The Mechanics’ Institute in SF is a “historic membership library”, for one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanics%27_Institute,_San_Fr...
A lovely place
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanics%27_Institute,_San_Fr...
A lovely place
Members can go there, plug in a laptop, and type. Quietly. It's never crowded.
It's a well-curated, library. It's most useful if you want historical information about 19th and early 20th century technology. They have a complete bound set of Popular Mechanics, from the days when it was a serious technical publication. The multi-volume engineering study for the Panama Canal, with drawings, is there. Current offerings are well chosen and updated regularly.