Firehouse 8

My guy and I were going to have our wedding here. But we didn’t. Why? Let me tell you, my friends, a story of treachery and woe:
We were excited: We’d just sent our save the dates out. Our caterer was secured. We’d started contacting hotels for our out of town guests. The Firehouse people had been finalizing our contract for over a week and were sending it over. All we needed to do was sign it. Rad.
Then, one fateful Sunday morning, they straight up told us that – oops – the people who rented the second floor needed the first floor and we were shit out of luck. Just like that.
Because Firehouse 8, instead of honoring the hold that we had on the place for 6 weeks or the fact that we were just waiting to sign the damn piece of paper, can tell you through email that they screwed you but ‘wish you the best of luck in your venue hunt.‘
They wrote the above words, and these too: «We have to make the Engine Room available to them in order for their event to be successful», despite the fact that these other people didn’t have a hold or a contract on the floor below and had actually broken contract by inviting too many people for the space.
So 7 months before our wedding day, a day after we sent our save the dates out, we were back to square one. We stand to lose a ton of money on deposits from different vendors. Yes, legally they can do this. But I would recommend seriously reconsidering if you’re planning to put your trust in these people who, when we finally got on the phone, completely broke our hearts while simultaneously telling us how bad they felt about it.
Worst. Breakup. Ever.

We held a two day meeting here and the experience was seamless! Despite being short staffed, Teresa is great to work with! She was on top of the details and assisted with all my catering deliveries and set up. She was so easy to work with and ensured all our requests were handled.
The space itself is airy and bright. It’s great for groups, breakout spaces, weddings and cocktail receptions. And their facility rental fees are competitive.
A great space to consider for a corporate or social event!

Awesome place, awesome people and awesome day! Thank you Firehouse 8 for such a WONDERFUL moment in time. My daughter’s wedding was simply outstanding. Your venue captured her vision of Southern Vintage. We still have guest calling and expressing how wonderful and amazing everything was. Teresa and her team fulfilled all of our expectations. She truly is exceptional at what she does. Making dreams happen!

We just had my husbands 40^th Bday party here for about 120 guests. The place was perfect! We hired an amazing band, and Teresa and her team were totally on top of everything to ensure they had what they needed and the night was smooth. Teresa was a great resource for caterers and party rental needs, helped set the place up and really helped us have the party we had envisioned. Great venue and a great night. If you are looking for a unique space for an event, look no further.

We considered Firehouse 8 for our upcoming wedding, but ended up booking another venue closer to home; mostly for the convenience of our guests.
Why we loved Firehouse 8:
— Really unique space with lots of history. We loved the exposed brick, fire pole, and high ceilings on the first floor. We could really see the potential in this event space, and how it could make for a great party atmosphere.
— Relatively reasonable rental fees. From what I recall it’s less than $ 3k to rent the space on a Saturday. Pretty good considering the bay area.
— Kitchen space /​bar /​and some tables available to accommodate guests /​catering, etc.
— Nice area of the city. We knew if we chose this venue that our guests wouldn’t have to worry about walking to their cars late at night, etc.
Why we didn’t choose Firehouse 8:
— No parking. Our older family members would have struggled with this prospect.
— We couldn’t rent the mezzanine with the bottom floor. Our ideal date was July 4, and the mezzanine /​top level boasts spectacular views of North Beach (perfect for fire work viewing). Unfortunately, we didn’t love the 2^nd floor (not enough character) and we were unable to book the top floor with the first floor due to building layout.
Other pros: the coordinator, Katie, was very responsive to my emails and gave an informative tour.
I would definitely recommend this venue to couples that don’t mind inconveniences of the city, and are looking for a unique space!

I’ve been to a few events and have done pop ups at this space for awhile. Wonderful building, very unique and a wonderfully sweet group of people running it. Definitely recommend for hip and established businesses looking to do pop up retails in SF or throw company events. The Penthouse view is insanely nice.

Firehouse 8 is a great venue and Teresa was very accommodating. We made several visits to Firehouse 8 in the process of planning our wedding there. We decided to book both the Engine Room and the Skylight Room for our wedding reception and we were so happy with how this worked for our 100 guests. We had the cocktail hour in the Engine room, then had guests go upstairs for dinner in the Skylight room, then back downstairs for dancing and dessert. Our vendors were extremely happy with the venue and commented several times how easy it was to work with the folks there.

Yeah, we had our gay hipster wedding here a few weeks ago, and it went just wonderfully. The best day. Throughout the entire process, Teresa and Katie could not have been more accommodating to us or to our vendors. They worked hard to sort through small details like insurance and parking with our food truck, and were nothing but pleasant as we talked through a few small scheduling changes during the wedding week.
The space is great, and its unfinished exposed-​brick character means that you don’t have to bring too much decoration of your own to make it look fantastic. There are also plenty of eclectic tables and chairs you can use for a funky cocktail party either upstairs or downstairs. It’s very competitively priced based on our booking last December, and between the booking and wedding they put in a ton of work (elevator, kitchen, restrooms) upstairs to improve its amenities while keeping the same basic feel.
Don’t know the next time I’ll have to host a party on this scale, but if I did, Firehouse 8 would definitely be at the top of the list!

Firehouse 8 is an awesome event venue. I recently attended a gay wedding here and loved how the space worked.
There’s a downstairs that they used for a cocktail reception. Upstairs was used for the ceremony and the reception. Good venue for something in the 75 – 150 person crowd. Nice exposed brick. Lots of atmosphere. The staff that work there are friendly and hard-​working.
From what I understand from my friends that got married, they were pretty accommodating. None of those obnoxious wedding venue rules about using specific caterers or florists or even bartenders. Good way to get the people you want and save some money.
The only downside is that you’re not allowed to slide down the fire pole… probably not a bad idea for tipsy wedding revellers.

We had our wedding reception here and it was perfecto! Gavin and Theresa are excellent folks who supported our event professionally and made every effort to make sure we didn’t forget anything and that everything ran smoothly. I’m so glad we chose this lovely, rustic venue.

From the minute we received a tour of the space for the wedding, we were enthralled by the uniqueness of its character. This restored firehouse is a beautiful space to host any event. The staff is professional and friendly and it was a plus that they were non-​discriminatory. We held our same-​sex wedding here and is was fabulous. The venues made sure to keep all our guests happy and accommodated us to the very end. Teresa, on of the owners, made sure to assist us in clean-​up and with packing leftover food, which was very helpful. Katie, on of the assistants, also emailed me back within a reasonable amount of time and provided great details to the questions we had before our wedding.
If I had to make any notes and orsuggestions for the Fiehouse 8 I would say that is was very warm in the space during the event, which was held from 10 – 4. and typically it isn’t warm in SF but on Labor Day it was warm and beautiful outside so it made it a bit warmer than usual in the space. That would be our only complaint. But overall is was a fantastic day filled with love and happiness.
Keep on the lookout for some more pics. I only posted a few but will post more later!

I think this place is a Work in Progress.
I was here for a weekend wedding and it was lovely, but it was HOT and the exercise class next door was pretty loud during the wedding, maybe they should work out a deal or something with them when they have a wedding going on, I mean like take a 20 minute break while someone is saying their vows is all.
It was a little strange when I went to the restroom and saw a note that said not to flush the toilet seat protectors and to place them in the bin next to the toilet, that’s just gross to me and I didn’t really like that, maybe they need to get the issue addressed in a different way so the guests are not made to be/​feel responsible.
It has the potential to be a fantastic venue, the location is fine, but the parking is hard to find but it is SF so…
The wedding we attended was great, everything was set up beautifully but that was someone else’s work :)

What a lovely place to host a wedding, or attend a wedding. Highly recommended for an intimate unique experience!

We hosted an executive client program at Firehouse 8. Firehouse 8 used to be a working fire station but now is a venue that the public can rent for weddings, dinners, art shows, and other special events. We used the first floor and the location was perfect! The 2^nd floor is nice also but unfinished and would have been too much space for our small group. They gave our guests a tour of the place and everyone really loved the venue. I got lots of kudos for sourcing it:-)
Gavin and Teresa are a pleasure to work with and very responsive. I am glad they stuck with their vision of keeping this a space for the public to use instead of turning it into a condo building, which would have been more lucrative for them! Street parking can be hard to find but you can also rent St. Brigid’s and use the school yard for parking for your program if school is not in session and the space is available; Gavin helped us arrange this. There’s also a public parking lot around the corner from firehouse 8 BUT the problem was they closed at 8:30 pm that particular night and our program ran until 9 pm. I’d gladly work with Firehouse 8 again and hope we can bring more programs here.

We attended a beautiful wedding reception here last night. The lighting in the space and beautiful San Francisco style of this old firehouse made for such a festive & fun evening.
The owners were so wonderful to the guests & obviously enjoy being part of people’s fun times, whether it be a wedding, pop up or any other event.

Super cool and very artsy.
Super sad that it wasn’t an actual WORKING firehouse — visions of choreographed half-​nude firemen was what brought me to Firehouse 8. The building was a firehouse from 1916 through 1975 and they still have the pole! History is fun, people.

We had brunch here when Marla Bakery was here. The space is very nice and loved the stuff of sale and the flower arrangements.

«The best kept secret in San Francisco»
this Space is truly an amazing event and pop up location, from Cloths, Food and Art, the list goes on…
The Passion it took by the owners Teresa and Gavin to get this place opened and running deserves to be supported.

Such a lovely place with a lot of soul! Perfect space for medium sized events. Teresa and Gavin (the owners) are great people too!
Highly recommend checking out Firehouse 8 for your event needs.

I stopped by for the ‘pop-​up’ event a few weeks ago. The owner is wrapping up the remodel, and the event was to showcase both local businesses /​talent and the place itself.
Overall, Firehouse 8 looks like it will be a great venue! They’ve kept some of the actual firehouse poles. It’s sort of a Pac Heights-​historic firehouse mashup. I’m sure this place will offer both a great ambience and flexibility in its use.
They were featuring some drip coffee by Contraband… do I need to say more? I’m sold.