SoMa Part 1: From Warehouses to Loft Living
Welcome to our series exploring San Francisco’s rich and diverse neighborhoods. There are nearly ninety of them, each with its own story to tell. Every week, we’ll highlight a different corner of the city, diving into its history, how it’s evolved, and the local nooks and crannies worth exploring. Our goal is to celebrate the neighborhoods that shaped this city we love and the people and stories that continue to make it what it is today.
It’s only fitting that we kick off this journey with SoMa (South of Market), one of San Francisco’s most dynamic and ever-evolving neighborhoods. Coincidentally, SF Heritage is dedicating an entire month to SoMa’s history and cultural significance. What can we say? Great minds think alike.
SoMa’s story begins in the mid-1800s, when the area south of Market Street was mapped out on a grid. Unlike the hilly northern neighborhoods, SoMa was flat and industrial, making it ideal for factories, warehouses, and shipyards. By the late 19th century, it was home to Irish, Filipino, and working-class immigrant families who lived close to their jobs along the waterfront.
The 1906 earthquake and fire devastated SoMa, destroying most of its wooden homes and sparking a wave of rebuilding that cemented its industrial identity. For decades it was full of machine shops, printing presses, and auto garages. After World War II, many residents moved to other parts of the city, and the neighborhood became gritty, underpopulated, and overlooked.
That’s exactly what made it attractive to artists and musicians in the 1970s and 80s. Empty warehouses became live-work studios, underground clubs, and performance spaces. SoMa grew into the city’s center for experimental art, punk shows, leather bars, and later, the Burning Man community.
By the 1990s, developers saw potential in the very same spaces. Warehouses with brick facades and timber beams were converted into lofts, offering something San Francisco had rarely seen: open floor plans, high ceilings, and industrial character. The loft boom coincided with the dot-com era, turning SoMa into one of the hottest real estate markets in the city.
Today, lofts are still the neighborhood’s signature. From brick-and-timber conversions along Bryant Street to sleek boutique buildings near South Park, they remain a draw for buyers who want both history and modern living. And as SoMa continues to evolve, new energy is flowing in once again—this time from AI and tech companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Hive, which are bringing fresh innovation (and a lunch rush) back to the streets south of Market.
Next time in Part 2, we’ll look at how the condo market is bouncing back in SoMa and why buyers are circling back to this one-of-a-kind neighborhood.
