Every tight-knit friend group has a version. Should we start a band? Should we open a bar? Should we all buy houses in Toledo?
The Gen Z iteration: Should we open a third space to make art, teach classes, and host weird community events?
But the seven twenty- and thirtysomethings who share responsibility for The Nook, a Mid-Market loft turned “communal living room,” went beyond barroom brainstorming. In January 2025, with no financial backing, they signed a one-year lease on a space in an empty building, betting they could fill it with community events and creative work.
The friends had met in a co-op-style home in the Mission, where they learned patterns of collaborating and living together that made San Francisco more affordable and communal. They bonded over art and creativity, the kind of pursuits that can be locked behind high membership fees or costly rentals in an expensive city. In creating The Nook, the vision was to take a risk in the company of friends and share it with others.
“San Francisco is a city that’s so driven by tech and still desperately needs community and art and other ways of gathering. I think we confronted those challenges by creating the space,” said Shani Zhang, one of the founders.
Through word of mouth, the bookings rolled in: dance classes, lectures on major Ph.D. breakthroughs, and mad science shows. A “bad art” club scheduled recurring events.
Shani Zhang, Shihan Yu, Fischer Heimburger, and Chloe Coultrip created The Nook with three of their closest friends. | Jessica Blough/San Francisco Standard
But then the dream met reality. The founders had worked for free in their spare time to maintain the space. Every dollar from event bookings went to keeping the space operating. The group was beginning to burn out, according to Zhang, as several of the seven founders took a step back. Fischer Heimburger, another founder, said as soon as he logged off from his job in human rights, he’d log on to managing The Nook.
As the pressure mounted, the friends-turned-business-partners confronted whether The Nook was an ambition to sustain, or if their community space was something to hold temporarily, shifting as their lives demanded.
“This whole project was definitely a risk,” said Chloe Coultrip, another steward of the space. “Deciding to enter into a lease for an amount of time, not really having done that before, with no financial backing. We were just like, we’re gonna start it, and we’re gonna do it, and we’re gonna see what happens.”
Accessibility was built into the mission: If the space was intended to let creative people take risks and pursue their art, then it should be affordable to book.
“We understand what it can be like to try to do something different than tech in the city, and the barriers that you face if you’re not in those financial circles,” Heimburger said. “That’s the reality that we try to face head-on and help our community members address.”
‘Firing on all cylinders’
The first piece that went into the 2,000-square-foot space was a lime-green modular couch that had been in that Mission co-op.
“Shihan has actually been friends with this couch longer than he’s been friends with us,” Heimburger said. “That’s true,” replied Shihan Yu, who was gathered around it with Heimburger, Coultrip, and Zhang. “I remember putting it together before I met these guys.”
The space has a certain cozy whimsy. Exposed brick walls and crisscrossing steel beams are complemented by brightly colored couches close to the ground and scattered lamps. A small artificial fireplace is tucked into an alcove, adding imaginary warmth to a separate “board room.” A mannequin leg is posed in a nook in the wall.
The furniture can be swept away to create a dance studio, or chairs can be aligned in a makeshift lecture hall.
Part of the dream, too, was to get to build something as a team. The seven friends, who are protective and adoring of one another, have diverse backgrounds: There’s a nurse practitioner, a full-time artist, another who works in video games. As business owners, they took on new roles. Heimburger managed the interior design, scoring thrifted loungers and colorful rugs. Zhang became the main artist, creating a welcome poster depicting each founder in a tiny cartoon.
“It feels like we’re raising a baby together, and it’s brought us closer,” Zhang said. “There are moments where it’s like, oh, who forgot to change the diapers? But I think it’s been really beautiful.”
Events provide a consistent source of income, which the group needed to cover monthly costs of about $5,000. Booking fees range from $85 to $150 an hour, or a portion of ticket sales, with a goal to “never say no to anyone.”
“We’ve found a groove where we are able to maintain enough events and activities to meet that rent threshold to stay alive,” Heimburger said “The minute that that starts to dip, we feel it, right? At the same time, there have been times when we’re firing on all cylinders, and it’s feeling like it’s just flowing, and there’s magic in the air. And we oscillate between those two.”
By summer 2026, bookings were still coming in, but with low fees, the numbers weren’t adding up. Bills piled up. The work took on a new level of stress.
Almost two years in, their lives are changing at the pace that comes with being in your late 20s. Heimburger and Coultrip got engaged. Another founder has moved to New York City. With three members of the original seven being pulled in different directions and the workload mounting, the group prepared to break their lease and shutter The Nook.
A time and a place
When Zhang posted about The Nook’s imminent closure on X (opens in new tab), saying the group needed about $5,000 per month to continue, support flooded in. Friends and neighbors scheduled events. Funds from an anonymous group that supports community events made a huge dent and provided some wiggle room to take on events from people who can’t afford to pay higher fees.
“That allows us to really lean into events that bolster our core values of community,” Yu said.
But the long-term future is still up in the air as The Nook’s stewards reevaluate their roles. They’re searching for tenants who might want to co-manage the space or take over the lease. The empty offices around The Nook have filled up over the past two years, so they’re anticipating a rent increase when renewal comes up in February.
Until then, the events will go on. Upcoming listings include an election café and a party where friends teach each other niche skills, like line dancing and flower pressing.
The Nook was facing closure, but an anonymous benefactor helped the space stay afloat. | Source: Courtesy The Nook
Last winter, to celebrate The Nook’s one-year anniversary, the founders hosted a gala for every participant, rolling out a red carpet and hiring a jazz band. They gave out superlative-style awards, and hosts made speeches, shouting out The Nook’s stewards for their work to make that event happen.
“Everyone had such nice things to say about my friends, and that felt really, really beautiful to know,” Zhang said. “That night was just full of gratitude in a really beautiful way.”
Several mentioned The Nook as a jumping-off point for bigger things. “The Interlude (opens in new tab),” a music and storytelling series that now performs all over the Bay Area, hosted its first concert at The Nook. Artists talked about having the confidence to display their work or perform in public for the first time. Others described launching personal projects that had sat dormant in their minds, waiting for the right time to take a risk.
For the seven stewards, The Nook has been more than worth taking the plunge.
“A project like this is possible. It is,” Zhang said. ”That’s the power of community and what we are trying to demonstrate by doing this project in the first place.”