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Attempting to offer a guide to the Exploratorium is like herding kinetic molecules in a swirling vortex of mechanics, magnetics, chaotic pendulums and gravity wells, which is probably one of the museum’s exhibits.
Instead, all the guidance you need is right there in the name – explore. That’s the whole idea of San Francisco’s wild and wonderful museum of science, art and human perception. For kids and adult kids alike, it’s a place to enter a dimension of sight, sound and mind, to examine the world through more than 600 hands-on experiments, to scrutinize a plate of plankton from the bottom of the Bay, stand inside a tornado, create geometric sand designs with song and outright freak out at optical illusions – I swear that holographic spring is right there, but I just can’t grab it!
It’s like a playground married a science class and bought a house in the brain of Frank Oppenheimer, the late physicist who saw the need for new ways to teach science, embracing concepts of invention and play when he founded the museum in 1969. And if you’ve lived in the Bay Area any time in the past half century, you’ve probably been to the Exploratorium, either at its former home at the Palace of Fine Arts, or at its current much bigger, better building that opened in 2013 on Pier 15 on the Embarcadero.
So while a complete guide is moot, you still might enjoy some logistical tips – gleaned from museum staff and from our own numerous visits. Things about exhibits you may have missed (because it’s a mathematical improbability that you’ll get to everything in one trip) plus basics like the best times to go and where to store your stuff.
But not to worry. You can’t go wrong. As Oppenheimer famously said, “No one ever flunked a museum.”
Seek the small stuff
To be sure, you have to hit the classics. The Distorted Room will make you feel like Alice in Wonderland. In the kaleidoscope booth, you’ll see yourself to infinity and beyond. In the Shadow Box, your shadow imprints on the wall, lingering with a life of its own. Hmm, wasn’t there a “Dr. Who” episode like that? But be on the lookout in nooks, hallways and side corridors for some of the smaller, less-glamorous experiments. Try things like the Sound Bite. It’s just a box with a metal rod across it. But when you put a fresh plastic straw over the rod and bite down on it, you suddenly hear very loud music – through your bones!
In the hallway off the Life Sciences section, there’s a small computer tucked inside the corner of a window to a mechanical room. It’s called Swimming with the Fishes because the computer is in a tank of what looks like water. Turns out it’s actually in mineral oil, which doesn’t conduct electricity, so the mechanism can chug away just fine despite the liquid, running all the systems in that room.
In Human Perception, there’s a big black wall with a number panel. People push either a red button or a blue button, over and over, over and over, to see who gets the highest number. You’re really competing over nothing – just red or blue — but it illustrates the competitive nature of us humans, and the exhibit asks pointed questions like, “How does losing make you feel?”
Explore more
Don’t forget the second level, up above Life Sciences. “People think they’re not supposed to go up there, but they are,” says Maria Zilberman, the museum’s communications specialist. True, it feels like you’re just heading upstairs into staff offices, and indeed there are offices and a classroom. But there are also several cool exhibits, including a cloud chamber and a salt-formation display.
Continue up a ramp to the Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery for more exhibits on Bay Area geology, weather, history, geography and ecology. There’s a small reference library to browse and a big table with old maps — from an 1886 guide to San Francisco businesses to a 2014 map of urban water use. Plus, the gallery has the best views of the Bay and cityscape out both sides of the building.
Are you feeling it?
Enter the Tactile Dome. You’ve surely seen it from the outside. It’s a geodesic dome in one of the main galleries, but many guests skip it, mainly because it’s an additional fee of $15, you have to reserve a time slot (online or at the front desk) and no one under 7 is allowed. But do it sometime. It’s a super cool journey, bumping, feeling, crawling and sometimes even sliding your way through an obstacle course in total darkness.
(Fun fact: The Tactile Dome was created in 1971 by August Coppola, father of actor Nicolas Cage and brother of film director Francis Ford Coppola.)
The Workshop
As you pass by the half-walled-off section where people are woodworking, welding, pounding, tinkering and drilling, you may think it’s not an exhibit — just a work area. In fact, it’s the main exhibit, the very heart of the museum. Almost all the exhibits are made right here. You can’t go in, but you can see lots of projects in various stages of development, wave at the workers, say hello, ask questions.
Going, going
Don’t miss the temporary exhibits. Right now through Jan. 20, 2019, you can see a cool collection of mechanical sculptures titled “Curious Contraptions.” Turn cranks and push buttons to watch more than 20 whimsical moving machines come to life.
After Dark
The Exploratorium’s “After Dark” extended-hours program runs every Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m. For $20 admission, you experience an ongoing, thought-provoking series for adults with a different topic each time — presentations, discussions and special experiments involving everything from music and memory to radioactivity and atomic energy. Plus there’s a cash bar available.
Sit and savor
During a busy visit, bouncing around the museum like so many excited electrons, you might want some down time. Plop down in one of the decidedly old-fashioned wooden rocking chairs along the south-side corridor and gaze at the city through big plate-glass windows.
The details
Where: The Exploratorium is at Pier 15, at the foot of Green Street on San Francisco’s Embarcadero.
Info: www.exploratorium.edu
How: Public transit is a good way to go. The historic F-line streetcar runs along the Embarcadero and makes a stop right in front of the museum. Driving? There are numerous lots and garages, including one street lot directly across the street and the nearby Levi’s Plaza Garage. You may want to drop off passengers at the white-curbed loading zone just south of the museum. Taking the ferry? The Exploratorium is a half-mile stroll from the San Francisco Ferry Building and BART.
Best times to go: The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday–Sunday; Thursday After Dark hours are 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Nearly 180 million people from all around the world visit each year. Weekends, summertime and holidays are the busiest. And it’s a popular site for school field trips. Go on a weekday if you can, and get there when the doors open. Or try early afternoon around 2 p.m. when field trips are usually wrapping up.
Cost: $29.95 for adults, $24.95 for youth and seniors, $19.95 for children 4 to 12. Discounts are available for residents of the nine Bay Area counties. Be sure to ask at the desk or check online. (Free days are usually packed.)
Eats: There are two places to buy food at the museum (both accessible from the outside), but be advised, neither is cheap. The Seismic Joint Café is at the museum’s entrance and has light fare like espresso drinks and grilled-cheese sandwiches. The SeaGlass Restaurant is on the east end of the museum. It’s set up in casual, cafeteria style, but with gourmet offerings and locally sourced ingredients.
Extra tips: Wear comfy shoes and layered clothing. If you want to shed some layers or store some bags, there are coin-operated lockers just past the ticketing area and near the information desk.