subject: 6 Reasons To Visit San Francisco's Vibrant South Of Market District [print this page] So you think you know San FranciscoSo you think you know San Francisco. But what do you know about SoMa? Once an unglamorous stretch of warehouses with a seedy undercurrent, an exciting modern San Francisco has emerged in the area South of Market StreetSoMa. But why should you choose this section over Chinatown or Union Square?
6. Unique Culture: Locals can be seen at leisure at the South Park Cafe, Brain Wash (a cafe/performance space/laundromat), or other fashion-forward restaurants and watering holes. Some South of Market hotels even take on the local flavor with boutique-style amenities.
5. Conventions: The Moscone Convention Center is s known for hosting the Macworld Expo, RSA Conference, American Geophysical Union's fall meeting, American Bar Association's annual meeting, the Game Developers Conference, the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, and public gated events such as WonderCon and the 1984 Democratic National Convention.
4. To get your geek on. Touring San Franciscos tech giants could be a trip of itself, considering this area is the headquarters for Wired, Sega of America Inc., CNET Networks, Twitter, Justin.tv, BitTorrent Inc., and Yelp, among others. At many SoMa hotels, dont be surprised to see the latest technology in use, since the guy who invented it probably works around the corner.
3. Museums. Many of San Franciscos most popular museums are in SoMa, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Museum of the African Diaspora, the Cartoon Art Museum, the children's Zeum, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum.
2. Gay Pride: The stretch along Eleventh and Folsom is the heart of the gay leather and S&M scene, which has its roots in the Folsom Street "Miracle Mile" of gay clubs and bathhouses in the '70s.
1. Eclectic Street Fairs. Rich in gay rights history, SoMa also plays host to the Folsom Street Fair, as well as the Up Your Alley Fair and How Weird Street Faire. So dont be surprised at leather-clad guests at any hotels south of Market.
