ones was with this artist who teaches high school age kids in Oakland. He wanted to put on an art show and have some of the kids come and help him run the stand for the day. The kids used the shelves and propped their art on it. They were selling original art and the teacher said the experience just blew their minds. I would love to do more things like that and encourage that do-it-yourself spirit in other people.”
Counterculture San Francisco has one of the most vibrant zine communities in the world, as proven by the thousands who flock to SF and East Bay zine fests every year. However, many would also argue that print is dead and that technology is the new overlord in town.
Riddle bristles at the idea. “I think the adage ‘print is dead’ is dead, to be honest,” she replies. “People are sick of overexposure to the digital world. Most people I know are aching for the tangible. So that's why I think zines are having such a revival—and you'll see a lot more of them in a few years, I know it.”
Her words make me stop and reflect on what she said. On one hand, despite being, in her own words, “vehemently, passionately anti-tech” a few years ago, she does recognize now that it’s possible for technology and art to have a symbiotic relationship. For example, she used to dislike social media but now admits that it can be useful.
"Instagram has been really, really useful in getting the word out about the Grand Newsstand,” she says. “I guess artists really react to things visually, so that’s been the best way for people to hear about us.”
She’s already planning future events and collaborations for the newsstand, and advises me to “keep up on Instagram” for fun giveaways and other promotions.
But there may be something to what she says, too, about people aching for the tangible. Are zines having a resurgence since their ‘70s heyday? In the two hours I sit with her, two different women come up and tell her thatthey’re thinking about putting out a zine. A man, who works in the area, drives up on a bicycle and takes a leaflet from the zine machine. Before he leaves, he calls out, “Welcome to the community.”
Finally, as I am packing up to leave, another customer arrives and immediately begins browsing the shelves.
“How did you find this place?” Riddle asks, making small talk.
I figure that, like all the other customers, she had just been walking by.
“I came searching for this place, actually,” she answers.
