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Crosscurrents

Hear Here: Eric Hannan remembers working at 81st Ave. Library in Oakland

Eric Hannan, former Teen Service Director of the 81st Avenue Library in East Oakland. Hannan is now the Teen Librarian for San Francisco's Main Branch.

Eric Hannan was only supposed to work as the 81st Avenue Library's Teen Service Director for a few weeks. He ended up staying two years.

"There was a gunshot blast through one of the front windows,” he remembers. “And that was the very first thing I saw when I saw that library." Despite that first impression, Hannan loved his time at the library, and thinks that it is a wonderful place both for staff, and for the young people who came there.

He now works as the Teen Librarian for the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library, but says that he cried for weeks when he had to leave Oakland. He shared that story with our Hear Here community storytelling project at the Visatacion Valley branch library in San Francisco.

Click the audio player above to listen to the complete story.

Hear Here is KALW’s local community storytelling project. We seek out the stories of people who live and work in San Francisco and Oakland neighborhoods – and share what we hear on air and online! To listen to more stories, click here.

You can also find the project on Facebook and Twitter.

Ninna Gaensler-Debs is a reporter and editor for Crosscurrents. Since 2012, Ninna has worn a variety of hats at KALW - she was both a producer and event planner for Localore project Hear Here. Ninna also programmed and organized the Sights and Sounds live events - two in Bayview, and most recently, one in East Oakland.