#47: Robert Louis Stevenson — Chinatown Treasure

san francisco has a long-standing reputation as a literature-loving town, as evidenced by government statistics ranking us as having the highest per-capita spending on books in the country. over the decades this city has nurtured a great number of notable writers from mark twain to dashiell hammett. however, there's one literary memorial in town that has always puzzled me. that is the apparently incongruous monument to robert louis stevenson set in the midst of the open-air living room of chinatown, portsmouth square.