Living in SoMa, San Francisco

SFMOMA's seven-story atrium and rotating contemporary collection anchor the cultural core of SoMa, a few blocks from the Moscone Center's convention halls that fill the neighborhood's sidewalks with badge-wearing crowds several times a year. Yerba Buena Gardens spreads a lawn and a memorial waterfall to Martin Luther King Jr. across the street from the museum, with the Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Museum of the African Diaspora rounding out a compact arts district within a few blocks. Tech offices and glass high-rise apartments fill most of the surrounding grid, built up rapidly over the past two decades on blocks that once held warehouses and print shops. Underground BART and Muni Metro stations along Market Street sit a short walk from most SoMa addresses, giving the neighborhood some of the best rail access anywhere in the city.

SoMa's safety rating trails the rest of downtown, and blocks south of Folsom Street can feel considerably quieter and rougher once the office towers empty out for the night.

A morning at SFMOMA, lunch in Yerba Buena Gardens, and an evening among SoMa's restaurants and bars make for a day that rarely strays more than a few blocks, the density here putting most errands within an easy walk of the high-rises residents call home.