Tech workers, some wearing facemasks, work inside a downtown San Francisco coworking space. From there, I could no longer make out the unhoused person I passed on the way in, holding a sign in front of stopped traffic at a nearby intersection that read, “We are struggling one day to another. Rooftop gardens and pools gleamed like gems fixed in the grey lattice of the city below.

Outside, a heat wave was hammering the drought-parched state and straining the power grid, but up in the sky, the air conditioning was crisp, the view of the bay excellent. Pillows were printed with diagrams encouraging social distancing. Vendors set up a “pop-up market” selling cacti and Instagram-friendly pottery in a lounge. Workers with laptops, smart watches, expensive haircuts and even more expensive trail-running shoes pounded away at code, chatting on calls in English, Spanish, and Swedish.

In a coworking space on the 37th floor of the Salesforce Tower, a $1 billion, cheese-grater shaped skyscraper that looms over the San Francisco skyline, a very particular segment of life in the tech capital has returned.ĭuring a visit in mid-June, the kombucha on tap was flowing.

Grace Kraaijvanger, founder of The Hivery, a San Francisco coworking space, walks through an empty location, which will re-open in July.

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