The New Gathering Space Helping San Franciscans Fight Loneliness

You probably haven’t heard of this new creative gathering space in the Inner Richmond district of San Francisco called Friends & Neighbors yet. The co-founders, Valerie Luu and Eric Lam, haven’t done any press interviews. In fact, their social media presence is limited, they don’t even allow photos of their events, and most attendees find out through word of mouth or their fabulous risograph flyers. This week, they granted Broke-Ass Stuart their first interview. Read on for more…

Co-founders Eric & Valerie. Photo credit: Eric Lam (@ericlaminsf)

The Loneliness Epidemic

Americans are struggling to make friends or even meet their neighbors; health experts say the negative mental and physical health consequences are a full-on loneliness epidemic. 

“We became fractured with Covid,” Luu reminds us. “That’s compounded with things that were already happening with technology.” The two knew they wanted to socialize again. “Even though I consider myself kind of an introvert, coming out of Covid, it felt like a moment where I was ready to find more social interaction,” Lam confesses. “But could there be a way to do that differently?”

That was the problem. Some techies have seen the loneliness epidemic as the opportune moment to start a friendship accelerator. New social media apps (see noplace; Threads) offer digital connection. Unfortunately, research so far points toward an increase of loneliness that corresponds with the increase of social media usage. 

In the face of so much technology, how could Friends & Neighbors encourage people to talk face to face? Their answer: forbidding (or rather, strongly discouraging) photos and keeping everything tangible. Luu shares, “We are an analog space because we want to get back to the basic art of conversation and connection.”

Walking Club Flyer. Original design by Di (she/her); remix by River (hers/his)(@drirefire)

Risograph flyers stick out. Their colorful, retro style feels DIY. If you saw one on Clement on your way to get dim sum, you’d reckon the art looks homemade yet precise. It’s because this style of printing uses a machine that was first released in Japan in 1980. 

Within San Francisco, there are only 7 publishers, printers, and studios listed on the Atlas of Risography. It’s an unusual art form. So if you see this kind of flyer around San Francisco, you’re bound to be curious. Enter Friends & Neighbors, which serves as not only a printer of this niche art form but a purlieu of amateur artists.

The Inner Richmond hub beckons visitors with their risograph flyers and intimate print workshops, but that’s just the beginning. “Our goal is to host events that bring people together to make art and celebrate San Francisco culture,” explains Luu. 

Meet Your Neighbors

“Neighbors are one of my favorite aspects about living in SF. It’s a dense city,” Luu shares. But in the Richmond, she and Lam have found the fifteen-minute city urbanists daydream about. There are plenty of bars and restaurants, but what’s neat about Friends & Neighbors, which is tucked away on 6th Ave and isn’t indexed on Google or Apple Maps yet, is that it’s purposely about art and connection. 

SF Map Making Flyer. Design by Julia Selker

Luu describes Friends & Neighbors as a third space where people can “make art and highlight the heaven that is San Francisco.” Even though she recognizes that bars and restaurants are an important part of the fabric of a neighborhood, she says, “we wanted a space where the main focus is just talking, making art, and connecting.” 

Why did Third Spaces Boom?

Friends & Neighbors isn’t the only third space in town. A wave of new places opened in the past few years. Luu mentions Syzygy, Wave Collective, Faight Collective, and “probably a bunch more… I’m grateful that we’re in this era of micro-spots in the neighborhood whose goal is about art and connection,” she says. 

The reason for so many of these artsy spaces is kind of a bummer. Because of the pandemic, many businesses had to close. “There was a lot of sadness with things changing or going away,” Luu explains. In her sixteen years in the city, that meant an unexpected opportunity because commercial rents dropped. She uses a metaphor to explain how it feels: “With forest fires come new growth.”

It can be a bit nerve wracking to join a social event. “Having an activity helps a lot,” explains Lam. “We encourage people to bring a project and that naturally opens up conversation.” But if you’re not a crafter, you can come enjoy cinema. “People come from all over town (and even out of town) to our monthly movie nights.”

Reading Challenge Flyer courtesy of Friends & Neighbors

Another easy way to get involved for people who may not be the most artistic? The Summer Reading Challenge. Earlier this summer, this writer attended their kickoff parade, which featured a marching band and singalong; it was so sweet to sing the Reading Rainbow theme song with a big crowd. “It’s been really fun to get neighbors jazzed about reading,” Luu remarks. That ends September 22nd and the award ceremony will be held on October 6th.

“We’re all looking for an excuse to connect,” says Luu. “We’re just creating a framework for that.”