Iskis Bay Area Activities

@jacobcole list public extra-exports jacobcole-net systematicawesome Updated 2026-02-12

Iskis Bay Area Activities

tiny.cc/sftd SAN FRANCISCO Best Current Event Tracker
One Day Guide
Stuff to do anytime:
- SKILLSHARE:  The Nook a new down to earth  space on Market (Feb’25) open to events of any kind, reach out!
- SIP: Tea at The Center SF Tea House with a warm community of never-strangers. Hosts lots of Musical and Spiritual Cultural Events and Capoeira every week.
- B IKE : it’s always a delightful journey in SF if you stop a lot and talk to strangers. Midnight Mystery (3rd Sat.)
- HIKE:  AllTrails , BA Hiker &
- DANCE: Social (partner) Dance Melter's Mega Bay Area Dance Calendar Soundarya's, Dance Maven & Soul Sanctuary Event Calendars

Recyclemyjunk.com Junk collection from your home Request Sidewalk Cleaning
SF Food Not Bombs Feeding the Homeless with Found/Donated Foods
- MAKE: NoiseBridge : a huge skillsharing space in the mission. Longtime my favorite spot in  SF. Read up and go check it out. It’s unique even among Hacker Spaces . (video ) & Workshopsf.org - DIY Classes
- KINK:Erobay Calendar & CHECK Yoself: STI Testing Resources
- DEPRIVE yourself: inSensory Deprivation Tanks
- SING: (drop-in choir) with the Bay Area Sacred Harp . FB Groups Vocal Jamming in the Bay Area & SF Vocal Improv

Rent a Music Room/Collaborate at the SF Community Music Center
- DUEL: Society for Creative Anachronism (Medieval Martial Arts)
- STITCH: SF Needlework & Design (Stitch Skillsharing Space at Union Square)
- FIX: The Bike Kitchen- Volunteer Bike Mechanics with spare part/digging rights bins beyond your wildest dreams. SF’s only real open garage bike co-op.
- WANDER: Golden Gate Park - Botanical Garden , Waterfall, Conservatory of Flowers (free 1st Tues.), Japanese Tea Garden, & (sadly) a Bison Paddock+Free Festivals all year long, etc.
- Parkour / FreerunIt's the most fun you can have doing a full body workout.
- CLIMB: Indoor Rock Climbing at Planet Granite ,Mission Cliffs or Dogpatch Boulders

Science, Seminars, Discussions, Future
- DorkBot Electronics & Tech Presentations Once a Month Rotating Location
- Mycological Society of San Francisco - Hunting Forays and Meetups at a museum atop SF
- The Long Now Foundation & The Interval Futurism
- Shaping SF Free Wednesday Talks on Culture
- Basic Income Discussion Group Wanting to Bring About Universal Income
- Wonderfest Science Talks & Events

Arts Events, Artist Collectives:
- https://decentered.org/ All kinds of Offerings
- The Faight
- The Holistic Underground - Community
- Mission Arts Performance Project 1st Sat. Bi-monthly
- SFArts.org - For Arts Stuff

Additional Resources:
- Fun Cheap DAILY updated free/cheap things to do.
- Brokeassstuart
- Meetup.com All kinds of social events.
- Museums in the bay and which days they are free.
- Atlas Obscura - SF

>>> Weekly Calendar <<<
Monday
- 8pm Shades The Polish Club Inc. in The Mission
- 9:30-11:30 Open Jam for Street Dance @ City Ballet (Event is by City Dance Studios)
- Motown Mondays Madrone Art Bar

Tuesday
- Contact Jam The Finnish Hall
- East Bay F usion Omni Commons @east bay community space
- Young Urban Zen www.yuz-sf.org

Wednesday
- 7pm-9pm (3rd Wed.) Circlesing First Congregational Church of Berkeley
- 7pm-10pm Ecstatic Dance Sweets Ballroomin Oakland
- 9:30-11:30 Open Jam for Street Dance @ City Ballet (Event is by City Dance Studios)

Thursday
- 8pm Thursday Contact Jam
- 10pm: Open Mic at 16th St. Station (Mission & 16th) A bunch of us brown bagging, sharing, and entertaining each other. One of my favorite gatherings of people/culture in SF.

Friday
- Salsa
- 5:30 SF Bike Party 100 Person Bike Ride (first Friday)
- 6pm SF Critical Mass100 PersonBike Ride (last friday)

Saturday
- Mission Arts Performance Project (1st Sat. on Even Number Month’s)

Sunday
- 10am Temple Wat Mongkolratanaram Thai Brunch in Berkeley
- 10am Ecstatic Dance @ Sweet’s Ballroom in Oakland OR Church of 8 Wheels in SF

  • Open Mics:Bay Area Open Mic Calendar

  • Thursdays 10pm On the Plaza of 16th St. and Mission St.

  • Sf Roller Discos

  • GGP Every Sunday Daylight hours at 6th & Fulton.

  • Friday Night Skate

  • Church of 8 Wheels

  • Blue Grass Jam Sessions in SF (might be out of date):

  • 2nd & 4th Sun - Progressive Grounds Cafe - 400 Cortland Ave

  • 2nd & 4th Mon - Amnesia - 853 Valencia @ 19th St.
  • 2nd Tues SoCha Cafe  3235 Mission st @ 29th St.
  • 1st Wed - The Plough & The Stars - 116 Clement @ 2nd Ave.
  • 1st Thurs - Atlas Cafe 3049 20th St @ Alabama

Wiki list of Festivals in SF
Stern Grove Fest Free Concerts(May-Aug)
It's Your District
Sunday Streets (Mar-Oct)
How Weird Street Fair (May)
Makerfaire Inventors Exhibition (May)
Folsom Street Fair Street Exibition of BDSM and Kink
Renegadecraft.com Craft Fair (November & July)
Saint Stupid's Day(April 1st)
- PLAY: Annual Urban Street Games withSFZero like Journey

Best views in SF/Marin in order:
- Mt. Tamalpais on a clear day is unparalleled.
- Bernal Heights Park
- Grand View Park
- McKinley Park (and the community garden near it)
- San Bruno Mountain
- Vallejo & Broadway (and other intersections along Broadway)
- De Young Museum Observation Tower
- Twin Peaks
- Coit Tower
- Marin Headlands, let the fog roll over you.
- Mt. Davidson
- Tank Hill Park
- Angel Island
- Cliff House (looking south to ocean beach)

Map of the Hills of San Francisco
Photos from 1878

Recommended Eats:
Mex: El Farolito, Cancun & Pancho Villa
Chi: Wong Lee & Good Mong Kok & Golden Gate Bakery
Rus: Cindarella & Tsibilisi
Pizza: Castro one, Paxti’s, Arinell

ALL THINGS DANCE
Fusion
Bay Area micro Fusion
House Dance Scene
        Rebearth Monday Sesh
Thurs Night Mission Playground Sesh
Friday Night LAke Merritt Pergola Sesh
Elements several times a month
Flowsesh some tuesdays
Textures once a month sunday sesh in oakland
Bboy Scene
Zouk Omni Dance Studios
https://www.cityballetsf.org/ & Lines
Kizomba & Tarraxo
Friday Night Latin Club
Swing & Blues
https://danzhaus.tripod.com/

(calendar) EAST BAY(map) (Berkeley)
Stuff to Do:
- The Omni Commons 13 Collectives in one community space

(inc. HackerSpace Sudo Room and Biohacking Counter Culture Labs)
- Crash (Audit) Classes at UC-Berkeley, totally open to Public. try Intro Astronomy? Medical Ethnobotany? They’re better in person, but you can also listen/watch online ! Here’s my list of the best teachers to blow your mind.
- Thai Temple (sunday 10am) Sit on the lawn eating super good thai food at a buddhist temple.
- Cheeseboard/Slice
- Vik's Chaat - Indian Street food unlike the rest of the bay’s restaurants.
- Ecstatic DanceTune in drop out and have yourself an (sunday morn/wed night)
- Contact Improv Tuesday & Thursday jams at Finnish Hall, Hippie freeform partner dancing.
- C hapel of the Chimes Endless Columbarium /w Unique Julia Morgan Architecture @ the Beautiful  Mountain View Cemetery Once a year comes The Garden of Memory during solstice.
- East Bay Vivarium Lizard Arcology in West Berkeley
- Starry Plough Poetry Slams (wed night) Irish Music Jam & Dancing (Sunday & Monday)
- CircleSing(3rd Wednesdays eve) Improv Vocal Harmony & Polyphony inspired by Bobby Mcferrin. Free

Interesting Things to Eat:

Best Views in East Bay:
- Mt. Diablo (go only on a super clear day, need a car to get there)
- Grizzly Peak Rd.
- Indian Rock Park

  • Berkeley Marina
  • Top of the Campanile
  • Evans Hall Lounge
  • Merritt College

East Bay Nature:
- East Bay Parks
- Lake Chabot
- Redwoods Regional
- UC-Berkeley Botanical Garden(seemingly one of every species from every ecosystem on earth, organized as such, fucking amazing) and other on campus Museums
- The Albany Bulb (industrial waste/urban art/graffiti/adobe-concrete forts painted in unimaginable color schemes)
- Tilden Regional Park/Botanical Garden. (Maaassive park, take the bus from UC-B's NorthGate straight up the berkeley hills into Tilden) Bike or Hike

East Bay Volunteering:
- East Bay Food not Bombs: Monday through Friday, cooking and serving from donated resources to make vegetarian food for the whole community. Sunday also has a (temporary) kitchen. Typically begin organizing around 9 am and prep for cooking by 11 am. Cookhouses vary day by day. Mealsites: People's Park daily at 3 pm, Oakland Recycling Center on 14th and Mandela on Thursday. All are welcome regardless of cooking ability to help in the kitchens, serve meals and/or wash dishes. Benefits: choice of free food, fresh produce and great company!

  • Bay Area Alternative Press: all volunteer-run organization to educate and promote the poor and working-class of California and beyond. Learn to operate vintage printing presses, letterpress and offset printing techniques. Computer lab on premises for design tutorials. Publishes quarterly magazine and works closely with Western Service Workers Association; supported by Bay Area small businesses and individuals. Weekly film screenings on labor history, discussions on media coverage and more. "Labor Donated". Benefits: comfortable work environment, hands-on learning and direct contact with experienced teachers, organizers and community members. Contact Guy or Patricia: 510-652-8828

  • Chapter 510 (Oakland equivalent to 826 Valencia), and more.: "The Department of Make Believe" is Oakland's own literacy and writing center, featuring free classes for school-age children and a shop of custom products to expand one's imagination. Volunteer opportunities range from tutoring, bookbinding, fronting the shop during business hours and helping on First Friday's Art Murmur. No long-term obligation necessary but there is lots to explore! They love graphic designers, freelancers, students and creative people of all kinds. Benefits: teaching experience, working behind-the-scenes during exciting art events, and immersion in the East Bay's literary field. Contact Tavia: [email protected]

  • Berkeley Free Clinic: services for the population of teenagers and citizens unable to afford healthcare. Volunteer to be a Peer Mentor or assist in the office for medical tasks and training.

South Bay/Peninsula:
HackerDojo
Computer History Museum
The Tech Museum of Innovation
Hakone Japanese Gardens
Bike the Stevens Creek Trail
Local Routes | Stanford Cycling Team
Lectures:
- The Foresight Institute
- SETI Colloquium
- Silicon Valley Lecture Series
- Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture
- http://www.askascientistsf.com/links.html

Outside the Bay:
- Go on a Vipassana Retreat - (ten day meditation retreat; minus any dogma; (only borderline mysticism); practices straight from Gautama himself) Highly recommend. It has helped me and my friends with all kinds of thing and keeps me reminding myself to be happy.

DEFUNCT / LEGACY
- Metta Dance (downtempo dancing, social tea tasting, place to meet very genuine/warm people)
- Jejune Institute - google the address Go Visit. Don't Read about it. Just bring comfy shoes. Defunct :(
- SF Free School- Free Classes almost every day of the week. Taught by my friends, model SFcans.
- Om Shan Tea - (public teahouse, though more like being at home. Super open minded, often intellectual people with which to interact. (VERY relaxed environ, feels more like you're at home than at a bar.)
- Cellspace - Like Noisebridge but less Tech, more Variety, Social Reform & DIY & Dance
- Adaptogen LOW COST MASSAGE. SMILEY CUDDLY PEOPLE AND FREE TEA (3rd Sun)
- East Bay Free Skool
- 100daysofspring - Variety of Fun every day this Spring
- Really Really Free Market Biggest freepile in the US last saturday/month in Dolores Park.
- The Lost Horizon Night Market (one time thing it seems?)
- 7pm-11pm: Thai Food Thursdays - Couchsurfers eating $5 Pho & $2 Pints in North Beach (at a Thai Restaurant/Sports Bar)
- Mighty Nightclub Occasional Thursday Roller Disco
- W 10pm: Couchsurfing Underground (bar night) (search for "underground")
- F SF Couchsurfing Potlucks (2nd sunday)
- (post2017)     Merchants of Reality
- TechShop
- The Convent
- League of Creative Interventionalists
- Neighborgoods.com Share resources with your neighbors
- Sunday Sing Thing o
- The Embassy EMoM Series Thursday Night Discussions on Multitude of Topics in a nice Lower Haight house
- The Red Victorian Various Events
- Hot Springs in Marin, one in ocean--Red Rocks, must check local tidal charts for negative tide, often corresponding with Full and New Moon cycles, one inland (anybody know where they are specifically? link me to a good website?)
- Karma Kitchen (last Sundays) Pay-it-forward Donation Brunches Seated with friendly Strangers
- Yoga to the People donation based, all day every day
- Tues 7pm OneSalon Different Topic Every Week @ SF Make School
- 7pm-12am: SF (Board) Gamers (Mission & 24th) fbp
- ManyLabs &  Artists Television Access &  Against the Stream

(old map)
Iupdate this as the city updates, check back each year!

email me, Iski (sounds like whiskey) at dejapu(at)gmail=dot=comif ya have any questions, want to make suggestions for the list/send thanks/ask for permission to reproduce this list elsewhere. Especially let me know if you find anything as comprehensive as (or more so than) this.