Forced to leave
San Francisco has long nurtured the boldest of dreamers: prospectors, tycoons, dot-commers and more. Paul Madonna, 43, landed in the city when he was a 21-year-old artist still wet behind the ears, and his head filled with the biggest and brightest of dreams. His popular comic “All Over Coffee,” which ran in the pages of The Chronicle for 12 years, captured the character of San Francisco and made its mark on citizens from the bay to the breakers.
Now, Madonna has a new book that describes a kind of living nightmare that began when he received an eviction notice from his landlord that sent him into shock. In clean, crisp words and stark images, “On to the Next Dream” describes an emotional journey that took Madonna from anger and desperation to shame, sadness and acceptance.
On his epic search for a new home and a new studio, he rubbed shoulders with immigrants, vegans and real estate agents — and plunged into the heart of Oakland. What holds all his journeys together is a tragicomic sense of the absurd.
Almost all of Madonna’s pictures are in black and white, though there’s a colorful pair of red shoes attached to two legs that dangle mysteriously from the open window of an apartment. Madonna finds beauty even in derelict buildings and dilapidated neighborhoods. For those who mainly know the city by its sleek skyscrapers, five-star restaurants and wind-swept beaches, “On to the Next Dream” might be a shocker and a kind of wakeup call. Still, this book is for everyone who has ever looked for a place to call home in San Francisco.
Jonah Raskin is the author of “San Francisco: Gold Rush to Google, Dancing on the Brink of the World.” Email: books@sfchronicle.com