Charlie Taft's Blog

In 2002, author Dave Eggers and educator Ninive Calegari decided to establish a place for students to go after school to receive writing instruction and finish their homework. Eggers and company found a building to rent located at 826 Valencia Street in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District. The building, however, was zoned for retail, so they had to come up with something to sell in order to occupy the space.

A friend involved with the project mentioned that the inside of the building looked like the hull of a ship and jokingly suggested they sell pirate supplies. Everyone had a good laugh at that, but eventually the idea took hold. Today, in addition to a non-profit tutoring center for students ages 6 to 18, 826 Valencia—named for the building’s location—is also San Francisco’s only independent supplier of equipment for the working buccaneer: eye-patches, peg-legs, hooks, planks and, of course, means to combat scurvy.