To Do San Francisco

Stay curious - explore San Francisco museums! February 3, 2026

• Jamie Whitaker • Season 3 • Episode 27

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Jamie Whitaker:

Happy Tuesday! This is Jamie, and you're listening to the To Do San Francisco podcast for February 3, 2026. Please do me a favor and share this podcast on your socials where other San Franciscans will see it. Share the web address ToDoSF.BuzzSprout.com. I usually mention some songs that are stuck in my head on Tuesdays, but today I want to share a suggestion to watch or rewatch a Netflix documentary about former First Lady Michelle Obama called Becoming. It'll probably make you feel all sorts of good feelings, maybe some tears of joy, and maybe some hope. On today's episode, we're talking about places that don't just entertain us, they change how we see the world. San Francisco is lucky to have museums that invite curiosity, wonder, and lifelong learning. Let's start with art, science, and the beautiful space where the two sometimes overlap. First up is SF MOMA, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on Third Street in SoMa. It originally opened in 1 935, making it the first museum on the West Coast devoted entirely to modern and contemporary art. Its mission is all about helping people experience, interpret, and find some meaning in modern art, whether that's painting, photography, sculpture, film, or design. When you walk out of SF MOMA, you don't just remember individual artworks, you leave thinking differently. You start noticing composition, color, emotion, and intention in the everyday world. It trains your eye, but it also stretches your empathy. Next, let's head over to the waterfront and into curiosity mode at the Exploratorium. This beloved institution opened in 1969, founded by physicist Frank Oppenheimer with a radical idea. Learning should be hands on, playful, and driven by questions. The Exploratorium's mission is to inspire curiosity and lifelong learning through interactive science, art, and human perception. When people leave, they don't leave with a list of facts, they leave asking why. Why does sound travel the way it does? Why do we see illusions? Why does the world behave the way it does? It reminds adults what kids already know. Learning is fun when you're allowed to touch things. Finally, there's the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. This institution goes way back, originally founded in 1853, making it one of the oldest scientific institutions in the Western United States. Its mission is to explore, explain, and sustain life on Earth. Inside one building, you've got an aquarium, planetarium, rainforest, and natural history museum all working together. What people walk away with is perspective. You leave understanding how deeply connected everything is, from coral reefs, to climate systems, to our own daily choices. It's awe inspiring in the best way. If you visit a museum this week, slow down for someone else. Step aside so they can see, let a kid ask their questions, share a quiet moment with a stranger in front of the same exhibit. This is all part of kindness. Curiosity is contagious, and kindness makes space for that curiosity. That's it for today. Take the sense of wonder with you as you move through the city. There's so much to learn and so many ways to stay curious. I'll see you tomorrow. Until then, enjoy this wonderful city, San Francisco.