San Francisco Neighborhoods · Yerba Buena
Yerba Buena
also SoMa cultural districtSan Francisco's cultural living room — a walkable cluster of world-class museums, public gardens, and convention halls wrapped in glassy high-rise condos and hotels, where the city quite literally began.
- The city's densest concentration of museums
- Built around a downtown park with a memorial waterfall
- Transit-rich: BART, Muni Metro, Central Subway, F-line
- Walk-everywhere dining, shopping, and nightlife
On the map
Open Yerba Buena on the map →The story
The neighborhood takes its name from Yerba Buena, the Mexican-era pueblo founded around 1835 whose name (Spanish for 'good herb') came from a fragrant mint that grew nearby; on January 30, 1847 the settlement was renamed San Francisco. The blocks south of Market were cleared in a long, contested mid-20th-century redevelopment effort that displaced many existing residents and businesses. The first phase of Yerba Buena Gardens opened in 1993 atop the underground halls of the Moscone Convention Center, anchored by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Over the following decades a dense museum cluster took shape around the gardens, and the district filled in with residential towers and hotels.
Things most people don’t know
SFMOMA
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art at 151 Third Street reopened in May 2016 after a Snohetta-designed expansion that roughly tripled its gallery space.
MLK Memorial Waterfall
Yerba Buena Gardens opened in 1993; behind its memorial waterfall, glass panels honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with his words from the civil rights movement.
Moscone Center
The George R. Moscone Convention Center — named for the San Francisco mayor assassinated in 1978 — tucks much of its exhibition hall underground, beneath Yerba Buena Gardens.
Where San Francisco began
The district recalls the original Yerba Buena settlement, the small Mexican-era pueblo that grew into San Francisco.
Central Subway
The Yerba Buena/Moscone Station on Muni's T Third Street line opened in November 2022, its glass roof drawing daylight three stories down to the platform.
Eating and drinking
Restaurants
- Tropisueno · 75 Yerba Buena Ln
- Dirty Habit · 12 4th St
- B Restaurant & Bar · 720 Howard St
- Joyride Pizza · 730 Howard St
Bars
- The View Lounge · 780 Mission St
- Press Club · 20 Yerba Buena Ln
Getting around and getting care
Transit. Powell St and Montgomery St stations (BART and Muni Metro) sit two blocks north; the Yerba Buena/Moscone Station serves the Muni Metro T Third line. The F-Market streetcar runs along Market Street, with many bus lines nearby.
Nearest hospital. Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, 1001 Potrero Ave (about 2 mi)
Thinking about Yerba Buena?
Send me an address and I will come back with its sun, wind and fog, what is under it, and what has closed on the block.