SOMA

SoMa, or south of Market, is an epicenter of creativity in the city known for innovation. With its large loft spaces and old warehouses, the neighborhood has long attracted makers of all stripes. Whether you’re a local or just visiting, it’s easy to get a truly hands-on experience here. At Airbnb, we feel lucky to be part of such a vibrant community, and we’re excited to share this sunny patch of San Francisco with you. To help you find your way in, our design team has picked their favorite places to sip a glass of natural wine, chomp down on the city’s best burger, or get lost in the word’s most idiosyncratic library.

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Prelinger Library

Address
301 8th Street215
Website
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Free Lyft

On the second floor of a nondescript building sits one of San Francisco’s best secrets—the Prelinger Library, an idiosyncratic collection of image-rich historical ephemera, periodicals, maps, and books from the 19th-century to present. Opened in 2004 by Megan and Rick Prelinger, the library has no card catalog or Dewey Decimal Classifications. Instead, the stacks are arranged more like a stream of consciousness. Wanting library research to be as fun as a field trip, the ’zinester-turned-historians organized the collection as if it were a landscape for visitors to explore. The shelves begin in the Western US and end in outer space. In between, you can flip through 50 years of TV Guide magazines, old concert flyers, school textbooks from 1880-1970, and periodicals with titles like “Social Hygiene” and “Candy Manufacturers and Confectioners Journal.” Stop by on a Wednesday afternoon (they have occasional Friday/Saturday hours, too) and get lost in the library’s 30,000 bound objects, 60,000 loose sheets, and 10,000 zines.

Prelinger Library
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Prelinger Library
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Prelinger Library
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Prelinger Library
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Prelinger Library
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Prelinger Library
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Prelinger Library
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Prelinger Library
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Prelinger Library
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Prelinger Library
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Prelinger Library
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