During the week, Papa and I often work from a cafe here in San Francisco while Michael and Cliff work from home down in the South Bay. We tried out a bunch of places with free wireless a la Hotspotr. We started off at the place where all of the new startups in San Francisco seemed to be going called Ritual Roasters in the Mission. That got too crowded and there were also stories in the news about people getting mugged in cafes at knifepoint for their laptops (especially shiny ones with glowing Apple logos like Papa and I use!). I tried a few others like The Grove Cafe in the Marina and Axis Cafe in Potrero Hill. But we finally decided that the best place for us was Canvas Cafe in the Inner Sunset next to Golden Gate Park near Papa’s house (and where I lived back in the day).
The key to a good working cafe are:
1. Character and charm – You don’t want to be sitting at a cookie-cutter cold Starbucks or a place that doesn’t have a local feel to it. The best places are those that have cool furniture, colorful walls and decor, and fun staff.
2. Good music – If you’re going to be sitting at a place for hours and hours, the last thing you want to have to endure is crappy music or music that’s too loud and distracting.
3. Mixed crowd – It’s nice to have a diversity of people wherever you work because when you start daydreaming (not that I ever do), you can people watch. San Francisco is such a diverse city that it’s always fun to see all the eclectic types that make this city so wonderful to live in.
4. Tasty food and drinks – A cafe isn’t a cafe unless they have quality munchies and can make a mean latte.
We finally found our home at Canvas Cafe, which had all of these qualities only to find out that it was closing forever on April 29th (I have mixed feelings because it’s turning into a Pacific Catch, one of my favorite seafood joints in the Marina). The great part about Canvas was that it was a very neighborhood joint where local artists and musicians could display their talent. There were all kinds of people there from students to families to startup guys like us. But alas, all good things must come to an end. We will miss you Canvas.
Now Papa and I are nomads once again and looking for a new home. Any suggestions?