Dan McKinley is the art director at McSweeney’s, an independent publishing house founded by Dave Eggers that publishes all manner of fiction, nonfiction and poetry from the likes of Miranda July, Hilton Als and David Byrne. McSweeney’s has a long tradition of beautiful design work, and says McKinley, “it’s my job to not mess that up.” Prior to McSweeney’s McKinley spent a decade working as a designer in the art world, most recently at SF MoMA and MASS MoCA. We caught up with him near the cozy and book-stuffed McSweeney’s HQ in the Mission to chat about small cities, literary cities and his interest in making his kids’ hometown a better place.
So, how did you first get interested in cities?
I’ve been interested in cities all of my life. Before I moved to San Francisco I bopped around a bunch of small- to mid-size New England cities: Providence, Rhode Island; North Adams and Northampton, Massachusetts; and my hometown of Hartford, Connecticut, which is a small city with huge problems.
You and I discussed your desire to get more involved in the life of your city. Explain...
I live on the edge of the city in San Francisco’s greatest neighborhood —the Outer Sunset — with my wife and two young boys. After the last municipal election, when I had to take a desperate crash course on the ballot measures the night before, I vowed to be more aware of the issues facing San Francisco. It isn’t my hometown but it is going to be the hometown of my kids and that realization hit me pretty hard. I am already in tune with the arts scene and the Outer Sunset parenting scene, but those are just small isolated slices of the city. I am trying to become more knowledgeable of housing, transportation, homelessness, public planning, and displacement, which is what, in part, led to my interest in SPUR.
McSweeney’s is located in the epicenter of the Mission. Any thoughts on the “changing” San Francisco?
The gentrification of the Mission is very real and impossible to ignore, especially if you work on Valencia Street like I do. McSweeney’s and 826 Valencia [a nonprofit organization that teaches writing to under-resourced students, aged 6 to 18, also founded by Eggers], have been rooted in the Mission for over fifteen years. We love it here, and while McSweeney’s doesn’t directly serve the neighborhood in the same way that 826 does, we feel like the Mission is a core component of who we are. It’s hard to see the neighborhood to lose some of its authentic character while becoming fancier and more generic. And there’s no end to the stream of horror stories about landlords raising rents and pushing tenants out. I wish I knew how to fix it.
What’s your favorite city?
Being close to, but not actually in, New York very much defined my 20s. And while I love big metropolitan cities, my favorite cities are the little cities of the northeast: New Haven, Providence, Northampton, Hartford, North Adams, Middletown. I was part of these vibrant and unique subcultures can grow out of that almost-New York-ness. I’m particularly interested in how the arts impact a city, and how, in small cities, that impact can be especially profound. Look at MASS MoCA, which took over an abandoned mill complex in sleepy North Adams, and now, for better or worse, defines the town.
Your favorite book about cities?
Jane Jacobs, obviously. But that’s cheating. I don’t read too many books that are about cities in true subject matter, but I love books where the urban setting becomes its own character in the story. For instance: I loved A Little Life’s vivid portrayal of New York in what felt like an ageless nonspecific 90s/00s era. While I wasn’t crazy about the actual books, Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels’ depiction of Naples was fascinating. Rachel Kushner’s The Flamethrowers hit a real sweet spot for me by combining my love for both New York’s art world and Milanese Italy.
Favorite urban view?
Land’s End looking out over the Golden Gate. Seeing tremendous cargo ships sail into and out of the city never gets old.