F I R S TP R E V580NEXTLAST

The Alcazar, Geary Street
There are twelve mosques in the Bay Area—this is not one of them. It's the 90-year old Alcazar Theater in San Francisco. But it does give us the chance to talk about one special South Bay city, Fremont. During the years following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, 50,000 Afghans fled to America. 20,000 of those settled in Fremont and now, nearly 30 years later, the community has flourished and grown. A part of Fremont is referred to 'Little Kabul' and is filled with Afghani restaurants, shops, grocery stores and the Afghan Cultural and Music Center.

One Afghan whose family sought political asylum in the Bay Area is a favorite author of mine, Khaled Hosseini who grew up and graduated high school in adjacent San Jose. His novel The Kite Runner, part of which is set in Fremont, was the third bestseller for 2005 in the United States. His new book, A Thousand Splendid Suns is currently second on the New York Times Bestseller List.
[ Alcazar G-13 | Fremont O-17 ]