{"id":1553,"date":"2022-02-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sofarsoundsblo.wpengine.com\/blog\/articles\/this-must-be-the-space-sports-basement-presidio\/"},"modified":"2022-02-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T00:00:00","slug":"this-must-be-the-space-sports-basement-presidio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/articles\/this-must-be-the-space-sports-basement-presidio","title":{"rendered":"This Must Be The Space: The Sports Basement Presidio in San Francisco, CA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This Must Be The Space is back. This time, we\u2019ve landed in California\u2019s fog-coated gem, San Francisco, to look at one of Sofar\u2019s favorite hidden warehouse spaces, The Sports Basement. <\/p>\n<p>The locally owned sports retail establishment has a few locations throughout the Bay Area, but its flagship sits on the north side in Presidio beside a wide marsh, overlooking the iconic Golden Gate Bridge stretched toward Sausalito. But that\u2019s not all you\u2019ll see there\u2013\u00a0you\u2019ll also catch groups of cyclists or running clubs meeting in front of The Sports Basement, about to head out for a long ride or jog across the bridge. The space is a community hub, which remains a top priority. \u201cWe\u2019re not just brick and mortar retail,\u201d said Ian Ballentine, the Director of Marketing for The Sports Basement. \u201cA lot of our backbone is supporting local nonprofits, schools, [and] community partners.\u201d Ian\u2019s always on the lookout for ways to engage the local community, including bringing live events into the space. So when he came across Sofar, it felt like a perfect fit.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Presidio store itself is an expansive warehouse\u2013 in fact, the space used to be an old military commissary. \u201cWe\u2019ve kept a lot of that charm inside [where] you\u2019ll see old commissary signs throughout the store,\u201d Ian said. Sofar takes place in a community designated space called \u201cThe Dairy,\u201d which used to be the actual dairy in the commissary. Tucked deep in the store, people are often surprised to find the wide-open room lined with palettes, strings of colorful lights, and second-hand couches and chairs to lounge in. And then of course, there\u2019s the surprise of the music itself. Sofars often happen in the afternoon hours, which makes it fun for everyone, including unsuspecting shoppers in the next room. \u201cFor us, it creates a very cool vibe,\u201d Ian said. \u201cYou can hear [the music] in neighboring departments, so people who are shopping in shoes or team sports are like, \u2018what\u2019s going on in there? Who is this? How can I get involved?\u2019 And it turns into a much larger conversation.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/1665185590featuredimage.avif\"><span class=\"sc-kpOJdX jVJdyv\">&#8220;The Dairy&#8221; at The Sports Basement Presidio, photo by SB Staff<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Presidio store has hosted multiple Sofars, but a standout moment was an evening Sofar alum Rozzi played. The LA-based artist is originally from San Francisco, and between songs talked about growing up near the store and how great it was to be back. \u201cIt was really touching for our staff involved,\u201d Ian said. \u201cThat\u2019s what you want to hear, and that\u2019s what keeps us thriving\u2013 people sharing their experiences.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Keep an eye out for Sofars up in the north neck of the San Francisco woods and you might catch a show at The Sports Basement\u2013 and who knows, maybe a bike ride with new friends afterward.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: The Sports Basement, photo by SB Staff <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Must Be The Space is back. This time, we\u2019ve landed in California\u2019s fog-coated gem, San Francisco, to look at one of Sofar\u2019s favorite hidden warehouse spaces, The Sports Basement. The locally owned sports retail establishment has a few locations throughout the Bay Area, but its flagship sits on the north side in Presidio beside [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-spaces"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sofarsounds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}