I like learning things

June 1, 2012 10:42 AM

I just moved from Brooklyn to San Francisco and was wondering if there's anything like the Brooklyn Brainery here.

The Brooklyn Brainery is a place where you can take or teach cheap classes on a variety of topics. Like, I learned how to make hot sauce, cook Ethiopian food, tell a story, and attended lectures on NYC history, etc.

The "teachers" aren't professors but just regular folk who have a strong interest in the subject and that's why the classes aren't expensive. So, it's not a community college, Learning Annex or a YMCA type thing.

I'd love to find the equivalent here in SF. It was really fun thing to do. Anyone know of something similar?

posted by vivzan to education (12 answers total)

TechShop is really cool, they have classes but it's more for use of the facilities (everything from welding and woodshop to soldering irons and industrial sergers). Nice if you want to learn a new skill and make some stuff.

ForageSF has wild edible plant & mushroom walks which are a great excuse to go hiking in all the awesome nearby parks.
posted by bradbane at 11:00 AM on June 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

The Skillshare network is fairly well developed here.
posted by liketitanic at 11:09 AM on June 1, 2012

Also, you just missed this, which sounds amazing!
posted by liketitanic at 11:11 AM on June 1, 2012

I'm not a city dweller, but I'd see what's going on at CELLspace. And subscribe to the Squidlist. A lot of the latter is art and performance, but many of those venues have other events, once you find the venue in your neighborhood.

(And often these venues are unpermitted, in blank storefronts or empty apartments, so they don't have lots of advertising.)
posted by straw at 11:17 AM on June 1, 2012

There's also Workshop and Urban Kitchen.
posted by grapesaresour at 11:41 AM on June 1, 2012

Maybe The Cheeseboard Collective. They have a few events, but nothing as in depth as you mentioned. (The Cheeseboard and its sister bakeries like Arizmendi's are all amazing, though, if you're just looking for amazing baked goods. They are all co-ops, too.)
posted by smallerdemon at 11:45 AM on June 1, 2012

HA! I read "brainery" as Bakery. :) My apologies. OTOH, you just got a tip for where to get the city's best vegetarian pizza.
posted by smallerdemon at 11:49 AM on June 1, 2012

There's The Crucible for the "fine and industrial arts."
posted by gyusan at 11:52 AM on June 1, 2012

Rock, Paper Scissors in Oakland does this, but their calender is looking mighty thin at the moment.
posted by oneirodynia at 12:31 PM on June 1, 2012

Noisebridge! They have a lot of tech stuff but also food/fermentation, crafting, darkroom, etc. It's great.

SF Free School

It isn't courses, but perhaps nerd nite would interest you?
posted by introcosm at 2:42 PM on June 1, 2012

Ace Monster Toys in Oakland holds regular workshops. They have one for Arduino/microcontrollers and one for sewing & textiles.

Keep an eye on Hour School, too. There aren't any upcoming classes in SF at the moment, but they've had classes in pasta making, rowing, storyboarding, javascript, etc.
posted by kiripin at 11:45 PM on June 1, 2012

Awesome. I'll check all of these out. Thanks!
posted by vivzan at 8:56 PM on June 2, 2012