CivicActions

After another long day scrunching down at my computer, I IM’d Aaron Pava to see if he was still planning to go to the ‘co-hopping’ event that was about to converge at CitizenSpace downtown.

“I’m not feeling very social,”
“Neither am I. And I haven’t showered in a few days.”
“Awesome. I’ll meet you there.”

“Co-hopping,” I learned, is a social networking activity in which several dozen geeks, designers, about-to-start-up CEOs, and vloggers pile into Biodiesel Betty’s renewable-fuel bus and make the rounds between San Francisco co-working spaces.

Coworking is "a movement to create cafe-like community/collaboration spaces for developers, writers and independents.” (check out the Coworking Community Blog). Given the huge number of people in San Francisco freelancing from home, it’s shocking that the movement hasn’t gotten off the ground sooner. In the past few months alone, ever since Ritual Café closed its outlets, hundreds of geeks have either crawled back into their computer caves for good (never to be seen again), or have been wandering the streets offline, bleary-eyed in the sunshine, jonesing for cheap coffee and a place to plug in. They claim to seek the ultimate working environment, a place to Get Things Done. Most of all, though, they want community. Humans need humans.

So there we humans were, packed into Biodiesel Betty’s greyhound, shoes off, passing each other moo cards, and heading towards five coworking spaces – each with their own quirky charms. Here are my first impressions:

• CitizenSpace - 2nd & Harrison. Located downtown, a neighborhood I swore never to set foot in again after I left my corporate job. Maybe the ritualistic pilgrimage to the capitalist epicenter would inspire productivity and a 9-5 schedule. Nothing wrong with that! Once inside CitizenSpace, I am seduced by the amazing chandelier, their commitment to sustainability (bamboo renewable floors, oh my!), and, most of all, the tiki-themed bathroom. I met two “citizens” of the space: Hilary Hartley (whose iPhone I coveted), and Tara Hunt of gloriously-named horsepigcow.

• Sandbox Suites - 10th & Mission. Art on the walls -- we like that. Hey, do I spy a tiki-theme on that welcome desk? Eighteen people are rumored to work here regularly, but they were hiding upstairs getting lots of work done, so we don’t know who they are.

• PariSoMa (their name for now) – Howard & 10th. Recently started and inhabited by two French design and consulting companies. Cool open kitchen and layout. Mood lighting, Urban Outfitter pillows, the requisite cat on a futon. They’re still deciding on their name (I voted for “Sofa”), and their price structure. Special perk: they served good snacks.

• The Hat Factory located in the Dogpatch. As cool as I remembered it from my last visit, when I met open-source transit geek Darius Robert, who was starting an online car-sharing application. He’d hitchhiked (co-hiked?) to the space from Oakland, mostly for the joy of the ride. All your basic coworking ingredients are here: the vloggers, the requisite cat, the auspicious black velvet Elvis painting.

• The Space That’s Too Cool To Have a Name - Mission & 20th. Ben Finkel, founder of Fluther.com, gave us a tour of the space, which could be described as raw, or warehouse-style (think: no centralized heating). A very good vibe here. Though I was not happy to see the foosball table. Haven’t we moved beyond this? Truth be told, the space’s name is its street address. I'm reluctant to reveal these coordinates since the awesomely cheap spaces might get devoured before CivicActions has a chance at one. (Oops, I forgot—we’re virtual! We don’t exist in the flesh!).

  The space with no name was actually billed as “The Altrupreneur Center,” though I think they’re one of several tenants in the building. From what I gathered, the Altrupreneur Center is for people who made it big in the dot com boom, and are now trying to figure out good things to do with their free time, like solving the world’s problems, and starting up social entrepreneur ventures. Cool. I guess that explains the Foosball.

I’m not sure if I’ll join up with any of these spaces just yet, but I’m definitely in for more co-hopping. How about we tour the East Bay co-working scene, plus stop at one of the cohousing communities while we fill-up the bus at the BioFuel Oasis?