As someone who yearns to meet cool people doing cool things, this place is heaven. A musician who is fascinated by binaural sounds... A tech support worker who wants to build a filesharing server within Minecraft... An online business owner who writes health blogs and has built an online calorie counter... These are just SOME of the amazing and interesting people of noisebridge. As someone who has generally considered myself to be an outside thinker, noisebridge has been an absolute gift of a community for people like me for meeting others. read more

I moved from Seattle to the bay just to have a community like this to enjoy. The place is just what I needed. Much thanks to all the volunteers and donators who keep places like this active. read more

Didn't realize such a cool place existed! Tucked away on the 2nd 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. read more

See all

This place is awesome. I heard about Noisebridge when I was trying to learn how to code. If you like programming, this is a neat hackerspace. It's also got DIY and maker equipment. It's not going to be a polished space. It's gritty on Mission. It runs off donations and it takes roughly $6000 each month to maintain it. I really like this place and wish I could make friends here! I came here for LitQuake LitCrawl events. AFAR Magazine presented. It was a good venue for LitCrawl and they had plenty of seats. read more

in the mission you will find noise bridge. Cool space where interesting people teach and meet. read more

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. read more

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. read more

big trash bin has no cover except a dank piece of cardboard sharpied "trash can lid". yes that's what i'm giving 5 stars beezys. bc when you really think about it it's THE most og trillazz muhfuhn grassroots diy shizz in the whole space. not the led mooninite poster not the jetsons doorbell not the creepy ai bart announcer or even the coke bottle jumbotron they won actual awards for is my reasoning too simple? hhhhyeah it is! "stay gold, noisyboy" o and i've been going to their free Circuit Hacking Mondays class sometimes. doesn't even matter what's taught - i go anyway bc i loveee surrounding myself w creativity / artistry. though our instructor J does foster an atypical atmosphere by being super encouraging of asking questions and making mistakes aka genuine firsthand learning. and the overarching golden rule "be excellent to each other"? wyld! stallyns! wahwahwahwahwah read more

See all

This place is awesome! I just had a good memory and had to share. Geeks come far and wide! So I had come to use the internet at one point back in 2014. This place seemed much better than the Starbucks option. So I ventured into the dark stairwell that was NOISEBRIDGE! The keyboard that you use to get into the stairwell is awesome! Anyways, I donated an old xbox 360 and left. Drop the mic.... read more

I live about 10 blocks away from their workspace. I called six times to get information and maybe an appoinment. No reply. I went to the site twice, during business hours, rang the bell and no one answered. These guys are rude, unprofessional, even for Mission Hackers. I am taking my computers and my money elsewhere. They are useless. read more

Recommendation: What do you have to lose, check this place out! A fantastic open source work area with a bunch of smart, diverse people. We found out about Noisebridge while trying to find a studio space to do electronics-related art, hacking, and general activities that need a workshop environment. Even more though, we wanted to find a place that had things we've never seen or used before, and people to teach us. I think we have found that at Noisebridge. I think the biggest immediate draw to me is that there is no structure, no hierarchy, and no formalities. It really does feel like a place you can just jump into and pick up right away, whether that means diving into responsibilities like taking out the trash or tidying up or rather just lending a helping hand during a class. Speaking of classes, this is how we found out about Noisebridge. There are weekly introduction-to-electronics classes with a ~4 week lesson cycle, sewing classes a couple times a month, and numerous other meetings and classes that anyone and everyone can attend. We read about classes on their website, Noisebridge.net and then showed up to find 10-15 other new people. We were led by J this week to discover the basics of breadboarding with button-cell batteries, resistors, and LEDs. After the two hour course concluded, we got a short tour around the space and got to see areas for tinkering with electronics, metal fabricating, woodworking, sewing, presenting (various sized classrooms) and reading. Noisebridge is entirely donation-based and there is a small box near the door for general donations. More donation boxes are around the studio though, if you want to give money towards a certain cause. There really is a lot going on at this space, and as I mentioned in the Sports Basement review, this really does just feel like a place that has evolved so much from what it started out as. I can't wait to go back for more classes, eventually become a member, and spend more time at Noisebridge. read more

I find it fascinating that NB is on Yelp... great place for meeting people and participating in unusual activities. Many people are active in the anarchist/hacker/you-name-it communities so things will always be interesting. read more

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. read more

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 creme 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 read more

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 cafe 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 16th 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. read more

When I first move to a new city, one of my highest priorities is to find a social context that caters to my own personal tastes of geekery. Noisebridge turned up with its first location very timely - within a month or so of my moving to the Bay area - and has very consistently helped me get in touch with amazingly interesting and friendly personalities, constantly expanding my own horizons and challenging my assumptions about the world surrounding me. read more

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. read more

Noisebridge - Front door to Noisebridge - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me - San Francisco, California

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. read more

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 (www.qandabe.com). Mostly though, everyone's here to be happy and make. read more

I'm new on Yelp -- 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 uber-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. /:-) read more

Cool hang out place. They make their own kambucha and have asian cooking nite. Its a Maker Faire type of group. They have programming classes and seminars and special events. A dark-room and a silk-screen shop in the works. I found this place because I needed a place to work on Arduino boards. Its located dead smack center in the heart of The Mission. People are nice. I need to spend more time here. The best part is that its less expensive than hanging out at SF Tech Shop or The Crucible. A real Hackers collective. Much respect to this place! read more

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. read more

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! read more

This place is weird. I saw a bunch of methheads sleeping on the couch. I don't understand the DIY aesthetic of just making things to just be making things. However, if you take NoiseBridge on its own terms, it's quite alright. If you like their political philosophies, and their type of people. read more

I liked it. Noisebridge looks exactly like the movie "HACKERS" made me think it would look. I could also see Hiro Protagonist from Snow Crash being well at home here. It smelled a little, but I totally was cool with it. Hard to find, but that's part of the charm. My friends told me about it 3 years ago. read more

I've gone to some DIY classes here and they were all rad. I made a synthesizer out of my laptop using a frequency modulator, sort of like a PCM chiptune. I couldn't make very good music, and it wasn't useful for jamming, but it was fun to make. The people here had interesting politics. I'll use the word "interesting". That made them fun to talk to. I liked it here. read more

I dropped in here a few weeks ago, with a group of 10+ people from around the world. They were incredibly hospitable -- we were immediately offered a tour of their facility. Considering we came by at 9pm on a Saturday night, I was really impressed. They have some cool stuff here. My favorite part was the library (it always is), but the workshop with all sorts of tools was pretty great, too. We were told that they were in the process of building a biology lab, so that other kinds of science aficionados would have things to do here (not just the computer ones). Overall, I really admired Noisebridge's atmosphere. Everyone seemed really friendly, and people were more than willing to stop what they were doing to introduce others to their playground. read more

A truly unique place for creativity. A boon to the community. Check out the meetups on meetup

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. read more

I attended a group meeting at Noisebridge. Great venue and nice folks. The space was very well organized, with lots of makerspace and tools.

To the dude that thinks Hacker Dojo is better than NoiseBridge, your taste is bad and you should feel bad. NoiseBridge is a community space, maintained and funded by the community. It isn't a business. If you want it to be cleaner, come in and organize an even to clean it or help come up with a system or even better a robot that cleans it. If you come in you'll find people working on any one of different things, including sewing/tailoring, reading, writing code, hacking on hardware, taking or teaching a class on any number of subject, or participating in a meetup. If you feel like visiting come by any day after 11 AM and if a member is here (a member is almost always here between 11 AM and 10 PM any day of the week ) they'll let you in. read more

Good place good classes good community just some homophobia transphobia and sex ism as well as drama exists here

Sudo make me a hackerspace.

A truly unique place for the tech-minded. 24/7 access to the space and often something to snack on while you work. Attend a Tuesday evening meeting to learn about the politics/potential membership. Can be a nice, supportive place to work; all you need to do in return is be excellent and donate to keep it going. Potential negatives: -Mice. -There are occasional problems with theft, but most everyone in the space is decently trustworthy. -Obnoxious bastards who accomplish nothing and will distract you. Bringing headphones will help ward them off. read more

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.

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

I just visited this place after not coming for 3 years. Once a shady, unsafe and dirty place that's open 24/7, Noisebridge has been rebirthed into an amazing, safe and welcoming place where you can literally hack anything. This is a must-see place for any hacker in the Bay Area. read more

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. read more

Noisebridge is a wonderful place to go if you're seriously interested in hacker community. What that means is a little different to every person who participates, so you'll find a wide variety of stuff going on at any given time. Collaboration is a spontaneous act here and learning is part of the process. It's a great opportunity to learn and grow. read more

Watch out for bed bugs. The food isn't that great, and the menu selection is terrible. The beer isn't bad though. But the crowd is largely of the unsavory sort. A gentlemen surely would not bring a lady into this establishment of ill repute. But for the more adventurous slumming it in noisebridge has it's own quixotic anathemas to rub ones mid section with just the right english. read more