South of Market (San Francisco)

From Academic Kids

South of Market or SOMA is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. Its borders are Market Street to the north-northwest, the San Francisco Bay to the east, Mission Creek to the south-southeast, and U.S. Highway 101 to the west-southwest. It is the part of the city in which the street grid runs parallel to and perpendicular to Market Street. The south-eastern corner of this area (where Mission Creek meets the bay) is known as South Beach, which many people consider a separate neighborhood. The north-eastern corner (where Market Street meets the bay) is often considered part of the Financial District. The portion of the neighborhood stretching roughly from 5th Street to 8th Street between Market Street and Interstate 80 is the city's most notorious skid row area, even worse off than the Tenderloin, which it faces across Market Street.

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Leather Etc on Folsom and 8th sells Fetish clothing.

South of Market was originally a warehouse district, with longer blocks than other parts of the city. Today, in addition to warehouses, there are a great many bars and nightclubs, restaurants, and residential lofts in the area. Since the 1950s, South of Market has been a center for the leather subculture of the gay community. At the end of each September the Folsom Street Fair is held on Folsom Street between 7th and 12th Streets. The smaller and less commercialized but also leather subculture-oriented Up Your Alley Fair (commonly referred to as the Dore Alley Fair) is also held in the neighborhood, in late July on Folsom between 9th and 10th Streets and in Dore Alley between Folsom and Howard. During the late 1990s, South of Market was known for being at the epicenter of the dot-com boom, due to its central location and relatively cheap office space.

Because of its blue-collar nature, South of Market is also an area of settlement for new immigrants. Entire communities made their homes in the district--from Irish Americans and Italian Americans to Greek Americans. Presently the largest migrant group living in South of Market are Filipino Americans.

The conference center, Moscone Center, occupies 3 blocks and hosts many major trade shows. Moscone South opened its doors in December 1981. Moscone North opened in May 1992, and most recently Moscone West in June 2003.

With the opening of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1995, the Yerba Buena Center region of the South of Market has become a hub for museums. Other museums in the area include the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Cartoon Art Museum, the children's Zeum, and the temporary home of the California Academy of Sciences. The planned sites for the Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Mexican Museum are also in the Yerba Buena area. The Center for the Arts, along with Yerba Buena Gardens and the Sony Metreon, is built on top of Moscone North. Across Howard Street, built on top of Moscone South, is a children's park featuring a large play area, an ice skating rink, a bowling alley, a restaurant, the Zeum, and the restored merry-go-round from Playland At the Beach. The children's park and Zeum are joined to Yerba Buena Gardens by a foot bridge over Howard Street.

Many people shorten the name to SOMA or SoMa, probably in reference to SoHo (South of Houston) in New York City, and, in turn, Soho in London. However, most San Franciscans prefer to refer to the neighborhood by its full name, South of Market.

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