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Photo: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Mechanics Institute is the oldest library organization in San Francisco, dating back to 1854. The collection has around 160,000 items—many of them in the stacks in the building's basement and only accessible through the page desk—concerning a wide variety of topics, with special attention to local history and chess. The institute also hosts the oldest continuously operating chess club in the United States, with classes, tournaments, and scheduled non-competition play. The institute also hosts author talks, film screenings, book groups, and writer's workshops.
Mechanics' Institute is a historic membership library, cultural event center, and chess club housed at 57 Post Street, San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1854 as a mechanics' institute, an educational and cultural institution to serve the vocational needs of out-of-work gold miners looking to share skills and ideas. Today the Institute serves readers, writers, downtown employees, students, film lovers, chess players, and others in search of learning and a community for the exchange of ideas.
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A long-standing photography gallery with changing museum-quality exhibits featuring the work of many of the medium's masters.
The most important site is the square itself, which was revamped in 2002 to provide more space for outdoor events and less space for napping homeless people (an earlier version of the square appeared in the film The Conversation). The square now includes a Cafe along with an underground parking garage. For blogging people-watchers, there is free wi-fi provided by the city. Look under the leaves of the greenery in the planters, and you'll find a few power outlets for your laptop.
A ticket booth run by Theater Bay Area, this booth offers many half-price tickets for local performances if you purchase on the day of the show, and you can sometimes buy full-price tickets in advance here as well.
Home to Shelton Studios, SF Playhouse, and Stage Werx.
The Phoenix is a small theater that showcases the work of local and international playwrights.
Exhibits in San Francisco's original US Mint Building about the history of the City.