About The Interval and The Long Now Foundation

A Place for Conversation

The Interval is a bar, café, museum, and the home of The Long Now Foundation. Featuring a floor-to-ceiling library of the books you might need to rebuild civilization, mechanical prototypes for a clock meant to last for 10,000 years, art that continually evolves in real time, and a time-inspired menu of artisan drinks.

What is The Long Now Foundation?

“Now” is never just a moment. The Long Now is the recognition that the precise moment you’re in grows out of the past and is a seed for the future. - Brian Eno (Founding board member)

The Long Now Foundation was established in 01996 to creatively foster long-term thinking and responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years.

The Site

The Interval is located in San Francisco at Fort Mason Center, a historic campus of former military buildings within sight of The Golden Gate and Alcatraz.

Ambient Painting

Behind the bar we feature a digital “ambient painting” created by Brian Eno. Governed by an algorithm that rotates through a large selection of image components, its composition of vibrant colors constantly evolves and will go through millions of iterations without repeating.

Chalkboard Drawing Machine

“Otto” is a robotic chalkboard drawing machine by Swiss artist Jürg Lehni commissioned specifically for The Interval. It is often used in conjunction with our speaking events.

The Clock

The Interval houses several artifacts and prototypes for Long Now’s 10,000-Year Clock. The Orrery, located by the front door, is a working planetary display. The Chime Generator prototype was designed to ring a series of 10 bells in a different sequence each day for 10,000 years.

The Manual for Civilization

The Interval is home to a unique library: A few thousand volumes that you might want to have with you if you ever had to sustain or restart civilization. We keep a few hundred of these volumes available on the downstairs shelves.

Bottle Reserve

Arranged on the ceiling above the bar, The Interval’s Bottle Reserve features custom-made bottles filled with a selection of spirits made exclusively for The Interval by St. George Spirits.

The Interval opened its doors in 02014 thanks to 1,122 Charter Donors and the support of these Founding Partners:

Because We Can

St. George Spirits

Fort Mason Center

Internet Archive

“I want to build a clock that ticks once a year. The century hand advances once every 100 years, and the cuckoo comes out on the millennium. I want the cuckoo to come out every millennium for the next 10,000 years.”