By Tyler Willis
San Francisco has played home to smart misfits for decades. The City by the Bay has a reputation as a friendly refuge for nerds, dorks and otherwise goofy intellectuals with weird ideas. We’ve fought hard to earn that rep, and gosh darn it, we’ve earned it.
While being a nerd might be popular now, San Francisco still has its havens and refuges for the deeply dorky. These spots aren’t for everyone, but if you’re looking for something truly unique (and off the beaten path), the list below is a great place to start.
The Interval at the Long Now Foundation
2 Marina Boulevard, Fort Mason Center Bldg. A
The Long Now Foundation is like something out of a science-fiction book. It was founded by an environmentalist (Stewart Brand), a musician (Brian Eno) and a techie (Danny Hillis) in order to help “make long-term thinking” more common.
In between hosting monthly seminars by inventors and public artists, the Long Now Foundation supports projects that will make your head spin, including a clock that will run for ten thousand years, de-extinction projects aimed at bringing back the wooly mammoth and other extinct species, and a modern-day Rosetta stone with over 1,500 languages (a copy of which is now traveling through space on an asteroid).
The Interval is their coffee shop and cocktail house at Fort Mason. The place is gorgeous (for all you design and architecture nerds out there), and you can easily get a great drink and read all about Long Now’s various projects that are on display. You’re also almost guaranteed to bump into people working on cool projects at any time of day or night.
Nerd Nite SF
Every Wednesday at the Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street at Van Ness
Nerd Nite is a monthly event featuring three experts who come together to give 20- to 30-minute talks on their particular topic of expertise. It’s kind of like a TED Talk, except that the audience is full of normal, nonbillionaire, beer-drinking nerds. The speakers share their deep love of (and extensive knowledge about) topics such as sword canes, the history of words, plasma physics, metagrobology (the study of puzzles) and similarly stimulating topics.
In addition to the three lectures, there’s almost always a bevy of other fun surprises (like a DJ who plays music specially picked to reflect each speaker’s topic, no matter how obscure).
For an example, check out this talk from Dr. Ali Mattu, a science-fiction psychologist, in which he presents a universal theory about the psychological basis of “nerd rage.”
Audium
1616 Bush Street
Audium mixes sensory deprivation (in the form of a pitch-black room) with a high-concept auditory experience. It’s not musical; rather, it’s more of a compilation of sounds intended to provoke feelings. This isn’t surround sound; it’s being surrounded by sound. Some people have compared the experience to meditation. A small (and possibly drug-addled) percentage of the audience has even reported experiencing hallucinations during the exhibit.
Audium is an old San Francisco staple and has been open since 1975. The space isn’t sleek or modern, but its classic craftsmanship has a certain appeal. It also looks like it’s out of a Kubrick film.
Brewcade
2200 Market Street, #102
The best things in life are often simple combinations: peanut butter and jelly, salt and pepper, rum and coke, and arcade games and beer.
This is one of the few places on this list that doesn’t really need much more explanation. Play Paperboy (or Tekken or Ms. Pac-Man) and drink one of the many good beers on offer. You’ll find lots of kindred spirits frequenting this place — and it’s a popular hangout for hackers.
The Letterman Digital Arts Center
One Letterman Drive
This is the home of Industrial Light & Magic, LucasArts and Lucasfilm. Any Star Wars fan is going to get a kick out of visiting. The campus is beautiful and littered with Star Wars references. Search out the Yoda Fountain, and then go to the lobby of Building B to check out the Star Wars memorabilia (there are a life-size Darth Vader and Boba Fett on display!).
They also have one of the best movie theaters in the world, which is used as the ILM screening facility. While it’s not generally open to the public, the theater is occasionally rented out for special events for which you can purchase tickets.
Specs’ Twelve Adler Museum Cafe
12 William Saroyan Place
Specs’ is a bohemian artist bar with a variety of art items on display. Inside it feels like a haphazard, eclectic display of culture and is filled with odd art and weird people. It’s a fun neighborhood bar, but its nod to nerdery is that it was rumored to be the inspiration for the Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars.
Noisebridge
2169 Mission Street
Noisebridge is a hacker space. Filled with inventors and creators, this is a place you can go to to build anything your heart desires. There are classes on all types of creation, from soldering to programming to neurological research to 3-D printing and on.
Noisebridge is free and open to the public. You can hang out here and work on your laptop, drop in on classes or get to know the interesting people working in the electronics lab, machine shop, sewing room or library.
TechShop San Francisco
926 Howard Street
Similar to Noisebridge, TechShop is a space where you can access loads of fancy tools to build whatever your heart desires. TechShop has a huge amount of cool tools, but unlike Noisebridge, it’s not free to the public. You can either register for classes ad hoc or become a member to make use of the machines on your own time.
Exploratorium
Pier 15, The Embarcadero
While it might seem a bit trite to say this, it’s hard to go wrong with the Exploratorium. It’s awesome as a kid, but it’s even more fun as an adult. You’re encouraged to poke, prod and tinker with exhibits that help you understand a wide variety of phenomena. There are a huge number of exhibits and plenty of opportunities for interactivity.
To pair it with Audium, try the Exploratorium’s Tactile Dome, a pitch-dark maze that you have to feel your way through.
