My parents emigrated from Mexico and met at a downtown Los Angeles dance hall. By the time I came around, they and my two older sisters were living in Lincoln Heights, the East part of the city. Another sister and my brother followed, along with a stray dog that showed up on the porch one day and never left. In the middle of my first-grade year, all seven of us and the dog moved a bit more north than east, to Cypress Park.

A handful of miles made a lot of difference, taking us out of East L.A. to a less defined part of Northeast Los Angeles. While Lincoln Heights had North Broadway with its historical landmarks, local markets, family-owned shops, and a stationery store I still dream about, Cypress Park had a park that wasn’t a safe place to visit.

Fortunately, the local branch of the public library on the corner of Pepper Avenue and Romulo Street was close enough, so we could walk there on our own. I spent a lot of time at the Cypress Park library racking up more than a few overdue fines, making my way from the children’s section through the rest of the 1926 Georgian Revival style building.

I loved 3320 Pepper. As a kid, I used to fantasize about living there, imagining where I’d put a kitchen and my bed, using the bookshelves as walls. Many years later, I moved to San Francisco to study journalism at S.F.S.U. When I moved back to the west side of Los Angeles to raise my son, I learned the 3320 Pepper Avenue library branch had closed and was converted into a community club house, and a bigger, modern library was opened on Cypress Avenue.

I’ve been lucky to visit many libraries both as a reader and a writer, but it was 3320 Pepper that set me on the path I’m very glad and grateful to be on once again with The Neapolitan Sisters, and living back in San Francisco.

About Margo Candela:
Award-winning fiction author Margo Candela was born and raised in Los Angeles and began her writing career when she joined Glendale Community College’s student newspaper. She transferred to San Francisco State University as a journalism major, and upon graduation began writing for websites and magazines before writing her first two novels, Underneath It All and Life Over Easy. She returned to Los Angeles to raise her son and wrote More Than This and Good-bye to All That. The Neapolitan Sisters, a 2023 International Latino Book Award winner, is her fifth novel and her first after a decade-long hiatus from writing. She now lives in San Francisco.