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SoMa, San Francisco: the Yerba Buena museums, the Old Mint and the warehouse blocks

SoMa, California

SoMa is short for South of Market, and Market Street is its northern edge. It is a district of warehouses, printing lofts and narrow service alleys into which the late twentieth century inserted a museum quarter, and both halves are still legible from the pavement. The Yerba Buena blocks around Third and Mission Streets hold the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of the African Diaspora, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Moscone Center, with Yerba Buena Gardens between them. On Fifth Street stands the Old San Francisco Mint, San Francisco Landmark No. 236, designated in 2003. Elsewhere run Minna, Natoma, Clementina and Tehama, the service alleys of the old grid, and the brick warehouse blocks around South Park that the city protects under Article 10 of the Planning Code.

  1. Open 10am to 5pm most days, closed Wednesdays and noon to 8pm on Thursdays; $30 for adults and free for anyone 18 and under.

  2. Open ground at 750 Howard Street from 6am to 10pm daily, holding the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and, on the Moscone roof deck, the ice rink and bowling centre.

  3. Closed for exhibition installation until 29 September 2026 and reopening on 30 September; $15 for adults, and free to all on the second Saturday of each month.

  4. Galleries by Fumihiko Maki at 701 Mission Street and a theatre by James Polshek with Todd Schliemann at 700 Howard Street; free to all on Wednesdays.

  5. Alfred B. Mullett's Greek Revival mint of 1869 to 1874, San Francisco Landmark No. 236, designated in 2003; it is not open as a museum and no source states hours.

  6. Temporarily closed with no stated reopening date; the building is Daniel Libeskind's 2008 volume wrapped around Willis Polk's Jessie Street Substation of 1907.

  7. Hands-on studios for children inside Yerba Buena Gardens, open Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 4pm, with the LeRoy King Carousel beside it.

  8. Working bookbinding machinery on Clementina Street, open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 4pm, $15 general, with a self-guided audio tour.

  9. James Knox Taylor's courthouse of 1897 to 1905 at Seventh and Mission Streets, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, reference number 71000188.

  10. A Gothic Revival church of 1872 facing Yerba Buena Gardens across Mission Street; San Francisco Landmark No. 4, designated in 1968.

  11. An oval green inside the block bounded by Second, Third, Bryant and Brannan Streets, with houses and small businesses facing it on all sides.

  12. Warehouse and industrial blocks designated under Article 10 of the Planning Code, Appendix I, on 23 March 1990, with a period of significance from 1867 to 1935.

  13. A city-owned gallery and performance space of 26,000 square feet on Brannan Street, out of the Neighborhood Arts Program the Arts Commission created in 1967.

  14. A leather bar in a building of 1906 at 398 Twelfth Street; San Francisco Landmark No. 295, designated in 2021.

The Yerba Buena blocks

The museums here are addressed on three streets, and it is worth having the numbers before you arrive. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is at 151 Third Street. The Museum of the African Diaspora is at 685 Mission Street, on the ground floor of the St. Regis. The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts has its galleries at 701 Mission Street and its theatre at 700 Howard Street. The Contemporary Jewish Museum is at 736 Mission Street, the Children's Creativity Museum at 221 Fourth Street and Moscone Center at 747 Howard Street. Saint Patrick's Church, San Francisco Landmark No. 4, designated in 1968, stands at 756 Mission Street; the city's Article 10 record gives its address as 748 Mission Street.

Two of them will not let you in at present. The Contemporary Jewish Museum is temporarily closed and no source states a reopening date, so no hours are given here. The Museum of the African Diaspora is closed for exhibition installation from 17 August to 29 September 2026 and reopens on 30 September 2026.

Yerba Buena Gardens, at 750 Howard Street, is the open ground the museums face. Its own site gives daily opening from 6am to 10pm, with public restrooms open 9am to 5pm. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial stands inside the gardens, and the Yerba Buena Ice Skating Center and the Yerba Buena Bowling Center sit on the Moscone roof deck within them. No source states opening hours for the rink or the bowling centre, so none are given here.

Getting there

No source establishes a transit stop, a bus route or a station entrance for these addresses, and no distances or travel times are given here. Steer by street numbers instead.

Market Street is the district's northern edge, and a street has two sides. The Market Street addresses in this quarter are on its south side: the Palace Hotel at 633–665 Market Street, the Hobart Building at 582–592 Market Street, the Mutual Savings Bank Building at 700 Market Street, the building at 735 Market Street and Hale Brothers Department Store at 901 Market Street. Yerba Buena Lane and Mint Plaza are pedestrian cuts through the block between Market Street and Mission Street, and Mint Plaza faces the Old Mint at 88 Fifth Street.

The lamp standards along Market Street itself are the Path of Gold Light Standards, San Francisco Landmark No. 200, designated in 1991, and the city's Article 10 record gives their address as 1–2490 Market Street. They run the whole length of the street rather than standing in any one district.

The museums cluster on Third, Fourth, Mission and Howard Streets. The older fabric is spread much wider: Tenth Street for the James Lick Baths at 165 Tenth Street, Howard Street for St. Joseph's at 1401 Howard Street, Otis Street for the Juvenile Court and Detention Center at 150 Otis Street, Twelfth Street for the San Francisco Eagle Bar at 398 Twelfth Street, Brannan Street for SOMArts at 934 Brannan Street, Clementina Street for the American Bookbinders Museum at 355 Clementina Street, and First, Bryant and Townsend Streets for the warehouse blocks.

Landmarks and districts

Article 10 of the Planning Code is the city's own protective register, and SoMa carries a run of its numbers. The Old San Francisco Mint at 88 Fifth Street is San Francisco Landmark No. 236, designated in 2003, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, reference number 66000231. St. Joseph's Catholic Church at 1401 Howard Street is San Francisco Landmark No. 120, designated in 1980, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, reference number 82002250. The James R. Browning United States Court of Appeals Building at 95 Seventh Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, reference number 71000188, and designated a National Historic Landmark.

Others carry an Article 10 number alone: the James Lick Baths, the New Pullman Hotel on Townsend Street, the Hotel Utah building on Fourth Street, Mint Mall and Hall on Mission Street, the Oriental Warehouse on First Street, the Piledrivers, Bridge and Structural Ironworkers Local No. 77 Union Hall on Bryant Street, the Palace Hotel on Market Street and the San Francisco Eagle Bar on Twelfth Street.

The same register also covers whole blocks rather than single buildings. The South End Historic District was designated under Article 10 of the Planning Code, Appendix I, on 23 March 1990 by Ordinance 104-90. The Clyde and Crooks Historic District was designated under Article 10 of the Planning Code, Appendix O, on 3 December 2018. Several other district names circulate for this part of the city — the SoMa LGBTQ district, the South Park district, the Sixth Street lodging houses, the Western SoMa light industrial blocks — and the city's own historic-district file records each of them as eligible rather than as a designation under Article 10 of the Planning Code. Eligible is not the same thing, and no protection attaches to a building because it stands inside one of them.

Frequently asked questions

What does SFMOMA cost, and when is it open?
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is at 151 Third Street, 94103. Its own site gives Monday and Tuesday 10am to 5pm, Wednesday closed, Thursday noon to 8pm, and Friday to Sunday 10am to 5pm. Admission is $30 for adults, $25 for seniors 65 and over, $23 for students, and free for anyone 18 and under.
Which SoMa museums cannot be visited at the moment?
The Contemporary Jewish Museum at 736 Mission Street is temporarily closed and no source states a reopening date. The Museum of the African Diaspora at 685 Mission Street is closed for exhibition installation from 17 August to 29 September 2026 and reopens on 30 September 2026; on reopening its hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11am to 5pm, Thursday noon to 8pm, closed Monday. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Children's Creativity Museum and the American Bookbinders Museum are open, each with hours on its own site.
Can you go inside the Old Mint?
Not as a museum. The Old San Francisco Mint at 88 Fifth Street is used for special events, some of them open to the public, and no source states opening hours, so none are given here. The building is San Francisco Landmark No. 236, designated in 2003, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, reference number 66000231. Alfred B. Mullett designed it and it was built between 1 April 1869 and November 1874, in Greek Revival style.
Is South Park a protected historic district?
No. South Park is a public open space set between Second, Third, Bryant and Brannan Streets, and the South Park Historic District named for it is recorded by the city as eligible on the California and National Registers, which is not a designation. The Article 10 district in this quarter is the South End Historic District, designated under Article 10 of the Planning Code, Appendix I, on 23 March 1990 by Ordinance 104-90, with a period of significance running from 1867 to 1935.
What is free to see in SoMa?
Yerba Buena Gardens at 750 Howard Street opens daily from 6am to 10pm at no charge, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial stands inside it. The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is free to members, to anyone 17 and under and to military personnel, and free to all on Wednesdays; otherwise it is $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. The Museum of the African Diaspora is free to all on the second Saturday of each month and free to children under 12. The warehouse fronts and alley grid of the South End Historic District cost nothing to walk.
Is anything in SoMa on the federal register?
The Old San Francisco Mint at 88 Fifth Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, reference number 66000231, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961; it is also California Historical Landmark No. 875. The James R. Browning United States Court of Appeals Building at 95 Seventh Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, reference number 71000188, and designated a National Historic Landmark. James Knox Taylor, Supervising Architect of the Treasury, designed the courthouse and it was built between 1897 and 1905.

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