Cloudflare Lava Lamps
The Verdict
"Walk into the Cloudflare lobby at 101 Townsend Street during business hours. The lava lamp wall is right inside the entrance. Five-minute visit. Free, no appointment needed."
What you need to know
A Wall of Lava Lamps That Encrypts the Internet
Cloudflare, the internet security company headquartered in SoMa, has a wall of approximately 100 lava lamps in the lobby of its office at 101 Townsend Street. A camera photographs the lamps continuously. Because lava lamp motion is truly random (no two blobs move the same way twice) the images are converted into strings of random numbers used to generate encryption keys. A significant percentage of the internet’s encrypted traffic relies on randomness seeded by these lamps.
What Makes It Worth It
The concept is brilliant and absurd in equal measure. A retro novelty item from the 1960s is helping secure modern internet traffic. The wall of lamps is colorful and hypnotic, rows of glowing, bubbling columns in red, blue, green, and yellow, all slightly out of sync with each other.
The lobby is accessible during business hours. You can walk in, look at the wall, read the small explanatory display, and leave. The whole visit takes about five minutes. There’s no tour, no guide, no gift shop. Just lava lamps and a camera doing serious cryptographic work.
Best for tech enthusiasts, security nerds, and anyone who appreciates elegant solutions to hard problems. Good for a quick photo.
Skip this if lava lamps and internet infrastructure don’t excite you. It’s a lobby display, not an exhibit.
Visiting
Address: 101 Townsend Street, SoMa
Hours: Lobby accessible during business hours, roughly 9:00 AM-5:00 PM weekdays.
Cost: Free
Best time to go: Weekday lunch hour when the lobby is accessible.
What to know: This is a working office lobby. Be respectful and don’t touch the lamps. Photography is generally fine. Access may vary; check if the lobby is open to walk-ins.
Getting There
Transit: Caltrain to San Francisco station (4th and Townsend), 1-minute walk. Muni T-Third or N-Judah to 4th Street.
Parking: Metered street parking on Townsend. Garages in SoMa nearby.
Walking: Near AT&T Park (Oracle Park), the Caltrain station, and the South Beach waterfront.
📍 Location: This activity is in SoMa. Explore the neighborhood →
