SoMa Coffee Shops

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A wide variety of coffee shops are scattered over SoMa, and some of them provide free internet access. This map pinpoints a small portion of them.

Big district, big impression

Bordered by Market Street, Townsend, the Embarcadero and Eleventh Street, sits a vibrant neighborhood known as SoMa, the hotspot for great food and exciting nightlife. It’s mindboggling to wonder how I have managed to spend 19 years of my life in San Francisco without ever having seen this exciting part of the city.

South Park, with its open lawn and sandbox partitioned by a black fence, is warm and welcoming for residents to spend quality time with their children and pets.
As I strolled through the park, a red Frisbee hit me in the right ankle from behind. I picked up the plastic dish and turned to see a man grinning sheepishly, “I am so sorry about that”.

He was playing Frisbee with his friend. Next to them was a cluster of teenagers hanging out by one of the benches. A few of the girls were having a swinging competition. As I walked further down, I saw a woman pushing a toddler in a stroller. And in the sandbox, another woman was pushing a little boy on the swings while keeping her eyes trained on a little girl. Her name was Martha Mueller.

“I have lived here for eight years and I have no complaints about this place,” she said, smiling proudly. “I like it here.”

After exploring SoMa further, I decide I like it too.

In contrast to the more quiet area around South Park, is a more populated area around the Metreon and the Yerba Buena Gardens.

I approached two women in the streets.

“This is a very busy area [Yerba Buena Gardens],” said passerby Israela Steinheim. “There’s so much going on here all the time.”

“It’s too much for me,” said passerby Elvie Fong. “It’s so hard to park.”

Another busy area lined with restaurants and shops is King Street, located just at the edge of the district by the Embarcadero. For the first time of my life, I saw the popular AT&T Park, the home for enthusiastic baseball fans to gather and cheer for their favorite team.

However, besides the colorful and animated life of SoMa, there are also sketchier sides to the district to be aware of.

“[South Park] is a very quaint area, but I wouldn’t come here after seven,” said Mueller. “And you shouldn’t go down there [Third Street]. It’s a little dangerous on that side.”

Nonetheless, everyone should stroll through SoMa and get a feel of the culture. Some excellent places to visit are the popular AT&T Park, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Yerba Buena Gardens, and the Crossroads Café, a beautiful café run by people working hard to change their lives for the better.

Having lived in San Francisco my whole life, I am surprised I have never stepped foot in SoMa until now. But I am happy that I did, because I feel like I have just discovered the life of San Francisco.