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Monday–Friday · The everyday city, closely observed Vol. 04 — Autumn 2026 · No. 09

A journal of everyday city life

Sidestreet.

Libraries after dark, the last bus home, market lunches and repair counters — small stories about how a city actually lives.

Est. for readers who walk slowly✳ Autumn 2026✳ 8 stories in this issue
Topics
Rows of bookshelves in a warmly lit library

Illustrative photograph — not a depiction of the fictional place in this story.

Editor’s pick · Places

Featured story — 6 min read

The library that stays open after dark

A neighborhood reading room is finding a second life between dinner and the last bus.

By Nadia Cole · 14 Sept 2026

Plus seven more stories below — on buses, gardens, small stages and the longer walk home.

About this issue

This week we stayed close to home: a garden squeezed between buildings, a stage one step above the floor, and the signs we pass without reading.

— The Sidestreet editors

Contents

    Your reading shelf

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    Colophon

    Set in DM Serif Display & Literata, with DM Sans for notes. All people and places in these stories are fictional; photographs are illustrative.

    All stories

    8 stories

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    Reading shelf

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    Sidestreet.

    A journal of everyday city life · All stories, people and places are fictional · Photographs are illustrative stock, not documentary evidence.

    Illustrative photograph — not a depiction of the fictional people or places in this story.

    ■  End of story

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