Last Thursday was the inaugural meeting of SFCurators Salon in North Beach and I couldn't be more happier about the turnout (see below).

I set up the group with my colleague Oliver Starr as a place where like-minded people could discuss the topic of curation, which has become a hot topic this year as search falters, and as curation tools and services come out of beta and into more mainstream use. (Please see: Pearltrees Reaches Key Milestones: Largest Curation Community - SVW)

The meeting was held in Specs', a bar that happens to also be a funky museum. The location in North Beach, just across the street from City Lights Bookstore and Vesuvio, always conjures up for me the great intellectual and literary traditions of the area.

This was the stomping ground for the Beatnicks, and some myths even locate the origin of the name to Specs'. North Beach still carries this culture of engagement, its warren of small streets, cafes, family restaurants, encourages debate and discussion. And that's exactly what we had last Thursday.

As people started to arrive we sat around one of the large round tables at the back of the bar and got straight into a fascinating discussion of curation and what it means. I learned a lot and came away with many pages of notes that will fuel many future articles.

I liked the format: instead of listening to a guest speaker we got to listen to each other. And everyone got a chance to speak. And everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Afterwards, we went next door to Tosca Cafe to see Mr Lucky, Ralph Carney, and fellow musicians in some great cocktail cabaret. (Short video here.)

It was a great night to be in North Beach!

I've set up a Facebook Group where we can continue discussions and share links: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_190497964325519

Here is a Pearltree for SFCurators Salon that will grow to be an archive of our meetings, and members can 'team up' to add content.

And everyone that came that evening is an official co-founder of SFCurators Salon!

Here are my co-founders:

Oliver Starr - @OWStarr
Aurelia Ammour - @aammour
David Spark - @dspark
Renne Blodgett @@MagicSauceMedia
Murray Newlands - @MurrayNewlands
Roger MacDonald
Heidi Isern Chisem
Alastair Goldfisher - @agoldfisher
Steve Farnsworth - @Steveology
Kevin Lawton - @CrowdfundBook
Lydia Sugarman - @lksugarman
Samantha Sleeper - @samanthasleeper
Janine Shiota - @jnshiota
Christine McCaull - @xtinem
LaurieAnne Lassek
Zach Morvant - @zachsbeardsays
Chris Knight
Todd Tate - @toddtate
Brian Zisk - @zisk
Alison Murdock @svrocks
David Rozelle
Heddi Cundle - @HeddiCundle
Lisa Montanino - @LMontanino
Steve Kerns - @stevekerns
Annie Kim
Carla Schlemminger @carlainsf

Twitter List: Twitter / @tomforemski/sfcurators-salon

I'm looking forward to more conversations. And maybe I'll see you at the next meeting...