826 Valencia is a pirate supply store. Peg legs, eye patches, message bottles, jars of beard wax, and a fish theater. It is also the storefront of a free youth writing and tutoring center co-founded in 2002 by author Dave Eggers and educator Nínive Calegari.
The pirate shop exists because the building was zoned for retail, so they built a store and put the writing lab behind it. The model worked well enough that 826 chapters opened across the country, each behind its own themed shop. Proceeds from the pirate goods fund the free programs.
The store is open daily in the afternoon and browsing is encouraged; the writing center operates behind it. It sits on Valencia between 19th and 20th, a block west of the Mission Street corridor on this route.
