Noisebridge

1. Compare this place to Highway by Potrero & Hacker Dojo.
2. Spacemen who sleep in closets. I wonder how NASA engineers manage to steal food & call the closet his office.
3. How does an ex-​CIA agent plan to file a complaint sans a lawyer? But then reports them to the building commission.
4. This makes Comptom, Oakland, San Leandro, Richmond & all the rough drugged up places seem cozy or not too bad. Druggies & thieves run rampant here besides filth.

We came here one night for a free lesson on how to solder on circuit boards. Our instructor J, was the best. He went through and taught us how electricity works. His explanation is that he wants is to be hooked to basic electrical engineering so that we do come back. And J, u think you succeeded!
The space is open and free to use, but they do hope for donations since that’s what they run on. The atmosphere is casual and laid back. Ask anyone there and they’ll be happy to give you a tour of the space.
All in all, this place is a great place to come and finish projects and hangout. We’ll definitely be back!

There is stuff to do for everyone, if you’re looking for a place to just sit down and code, this is a great place to do that.

My favorite hackerspace in SF. I love Noisebridge. It’s a great place to work, learn, read, socialize with like-​minded geeks, and play with tech stuff. I’ve held many meetings for my startup here, and done a lot of work here myself when I’m in town and need a spot to sit down and focus for a few hours (let’s face it, working at coffee shops is ok in a pinch, but it’s not really ideal). I like the fact that it’s hidden away on the second floor of a nondescript building. I like the fact that it’s access controlled and that there’s security to get in. I’ve never had a problem getting buzzed in. If you look clean and sober, someone will let you in. I wouldn’t say the area is «bad». It’s the Mission. It is what it is. I’ve never felt uncomfortable in the Mission, even at night, but that’s me. This really is a cool spot, and when friends visit from out of town this is always on my list of places I bring them. Quintessential SF.

Didn’t realize such a cool place existed!
Tucked away on the 2^nd floor of a building on mission street, this place is hard to notice even if you walk by – it took me a while to find it even though I already looked up the address online.
Inside, the place is filled with crazy gadgets and electronics. Mitch, the instructor for the soldering class, is crazy helpful, and the soldering class was actually really fun – I almost forgot how therapeutic soldering can be. Kind of like meditation.
There was also another web design/​programming class going on on the other side of the building. The class was full, and folks there seem to be enjoying themselves also.
Overall, a pretty cool place to chill out and visit.

NoiseBridge is a Nonprofit Educational Institution. It’s probably one of the best hackspaces in Bay Area.
Always beware of your belongings.
BTW.
They will be CLOSED for remodeling for all of JULY 2014.

Things I like:
— Being given a tour
— Work areas
— Soldering stations
— Friendly programmers
— Books
Things I don’t like:
— Unclear (re) entry rules
— Being asked point blank if I’m homeless (this points to poor mgmt.)
— Generally weird & dogmatic philosophies
I’ve enjoyed both my experiences here, but it’s not a place I would choose to work out of.

Nice little hackerspace, met friendly programmers. Close to BART, in a tougher area but nice Mexican grocery next door for quick bite.

Reviewed ⁸⁄₁₂
Neighborhood definitely sketchy. Signage is missing and there is no clue of the hacker space next to the Mexican grocery and above the SF sweat shop sewing biz.
Waited for a regular to let me in and scaled the stairs to one of the coolest cramped studio of half finished projects.
Spoiled by the empty space of Hacker Dojo, this place is less for laptop warriors and more for hardware building. Amazed this is SF’s only hacker hangout I could find.
They should seriously use some of the donations to hire a cleanup receptionist, but given this is SF its more anything goes!
That said the members and visitors are friendly and fairly focused on their projects but engage in friendly chit chat. I can only imagine the buzz here before maker faire.

Noisebridge is awesome. It’s open ²⁴⁄₇ and it’s operated by volunteers and donations.
This hackerspace caters to tech geeks, DIY crafters and even language learners. It’s all free. If you’re a member you get access to other things like having an actual space to leave your work.
For nerds who love learning and doing something different, NoiseBridge is your place. Now I know why people want to keep this place a secret.

This place is the garden of eden for creators and it’s free.
You can come anytime you’d like and build anything you want. It’s amazing— everyone might be quietly working on their own project but they’ll be really open to helping you out.
We come here often to solder, attend free classes, and toy with their laser cutter and 3D printer.
People here do a variety of things with technology and with their hands— some people sew, some people build sous vide robots (
). Mostly though, everyone’s here to be happy and make.

It’s a 24 hour playground. They will give you a key to their place just for looking like an excellent human. Yes, they have 24 hours access for vampires who work until dawn and probably have no other good public place to do that in this city.
I use it like a café work place, except I don’t have to buy anything to work here, and everyone says hi when I walk in. My dog comes sometimes too.
There is often a skilled food person making a pile of something delicious to share for free in the kitchen. Bring your own dinner or coffee to brew up while you work. There are excellent food options just across the street including Yamo (one of the best deals in the neighborhood, a burmese hole in the wall noodle shop) and a great taco stand that’s open and happening until nearly dawn it seems.
A couple of cautions: proximity to 16^th and mission can lead to the most random people leaking in. Be aware of your surroundings when you come here. Regulars watch each other’s backs but I experienced uncoolness from a first-​timer who was having some kind of episode and is now banned.
In general this seems like a place that could exist in very few places in the world besides San Francisco or a handful of other happening cities. Don’t miss checking out what they offer as a community resource.
I wanted to support such a place so I subscribed by paypal. I guess that sort of makes me a member? That’s all you have to do.

I’m a hacker and I’m okay,
I hack all night and I sleep all day…

You are 7 years old and exploring the woods. You discover a secret treehouse with magical toys and magical elves who can make anything and are willing to teach you their fantastic ways for nothing.
This is Noisebridge, except instead of the woods it is the mission, instead of elves there are hackers of all kinds, and the toys are recycled electronics and power tools and as long as you are excellent to the folks here enlightenment awaits. And you might be older than 7, in fact this is recommended.

I love you guys. Keep being excellent.

Noisebridge is a must-​be location for any hacker living in the city. Friendly down-​home aw-​shucks people, over the top events, lots of travelers from different cities, circuits, coding, sensors, cyborgs, biohacking, kinky sex, fun pranks, awesome talks and awesomermermermer people. IN THE MISSION! Eat a taqueria cancun super burrito while you figure out how to make a neural pulse controlled sex toy! What more could you ask for?
Plus since it is run in a very san francisco anarchist consensus style, making you part of the community from the moment you walk in.

Walking into Noisebridge, you get a feeling that you’re about to dine in an ambiance unlike any other in San Francisco. The décor resembles something out of a Willam Gibson novel, with pieces of technology stuffed into every conceivable area. The lighting is heavily industrial, and the whole space feels vibrant with potential.
There is comfortable seating throughout the space, ranging from comfortable couches to well decked long tables and benches. The establishment is very self serve and family style. so feel free to find any open space and have a seat.
A fine selection of drinks is available. I recommend the Club Mate ($ 4) for a starter, a unique German import of lightly sweetened and carbonated Argentine mate tea. Of course a regular selection of water, sodas, coffees and tea is available.
The relaxed atmosphere was perfect for a quick dessert and coffee. I was treated to a crème brûlée which was the finest example of a Cambridge burnt crème I have tasted in some years. It was well paired with a cup of Illy espresso and a sprinkle of nutmeg.
With great prices, an eclectic environment, and enthusiastic people, I can highly recommend Noisebridge as the San Francisco spot in the Mission.
With humor…
–Martin

Noisebridge is pretty awesome, it also just recently moved to it’s new location 2 blocks south on Mission. Check the site for the updated address.

I’m new on Unilocal — hope I can I review without visiting this group at least temporarily and redo it later.
One of the people associated with Noisebridge co-​authored a very good Princeton paper on how laptop hard drive data encryption techniques — now a must — can be defeated by chilling the laptop’s memory with compressed air. This enables later extraction of the encryption key so that the data can be decrypted. The guy’s a very good presenter and he gets involved with cool stuff. If I ran this country I’d look in the ranks of groups like these and try to hire their top people for consulting on national cyber security projects.
I plan to attend and update my «review,» hoping the group is as quintessentially anarchistic as other SF endeavors.
I originally posted this 8÷11÷2009;
August 20, 2010 edit–
The Princeton guy named above is bright Jake Appelbaum, who recently gave a Defcon talk for Julian Assange, known for Wikileaks’ Afghanistan and diplomat cable leaks, after the international targets were placed on Assange’s back. CNET’s Eleanor Mills reported Appelbaum was detained at the airport for 3 hours, where he had 3 cellphones confiscated by U.S. agents, then was later questioned by the FBI immediately after giving the talk.
Noisebridge is an interesting, smart group, if anything. Even though encryption part of the wiki thing interests me, and, as an inventor, I’m totally beguiled when they say «Bring your soldering iron,» call me chicken, but I’m keeping my distance from this group.
And I didn’t mean real anarchy in the non-​benign way !!
Apr. 7, 2011 update: changed my grade from 3 to a 5 stars.
Finally visited for a free White Hat botnet conference. This was a responsible, technical group with a presenter from a Fortune 500. He said if you mess with botnet operators you stand a chance of ending up hurt or dead (like with some Russian spammers). Great library of actual books — these are super-​heavy things containing paper leaves
called «pages.» Someone roller-​skated in off the elevator, holding a big pizza. The people work quietly on projects. The conference folks were very, very nice.
Projects I saw–
Custom broom with a chemical transducer in brush area to sense specific chemicals or toxins on floor. Never know when you’ll need one of these! A quality thermal sensor system with resolution and sensitivity to clearly display a human face from face’s heat reflections off a small metal piece, the subject standing several meters behind the man with meter. The measurement equipment visibly stocked there, belying the level of the projects, was very old, some with museum value, but with frequency and sensitivity specs more fitting of high school projects.
This is not to detract one iota from the computer/​network security and forensics skills of people there. These are but a hobby to me and I was clearly the dumbest person in the room.
Lots of eateries nearby. Parking tough but dozens of Muni lines there. Or bike it & bring your bike up. Man, I loved this über-​San Fran place so I’ll be back. In SF’s colorful «La Mission,» so I, como un Latino, blend in when I hit the wind upon departure.
/​:-)

Sudo make me a hackerspace.