Artists at the 151 Potrero Avenue warehouse, known for nearly 30 years as Live Art Gallery, were faced in December 2013 with an uncertain future. One of the artists, illustrator Julien Lallemand, contacted an old friend, John Yi, an entrepreneur and Facebook veteran, inviting him to rent a desk for a writing studio. John agreed to rent a studio, but when it looked unlikely they could rally enough artists to preserve the lease, it blossomed into a quest to save the entire space.

Within a few days John had pulled together a foursome of civic-minded tech leaders. Brought together with Nik Ajagu, Jeff Miller and Gi Fernando, and with the cooperation of building owner Mike McGlennon, these four vowed to rebuild the space into a sustainable business that would keep costs down for artists by licensing maker-space to socially-minded startups. The warehouse was reopened as Code & Canvas on April 10th, 2014.