Kids who ran away to 1960s San Francisco

Summary

“Dear people at Huckleberry’s… Please don’t ever close – we need you… I love you all for just being there. Melissa” March 1969I’ve been reading Season of the Witch, a fantastic book on the history of San Francisco from the 1960s through the 80s. Somewhere in the middle, there’s a chapter on Huckleberry House, a home for runaways started in the late 60s. It was just a couple pages, but it stuck with me.There was something about the story of the founder, a reverend turned hippie, who decided to help teens when everyone else had given up on them. It resonated with my own life story and motivations for building Nautilus, my non-profit.Of course, my first instinct was to look the house up, hoping to answer my many questions:Who were these kids?What was it like to live in this house, in this era?Who was the founder – is he still around?Is the house open to this day?While skimming through the house’s Wikipedia page, I discovered that archives on its history were available at the main library of San Francisco, including:The ACTUAL letters exchanged between teen runaways and the house’s founder during the 60s!I can’t explain the rush of adrenaline that gave me.At that point, it felt like I had two options: either I was going to impulsively go to the library that very same day and get to the bottom of my curiosity, or I would forget about it and move on.Like many of us, I’m busy, so my mind started to come up with all the reasons not to go. Waste of time. I got meetings. Very unproductive way to spend a Tuesday. Seriously, like, what’s even the point?Luckily, I was able to break through this stream of thought and realize that I aspire to be a high agency individual who is free to follow her curiosity.So, just like that, I went.The Library’s logo is a nautilus… Great choice, guys.It was my first time at the San Francisco Public library. Most people there seemed to be using the building for everything but reading: charging their phone, using the restroom, or just resting from t...