Buchanan YMCA

San Francisco, United States

3.8

20 reviews

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 415-931-9622
Website:
www.ymcasf.org
Address:
1530 Buchanan St, San Francisco, CA, 94115
at Zampa Ln
Fillmore, Western Addition
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.7 miBig Bus Tours Stop 9, Alamo Square
0.7 miBig Bus Tours Stop 8, Fulton Street
0.7 miBig Bus Tours Stop 7, Civic Center
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Today

Today –
Local time (San Francisco) 11:35 AM Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday –
Friday –
Saturday –
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Youth Development

We offer after school youth programs throughout the community, including: Rosa Parks Elementary, Cobb Elementary, the Beacon Center, Kipp Bay Academy, Gateway Middle School, New Traditions, and Margaret Hayward Rec Connect.

Seasonal Camps offered at the Buchanan YMCA main facility, Margaret Hayward Playground Rec Connect and the Beacon Center @ John Muir Elementary.

Teen programs: MYEEP, STEM Academy, SWEP, Model United Nations, and Youth & Government are offered at the Buchanan YMCA main facility.

Healthy Living

The Wellness Center is a membership based program that offers a wide selection of strength training equipment, cardiovascular equipment, dance studio, basketball gym, and a community lounge for members to meet and chat with other like-​minded individuals. It also includes access to over 20 group exercise classes, including: Zumba, yoga, pilates, aerobics, karate, enhanced fitness, tai chi, etc.

All members have access, at no extra cost to Wellness Coaching with a certified personal trainer designed to ensure everyone has the guidance, structure and support needed to achieve any health and wellness related goal.

Social Responsibility

Our Financial Assistance Program, funded by the donations from fellow compassionate members and community partnerships, makes this possible by reducing rates of almost all our youth development and healthy living programs. Speak with a Member Engagement Leader today to learn more.

History

Established in 1886.

Buchanan YMCA was originally founded in 1886 as the Japanese YMCA. Located across from what is now Japantown Center, the current facility opened in 1935 to better serve the Japanese American community in its social and wellness needs. After the internment of the Japanese American community in San Francisco began in 1941, the then Japanese YMCA was leased to the US military to be used as an African American USO facility during World War 2. At the end of the war the Japanese YMCA was rechristened Buchanan YMCA to better serve both the returning Japanese American community, and the new African American community that had migrated to the Fillmore and Western Addition neighborhoods during the war years. Since then Buchanan YMCA has served as a hub for the diverse communities that live here, offering social dances, language and job training classes, youth and after-​school programing such as Y-​camp, and the newer emphasis on health & fitness that has grown over time.

Meet the Manager

Rodney C.

Manager

My name is Rodney and I have been Buchanan YMCA Executive Director since 2011. As a Kinesiology Major in college, I have a strong passion for offering a clean, non-​intimidating and fun facility for members to exercise in. Before coming to the Buchanan YMCA, I have been a Group Exercise and Fitness Center Coordinator as well as a Fitness and Membership Director at other YMCA’s in San Francisco. I am a native San Franciscan who has lives in the community that I enjoy working in.

We welcome you to come and tour our facility and see all this for yourself!

Vicinity

Near this location:
1
ft
African Dance & Drum Festival
1530 Buchanan St
100
ft
Sushi Lunlunlaa
123 Minor St Ste 234
110
ft
Shiatsu By Yukie
1 Western Shore Lane Ste 5
120
ft
St. Francis Square Cooperative
10 Bertie Minor Ln
330
ft
An Japanese Restaurant
22 Peace Plz Ste 510
380
ft
Takara Japanese Restaurant
22 Peace Plz Ste 505

20 reviews of Buchanan YMCA

No registration required
Place rating: 3
San Francisco, CA
Although not up to the standards of the other San Francisco YMCAs I’ve visited, the Buchanan Y would be a perfectly fine facility for a rural/​suburban community.
The folk here sure are friendly, don’t get me wrong (and I’m sure the community as a whole is doing good work), but as a gym, the Buchanan Y is lacking. Partially, this is because of the limited size of their facility: there is no room for a squat rack, and while they have a full outfit of circuit training machines, much of the cardio room has seen better days. There is a flat bench (and an incline), but dumbbells only go up to 35 lbs. This is problematic. The locker rooms are perfectly adequate, and although the column shower gave me unpleasant flashbacks to my high school locker room experience, it performed its function, namely, making me not disgusting. Just a warning, unlike other YMCA’s in the area, there is no towel service, leaving the unprepared to dry off with paper towels or vigorously shake themselves dry like a dog after a bath.
Three stars: better than some YMCA’s I’ve worked out in (I’m looking at you, every single YMCA in the LA Valley), but not up to the quality of other facilities in the area.
Extras:
Accessible by 38, 38R and 31.
Large gym for basketball.
Good community programming.
Place rating: 5
North Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
The staff are very friendly and helpful. The classes they offer are amazing. If anyone needs a trainer. I highly recommend Jeff Briz. His a great trainer. He put my butt back into shape.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
It’s worth joining the Buchanan Y just to attend Dan’s Pilates class (MWF 11:30 — 1:00). He’s the best Pilates teacher around: very knowledgeable, committed, & quite entertaining. The first hour is on the mat; the last thirty minutes is on the reformer.
Place rating: 4
San Francisco, CA
$ 10 for a day pass. (That’s half the prices of all the other gyms in the gyms in the area!) It’s perfect for someone like me who would only go to a gym every other month or so.
To all the people that have complained on Unilocal about how «old» and «grungy» this place is… get over it! It’s a nonprofit community center. It’s like complaining about Goodwill having things that are too old inside.
I actually really liked this place. It’s not crowded. It’s actually a bit of a ghost town. You really feel like you have your own personal space, AND it has the basics of everything that I need:
FIRST FLOOR:
# Room with aerobics equipment
—- 5 treadmills
—- 7 elliptical
—- 5 stationary bikes
—- 2 stairmaster
—- 1 rowing
# Room with free weights
# Room with resistance machines
# Indoor basketball court
SECOND FLOOR:
—- Multiple classrooms for fitness classes (schedule on their website)
Place rating: 1
San Francisco, CA
Don’t waste your money here! don’t sign up!
This ymca location is old, the gym equipment is also very old and is often broken. There is no proper air ventilation, so you are forced to breath in the humid sweaty air, that is constantly stuck in the room. The gym is stale and old. If I had to pick from eating off of a muni bus seat or a YMCA Buchanan equipment seat, I would chose the muni bus seat! All their equipment is dirty as well as the bathrooms and the floors. This place needs to be renovated!
For just $ 10 more a month you can go to the 24 hours fitness 2 blocks away on van ness st!
However the employees are nice and friendly, and the gym is never too crowded. The place is quiet but very tiny working space.
I hated my time and experience here so much that I found my self skipping the gym every now and then, something I never do!
Canada has better gyms than this! Walking in here I felt like I was in a communist country! $ 40 a month plus $ 50 enrollment fee is not worth it for this gym, you will never get you monies worth here!
Place rating: 2
San Francisco, CA
If I were rating this gym solely on the facility and programming, it would be more like 4 or 5 stars. This review is more for the customer service (or rather, the lack thereof)
First the positive aspects:
–Never crowded. Most times I went, I had the place to myself. A crowded day was 6 people in the aerobics room, which has maybe 20 machines.
–Decent class schedule: they offer a pretty good variety of classes, although I only went a few times because I seemed to attract the pushy/​creepy people in those classes to me like a moth to flame. Not really the facility’s fault, though.
–Generally clean and well-​maintained
–Price is about comparable to other gyms in the area
However, aside from always greeting me with a «have a good workout,» the staff was not very helpful. Two examples:
–The credit card I used for automatic payments expired. I gave my new card number to the front desk worker. Two weeks later I got a notice that I was going to be charged a late fee because I hadn’t paid my membership. I went in to check what happened. Apparently, they entered my new credit card info, but didn’t bill it. Still a bit confused by why they did that…
–A couple months later, my doctor put me on a 10 lb lifting restriction. This really limited my usual routine, so I stopped going for a few weeks and started walking more. I decided to save some money and cancel my membership, perhaps to renew when I was better.
Apparently, their «30-​day cancellation policy» means that if your next payment is due in 29 days, you have to pay for another month. E.g. If you cancel on February 2 and your next payment is due March 1, you have to pay for membership until April 1. In effect, it’s an «up to 60-​day» cancellation policy.
To add insult to injury, when I told the front desk worker that I was cancelling due to a medical condition that kept me from using my membership the last few weeks, he checked «lack of motivation» on the form as my reason for cancelling. Even if I was cancelling purely for «lack of motivation,» there are more tactful ways to say it on a form, e.g. «not using membership.» Maybe I’m just over-​sensitive, but are they trying to shame people into not cancelling their memberships or something?
Bottom line: I probably won’t renew when I’m better, but if I do, I’ll be sure to cancel the day before I make my last payment.
Place rating: 4
San Francisco, CA
This is a great little YMCA. Kinda tucked away off Geary. Never crowded, very friendly staff. A few parking spaces. Lots of racial and age diversity. Congenial patrons. Most classes are pretty good. Excellent gentle yoga class with Kevan on Tues, 10am. Locker rooms are clean and well-​maintained. $ 35/​month is a great deal. Minus a star ’cause no pool, but it’s got all the equipment you need.
Place rating: 3
San Francisco, CA
First off, I’ve only done the tour at Buchanan YMCA. I haven’t gone to any classes or worked out during the busiest time of the day.
They DO NOT have a barbell squat rack or power cage. The closest thing they have is a smith rack [which anyone who knows what’s good for them should stay away from].
The weight room has a cable lat pull-​down, decline and flat bench with full sized barbells, two glute ham or hyper extension devices, and a variety of dumbbells, small fixed barbells, and short 2″ barbells.
They also have an awesome spinning/​martial arts/​class room upstairs with nice windows and wood floors. I wish it was full of bumper plates and Olympic weightlifting platforms.
This is not the place to train with barbells, for power lifting, or weightlifting. It’s so close to my house that I’m pretty bummed out.
Place rating: 3
San Francisco, CA
So I just moved into this neighborhood and have been a member for a month or so.
Pros:
–Price: at $ 35 a month this is the best deal out there.
–Never crowded. I mean this place is deserted. Usually I’m the only –person working out. The busiest I’ve seen it is around 5:30 PM, and maybe 4 people are lifting weights.
— Decent amount of equipment, especially for it’s use. Enough free weights to do about anything I need.
–Upstairs. It is more open and has free weights up to 30 lbs, so if anything I do uses low weight I go upstairs.
Cons:
— The atmosphere/​environment. For me the feel of a place is important. I want to WANT to come here to work out. At Buchanan it feels stuffy and cramped, even with no one there!
I am thinking about joining the Jewish Community Center gym even at twice the price or more because it’s a place I would actually want to go to.
For the price, the Y at Buchanan is fine, but you get what you pay for!
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
This place is never too crowded. Even at peak times I can always get on the machine I want. The machines are decent and the environment is very non-​intimidating.
The staff is friendly, especially Clay. He always checks in and is always willing to give work out advice.
Place rating: 2
Lebanon, NJ
Took me a while to write this review, I forgot about this.
SF people WOULD rate this almost a perfect score, because most people in SF have no clue about what a gym really should be like, where certain machines and free weights should be. how if you are training one part of the body one day, the equipment for that shouldn’t be scattered in 3 different rooms on at least 2 different floors. How if you want to lose weight you don’t want to take a spinning class from an obese «trainer». But I’m sure they could really figure out how to make YOU fit, they are just staying obese to make sure you’re not intimidated by the class.
Yeah it’s clean and it’s inexpensive. And kind of empty. That’s all I can really say that is positive about it.
3 of my friends went here, and I visited a few times. One friend told me of a creepy trainer who hit on her and offered unwelcome help all the time, while eating with his mouth open, talking, and food falling out. Another friend later confirmed this trainer’s MO on girls there, even though he was married. Nice touch.
Place rating: 4
San Francisco, CA
Ever dream of having your own personal gym all to yourself? This particular YMCA comes pretty close to that! The Buchanan YMCA is tucked away literally invisible to the normal driver and pedestrian on Geary Blvd as it’s in a little alley. And that’s the beauty and downfall of this particular YMCA as well.
I’ve been a member of the «Y» since the early 90s when I first started participating in and now help teach part of a Chinese Martial Arts class. So my love for various sports and working out practically started here at this location.
The YMCA is a great gym to work-​out at, without having all of the «overly-​full of themselves» folks who seek to boost their egos while intimidating others working out at the gym. Here, I can work-​out and not have to worry about who’s checking me out, or anyone one else hoping and wishing to be checked out – as no one will be around.
So while I do enjoy the occasional eye candy at my other gym (24 Hour Fitness), it’s great to work-​out and not have to worry about any one else around. You have the freedom to use any of the machines without any time limit as there won’t be anyone waiting to use your machine.
All of the free-​weights and machines are new and extremely smooth to use. The cardio room is well air conditioned with ceiling fans and windows rather than larger gyms where the circulation is just awful and stuffy… thus causing the gym to stink really bad. There’s no dirty gym smell at all.
As I mentioned, the lack of patrons to this gym because of location, can be its downfall as well. This YMCA has been hurting for quite a few years for lack of new membership enrollments. But they have a great variety of group exercise classes, with less with 20 people. So you get great personal attention. Classes vary from martial arts classes, yoga, pilates, spinning, etc.
1 Star deducted for lack of parking spots, and location which happens to be borderline of Western Addition and Japantown. So there have been numerous car thefts and break-in’s. Just a word of caution.
But for those folks who seek a low-​key, unpretentious gym with a quiet friendly atmosphere, this particular location is definitely THE spot!
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
Update! A few things have changed since I wrote my initial review:
— They did a locker update and now there is a whole section dedicated just for day use. Thank you!
— More room is available for stretching — and there are some great new resistance training machines upstairs.
— I had a baby. So, now I’m looking forward to sending her to Y camp when she’s old enough. ALSO — Clay, one of the trainers, was seriously helpful in getting my rear in gear post-​baby. Definitely take advantage of the PT services they offer!
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
Christie’s yoga classes (Tuesday at 6pm and Saturday at 10am) are the best. thing. ever. I can even touch my toes now! Always leave her classes feeling really revived, renewed, stretchy and energetic. I’m much more toned, flexible and my body just feels better.
The staff are all super; they remember you, say hi, discuss metal music, whatevs. But Christie is seriously the best!
Place rating: 4
San Francisco, CA
Yesterday my friend Jen kindly observed that my trunk was getting some junk. This was, take note, after stuffing our faces with crustless sandwiches, buttered scones with REAL devonshire cream (moo), and shortbread at tea. Hmm… Could my ass really have gotten that big in one sitting, or has it been evolving over time? Since I haven’t yet mastered the ability to completely spin my head 360 degrees and see my ass, i have to take her word for it. I’ve been known to be, from time to time, possessed by the devil.
Since I can’t dance with too much booty in the pants, I hustled my ample derrière over to the gym. This facility is perfect because the cardio room is nearly empty so you can sweat like a pig by yourself and parking is right out front, so you can make a hasty getaway. Yes, I drive to a gym that is less than a mile from my house. Is that why I’ve gotten so fat?
Place rating: 4
San Francisco, CA
I LOVE THE Y!!! After having been a member of practically every gym in the Bay Area, I finally found my home at the YMCA. Their relatively affordable all-​bay-​area gym membership ($ 73/​mo) gives me access to all the city’s YMCAs, of which there are quite a few.
Buchanan is my favorite, mostly because its walking distance from home but also because its always nearly EMPTY and the staff is super-​friendly. I am usually the only woman using the locker room at any given time, and I tend to hit the gym during peak gym hours (6AM or 6PM). Buchanan is small, but has nearly everything one needs to get a solid workout via cardio and weights. And as an added bonus, I never get leered at or hit on by creepy guys (an experience any girl hitting 24 or Crunch is all too familiar with). Also, its totally down to earth, which is a refreshing change from some of the «scenier» SF facilities.
The drawbacks, and the reasons I visit other SF YMCAs at least once a week: Buchanan YMCA has no pool, no sauna or steam room, and worst of all, no seated leg press. But Central YMCA has one, so problem easily solved!
As an aside, if you are one who joins gyms but rarely finds time to use your membership, you can feel really good about supporting your local community with your Y membership — whether or not you’re getting shredded! :)
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
This is BY FAR one of the greatest things in my neighborhood.
Its cheap. .. Its close (less than 2 blocks for me). .. .
The staff is friendly. They cater to me (they now offer free meetings/​fitness planning with a personal trainer).
And best of all. .. the facility is underutilized. That means I go there and half the time, I’m the only one in the facility. I don’t have to wait for the weights or the elliptical machine.
This place is really a hidden gem for those in my hood.
Place rating: 4
San Francisco, CA
Come here for the Mon/​Weds 6:30 PM yoga classes with Melissa, she’s such a fantastic, positive teacher! The big aerobics room here is also great for yoga practice, with mirrors and big windows for venilation.
If you’re here to work out, the facility is cozy but never too crowded… very friendly staff who are fans of great baseball teams too ;)
Parking in the neighborhood can be a little sketchy, so try to park in the lot if possible — parking’s also available across the street in the J-​town garage, and the Y validates. (And yes, I’ve taken unfair advantage of this parking privilege on one occasion, getting validated after a quick workout and then going to a show at the Fillmore…)
Place rating: 3
San Francisco, CA
dance classes, yoga classes. strange limited hours for classes & well hidden location.
Place rating: 4
Ocala, FL
I just renewed my membership here after a year long hiatus; not much has changed. What I like most about the Buchanan Y, other than its proximity to home, is that it is small, but never gets crowded. I’ve been here at various times of the day, and though there’s obviously more people during the early morning and evening hours with the before and after-​work crowd, respectively, there’s never been a problem with wait times.
The other nice thing about the Y is its clientele. The facilities are family-​oriented; it’s the furthest thing from a meat market, at least at this Y. Front desk staff have always been friendly. The cardio room and weight room are on the first floor, with Nautilus machines located on the second floor; also in the Nautilus room are a couple treadmills, exercise bikes, and an elliptical. (I like to exercise up here because, once in awhile, I do get tired of staring at myself in the mirror and having people stare at my ass while I’m running.) A good amount of classes are available to enroll in, from Yoga and Pilates, to Aikido, and even Flamenco Dancing – free with membership.
Membership cost differs for each facility. I’m assuming Buchanan’s is the lowest due to its size. It’s $ 41/​mo for Adults, with the Young Adult membership (18 – 25 yrs.) at $ 32/​mo. (Edit: Rates increase July ’06.) There are a number of other memberships, including one for access to all Bay Area YMCAs.
The real downside to this place is the hours. They’re only open till 9 p.m. on weeknights, and close during the early evening hours over the weekend. And watch out for holidays: They either close early or are closed entirely for the day.
There wasn’t an option, so for clarification, the facility opens at 5:45 a.m. M-​F, not 6:00 a.m. as listed above. There’s free parking across the street @ Japantown.