Steven has lived in San Francisco for 30 years. He was evicted from his apartment at 940 Capp Street after 26 years of living there by the resident owners of the house via family members move-in. He feels this move-in eviction was retaliation for, among other justifiable actions, his declining to sign a new and illegal rental agreement that would have doubled his rent. Karen Uchiyama, Esq. was their counsel.
Steven builds the rare books collection, as well as the historic Bancroft Collection (located in Berkeley) focusing on California and the Western U.S., as well as Mexico and Central America. This special collections library was founded in San Francisco in 1860, and was latterly located (until 1906) where St. Luke’s Hospital is today at the corner of Cesar Chavez and Valencia Street. During his time on Capp Street, Steven was haunted by the elusive history of Mr. Capp, the namesake of his street, until he was able to lay his hands upon a rare biography book of said early San Franciscan. Only then did he learn that he was being haunted by Mr. Capp, an early real estate speculator of San Francisco. Steven identifies with an elusive sidewalk tag “ghost modern” still to be found on the sidewalk pavements of the Mission.