Art Yap

Peninsula Book Collaborative feat. Raquel Espana
Theme song: [00:00:00] This is an art. Yap. It is an art. Yap. We're talking art. Yap. Ity y art.
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Shawna Vesco Ahern: A room without books is like a body without a soul. I'm Shawna Vesco Ahern, and this is Art Yap. The podcast where I gab with Bay Area creatives about imagination, arts, culture, and everything in between. Today we're heading into Daly City’s Westlake Shopping Center. Yes, my childhood stomping grounds for a conversation about how community spaces can transform not just a [00:01:00] neighborhood, but a whole way of life.
I'm joined by Raquel Espana. Founder of the Peninsula Book Collaborative, a nonprofit bookstore and literary hub that's making books, culture and community connection accessible to North San Mateo County. We talk about starting from pop-ups, turning bookstores into living rooms and why arts and culture are what's saving our malls, and we get the eight balls blessing for their big fall fundraiser.
So, you know, it's gonna be good. Let's get into it.Welcome to Art. Yeah. Thank you so much for coming. Thanks for having me. Um, I'm at the Peninsula Book Collaborative with I guess founder and board member.
Is that an accurate title? That is accurate. Raquel Espana Um, and before we get into it, I wanna say we're in Westlake Shopping Center. The Peninsula Book Collaborative is located and as someone who was born and grew up in Daly City. I love this. For us right now. I, you know, Westlake plays such a huge part in my [00:02:00] psychogeography, like of my childhood and how I think about the Bay Area.
I used to come here with my grandma and go to Woolworth's and eat a hot dog. We used to go to Sanwa Bank and my cousins and I would eat the free sugar cubes at the coffee station. Um, and incidentally, my dentist was here for the longest time, Dr. Nii. What's up? Um, and so to have like this literary community hub in Westlake feels so right.
It feels so good, and it reminds me that like we have these. Failing strip malls, failing regular malls throughout the whole bay. And I know in Tanforan some artists are inhabiting a part of that, like with a studio and an art gallery. Um, I just saw an article written by Rocky Rivera and she was saying that like all the Asian H marts and restaurants are coming to save the malls for us.
And I think the arts and that is coming to save the malls. Um, so yeah, let's get into it. Tell the kind listeners all about Peninsula Book Collaborative.
Raquel Espana: [00:03:00] Yeah, so we are a nonprofit bookstore in community space, uh, founded in 2023. Mm-hmm. Um, because of so many things, but primarily because there was a lack of bookstores in North San Mateo County.
Um, and also just the lack of library hours due to property taxes. So. I started, um, kind of thinking like, what do we need? Mm-hmm. Um, a Daly City doesn't have a downtown, it doesn't have a huge art space or literary base. And, um, so started talking to quite a few people and between the libraries and just different, you know, social, um.
Folks in the area and no one thought I was crazy to kind of That's a great first step. Yeah. Right. Like, they're like, are, no one thinks this is insane. Good. So started, uh, kind of recruiting board members to see if it was actually viable. Mm-hmm. And so we did a bunch of popups, um, at Gilman Brewery when it was still here.
Mm-hmm. Uh, and um, at one of the local schools. And then finally we got the space back, um, in 2023 lit fall [00:04:00] 2023.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Yeah. And that's what's so interesting, like it's not just. A bookstore, which is already pretty cool. But I saw you have so many events and public programs. I saw you have like silent book club.
Yeah. There's some sort of poetry thing coming up. Yes. Um, what other kinds of fun, quirky things do you do in the space?
Raquel Espana: Yeah. So, uh, pretty much what the community is looking for. So, uh, although we kind of set up and craft some programming, a lot of the programs come from the community itself. So, for example, one of the community members.
Um, Erica decided that she wanted to have a. Kind of a free workshop series for teens that are entering college and what that looks like. and so
Shawna Vesco Ahern: I was gonna say Erica incidentally, who went to Mercy High School with me and suggested you come on the show Yes. Just saying.
Raquel Espana: Um, and so she did a series last fall, and she's doing one again this fall or starting in August.
Um, and we'll do a. Uh, three, workshop series. And so we've also, we have something coming up in August called Message in A Bottle where it's kind of a multimedia art, [00:05:00] poetry, thing. We also have, author talks. We have, um, the next author talk is coming up in October, but we also have meet and greets with local authors so we can kind of promote their work.
Mm-hmm. yeah, so we just kind of have, it's a whole variety of different activities. We will have story times during, back in the fall. We took a summer hiatus. Mm-hmm. so just kind of a little bit of everything.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: I love this like grassroots programming and also grassroots marketing. I noticed your Instagram has almost a thousand people on it, and I was kind of looking at like who your partners are, who you collaborate with, and I noticed sort of in your work history you have.
Some San Mateo County Library. I know Tanya Beats on the board. And I, um, I met Tanya working at San Mateo County as the art curator. So I was just kind of wondering like, who are your main buddies in this constellation and this aren't literary constellation? Who are your main pals?
Raquel Espana: Yeah. Um, well, yes, Tanya is amazing.
She's a community connector to the utmost, and she's a board member. and I met her through the foundation of, um, San Mateo County Libraries, [00:06:00] another nonprofit that I'd founded, with. We, our main partners though, are the libraries, so we really do partner with Daily City public libraries. Mm-hmm. we're gonna start reaching out to some of the other local public libraries that are not part of the county system, 'cause the county system is much larger.
and then we also have partnered with, uh, the Daily City Public Library Associates, which is, kind of their friends, the library group. And so we, um, 10% of all of our used book sales actually goes to them every year. One of our big things is like, we know the libraries need support. It's all about literary access.
It's not competing. Mm-hmm. and so we really wanted to support them as well. and then we also partner with, um, the San Mateo County Arts and Culture. Mm-hmm. Association or committee or whatever. They're, and then they, um,
Shawna Vesco Ahern: office of, thank you. Sorry. Office San Mateo County's Office of Arts and Culture.
Thank you. Yeah. It was hard running marketing for them. S-M-C-O-A-C. It's a lot of acronyms.
Raquel Espana: So one of, um, I think it was another connection through Tanya. Her name is Mara. Mm-hmm. And she works for the, the county [00:07:00] office. And she just came into the space and was, um, kind of enamored and was like, we need to do some partnerships.
So one of the partners that we, um, partnerships that we actually did was with Cora. So the community's overcoming relationship abuse and Through a different partnership with them, with Cora and the Arts, and a dragonfly community arts organization. Mm-hmm. They had some of their clients do artwork, as more of therapeutic process for during their situations.
And we hosted a pop-up art gallery for a month back in February. Oh, wow. And so, we had like an opening reception and then we had artwork as well as some foam core about Cora. Mm-hmm. All throughout the space. We kind of moved things around, to kind of host. That. and we really wanted, again, to bring awareness out.
We now have Cora's information in our community space, uh, to kind of really just highlight any way that we can support the community. Mm-hmm. We had their wishlist up so people could buy books on their behalf. books that they wanna give out to their clients or have in their, shelter. So.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: And then when I got here, you were like wrapping [00:08:00] and packing and moving.
And you mentioned that you just started like offering things online. Yeah. Which is kind of escalating. So I'm curious to hear a little bit about that background, like the operations of it, sort of how. You're keeping a sustainable infrastructure for yourself.
Raquel Espana: Yes. Slowly. Yeah, very slowly. so we were actually completely volunteer run, and operating until November of 24.
Mm-hmm. So for about a year, uh, we were only open four days a week. And for. About, I think it was 16 hours or something like that. Mm-hmm. Maybe 20. we're now open over 40. Whoa. And so, whoa, this is, uh, it, so it took us about a year just to get the word out. And again, uh, we didn't have a sign. We, it was.
Very much gorilla marketing, just like kind of word of mouth people walking by. Yeah. Um, and doing just a lot of outreach. Uh, and so because of that, we were able to kind of get enough funds to support just some part-time staff. So we have some part-time bookstore associates who have been great, they're [00:09:00] major book lovers.
Mm-hmm. And so they kind of manage the store day to day. And then, um, myself as, as along with the rest of the board, really focus on the. The backend, backend stuff. So whether it's, uh, thinking about strategy and, and strategic planning partnerships, who do we talk to? Mm-hmm. And then also like, what kind of things do we need to do?
Yeah. to have a bigger presence. And so yes, we do have our used books on Biblio, which is an online platform. We have merch through Bonfire. We have, partnerships with like, just like most other independent bookstores with Libro fm, which is kind of the competitor for Audible. So for audio books. And then.
bookshop.org, which is our, for new books that can be shipped directly to you.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: That's, you have so much going on. There's a lot. for you personally, what has been your favorite part about this whole thing? And like, do you have any memorable stories or moments or interactions that you wanna talk about?
Raquel Espana: Yeah, I was thinking about that. Mm-hmm. there's so [00:10:00] many. Mm-hmm. I think, so a couple of things is. Seeing kids come into this space, never actually going into a bookstore before. Mm-hmm. Like this is their first experience and being able and saying, I can take these home, like I don't have to return them, is such a small thing and yet so powerful.
Right. they know that libraries, they can take checkout books, but they have to return them and. The libraries are such an important service, but to also have this space where kids can come in, choose a book on their own, you know, pay for it and keep it and have that beginning of book ownership has been one of the things that I wasn't really thinking about, but it was something that, I mean, I've always been part of children's literacy and, and that kind of thing, but just to kind of see.
That coming through here was not, it was a different relationship with the text. Yes. Yeah. and then we also are committed to having a free book space. so there's, we always have books for all ages that are free, and that has also been amazing. We had a family come in the [00:11:00] other day. Where, a daughter was getting divorced and didn't have a lot of money and the, basically the grandmother was coming in to Bri to kind of thinking, initially buying, and they did buy a few books, but they grabbed about 20 books from the free section to start building out their kids free, you know, library at home.
Mm-hmm. So just things like that have been just so powerful to see and see. Why, like, we're here and, and, uh, the importance of it. Another just nuanced thing is meeting such amazing people. Mm-hmm. you know, the woman who runs Silent Book Club has a little free library in front of her house and just loves books and found us and was like, can I run this?
We said, okay, let's do it. Sounds good. Sounds good. So she's been doing that for over a year, about close to a year and a half now, and it's just grown and, seeing. some seniors empty nesters come every month and start meeting other folks and start getting connection and building those connections that have just been so, again, unique things or things that I wasn't expecting.
Yeah. but [00:12:00] really, truly building community here.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: And I noticed too, as I'm looking around, we have like, reading is resistance. We have, you know, and in love languages, I am fluent and worry. We just have like a lot of like little quirky, funny, thoughtful touches all over the space. It almost feels like a living room of sorts.
I don't know if you think of it that way. but even in the bathroom you do, you have a nice little changing table. Yeah. You've got some period products going on. Like there's just a lot of thought and care that have gone into this space that you feel the instant you walk in that door. It really does feel like.
Someone's living room that you're welcome in.
Raquel Espana: No, thank you. No, I appreciate that. We, a lot of it, or I would say most of it has been intentional. Mm-hmm. We really wanted anyone who came into this space to feel like they belonged, um, and that they were included. So that was really a big piece of, initially when we bought new books, most, you know, at the beginning, most of our books were used.
Um, and as we buy new books, we really focus in on bipoc books, L-G-B-T-Q books, uh, neurodivergent Books, books that [00:13:00] really kind of. Show the entire community. Mm-hmm. And that anyone can find something in here that kind of speaks to them.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: And now if we have like local writers who have a book and they wanna do like a little book launch or they wanna do like a reading.
Yeah. Can they come and find you and like set that up or?
Raquel Espana: Absolutely. So on our website, we have a whole little thing. We've upgraded all of this. Over the past year, we've kind of learned, um, some. Best practices. But yes, they can go on our website and kind of learn how they can do a meet and greet, how they would, come and share their, their story and, and kind of, you know, depending, we've had local authors do book launches here.
Mm-hmm. So it's the beginning of their book. We've had other law, authors who just wanna do a meet and greet, um, because their book has been out for four or five years, but they really want to get the word out. Mm-hmm. We are having a meet and greet in August with a local children's book author. but we're having a launch with someone else in October about her memoir.
So it really is very cool. it, it really runs the gamut. Mm-hmm. Uh, we've had, uh, we had a short stories, local [00:14:00] author come in in February and the place was packed. I don't think I've ever seen the place that's full. It was mainly her friends, which was great. That's, that was great. and she's from Pacifica and so she really wanted to,
You know, really highlight the work that she was doing. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, we really wanna highlight local authors. We don't do consignment, which is, uh, typical with most stores. Mm-hmm. Um, bookstores, we actually purchase them. Interesting. So we really wanna focus on local, um, supporting local authors. That's great.
Yeah.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: And I noticed you have a little stack-a-roo Well, with some books to discuss. I didn't read, I didn't read in advance.
Raquel Espana: Is there Not, but it's more about, um, you know, this area. Is heavily diverse. Right? Daily City is just a hugely diverse community. and, but primarily Filipino community. Mm-hmm. And so, and I am not Filipino, a Filipino, and so I am, I'm not either, but I'm still from Daily City.
It's really weird. I know. So one of the things was, is finding what kind of resonates with people. Mm-hmm. And like some of the top [00:15:00] sellers. And so I just picked out a couple of books that have been our top sellers. One is Professional Lola. Mm-hmm. it's a set of, uh, short stories. and it's from Epan and I believe he's located in la.
But this is something that we've sold so many copies of this book and I just randomly bought it because I was like, oh, Philippines. Let's see. Great. And people have just been like, they grab it, they start reading it and they're like, we need to have this. and so this has been just something that's super popular.
And then the other, another one is arsenic and adobo. This is the beginning.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: That is a great title.
Raquel Espana: She is, Filipino author. She's got a whole series. So this is the first of I. Six books. So, um,
Shawna Vesco Ahern: that Cover Artist Fire too. It's great.
Raquel Espana: So there's Homicide and Halo Halo. There's everything is like a play on word.
So Stop That'ss. Cute. So her and Herta Rosie. And there's always some sort of drama and romance and mystery. It's very cozy mystery. Mm-hmm. Um, series. So that has been, Just wildly popular. And then our other one is that we have a whole set, this is from a [00:16:00] local, uh, independent author glue books. I think it's Glue or glow books.
Mm-hmm. But the very Asian guide, so this one's Filipino food, but we also have a Vietnamese food, Indian food. Oh, cool. Or they have, uh, Singapore food, Taiwanese food. And so all the, all. Very Asian guides have been so popular. Yeah. And so it's been fun to find, just these local, local or very specific indie authors and indie, um, kind of series mm-hmm.
That have resonated with the community.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: And I'm definitely gonna put, uh, pictures of these on Instagram. These are great looking covers. Yeah. And I was curious if. Of running this and trying to like, think in that very external facing way, if that's changed your like reading patterns or like what you would typically go into.
'cause now you're kind of in that curatorial mindset of like curating for the community. So do you find that now inhabiting that role has really changed your reading list?
Raquel Espana: Um, yes and no. I am a sucker for like the cozy mystery myself. Mm-hmm. And, um. [00:17:00] And historical fiction. Mm-hmm. But I would say that, um, what I am.
What's happened is that I'm, I'm actually not reading as much, which is Okay. Too busy. I'm too busy to read. So it's doing a lot more scanning. Yeah. And, finding like authors are finding genres that I had never heard of before. I would say that I know a lot more authors. Yeah. and I can kind of tell you who's their publisher versus actually that is, that is new.
Yeah. Yeah. so that's like some of the things that I've learned is interesting. I've had a couple of volunteers that are part of the organization that have said that they've actually, when they were volunteering here all the time mm-hmm. They were so overwhelmed. The amount of books. Yeah. That they actually didn't know what to read.
Like they were like, I don't know.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: It's hard. It's hard to know where to start. Yeah. Where to start.
Raquel Espana: So, so, but it's fun. It's, it's been fun, but it, it's been a shift in what and how I think
Shawna Vesco Ahern: the, the mail just got dropped through the mail slot. I'm not editing [00:18:00] that out. That was pretty good. I mean, personally, I'm about to drop $50 in here before I leave, so I guess that's fine.
I love these shirts by the way. Oh yeah. Speaking of merch,
Raquel Espana: I had to, yeah. So our, um, one of Tanya mm-hmm. Designed this, um. And we just put it on a t-shirt and we just was Tanya. Yeah, Tanya does. These are great. They are amazing.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Shout out to Tanya on these shirts.
I'm gonna buy one. Okay. Um, the time has come then to ask the Magic eight Ball a yes or no question. And it can be silly, it can be serious, it can be. Personal. It can be whatever, but take it seriously because she's never wrong.
Raquel Espana: Oh. Mm-hmm. Okay. Oh, have I have to shake it? You have to shake it.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: I can't be part of it. Okay.
Raquel Espana: Ooh, let's see. I, oh, now I can't even think. Okay. Hold on.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Yeah, it's hard. It's a lot of pressure. It's real. I know.
Raquel Espana: I didn't know I was gonna be asking. Okay.[00:19:00]
Ooh. Um, will we have an amazing fundraiser? 'cause we have a fundraiser in September, so I'm gonna say are, we have an amazing fundraiser this year and then we turn on ball. It is certain. Oh. Oh my God.
Shawna Vesco Ahern: Okay. It's certain. Whew. Alright, there we go. Well that's great news for us and it's been so fun having you on the show.
Thank you. I learned so much and I'm really excited about this space and where it's gonna go. Thank you. It's doing a great service for the community and just keep it up. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks for listening to Art Yap. If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to support the show is to leave a rating or review. Share art Yap with a dreamer, a maker, a friend. Because good ideas are better when they don't end. For video trailers and sneak peeks, follow us on Instagram at Art yap underscore podcast.
Until next time, keep [00:20:00] imagining. Keep creating and keep yapping.