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Let’s Glow SF
Let downtown buildings become the canvas for a winter night of projected light and animation.
Things to do in Downtown & SoMa
Find local walks, culture and neighborhood discoveries in Downtown & SoMa, with clear prices and links to the organizer.
36 local plans
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San Francisco Ballet: Nutcracker
Make a December tradition your own with Clara, a growing Christmas tree and a journey into the ballet’s magical world.
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Museum of the African Diaspora
Explore art and ideas across the African diaspora, with a monthly free community day to make discovery easier.
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Bhangra & Beats: Diwali Night Market
Dance into the evening with live drumming, DJs and a South Asian cultural celebration at Yerba Buena.
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Downtown First Thursdays
Turn a Thursday into a street-party night with music, dancing and discoveries across three blocks.
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Union Square Holiday Ice Rink
Swap your usual city walk for an hour on the ice in the middle of Union Square.
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Halloween Hoopla
Costumes, circus surprises and a lively parade turn the Children’s Garden into a family Halloween outing.
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SFMOMA
Make space for a bold painting, a surprising installation and a different perspective.
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Asian Art Museum
Travel across centuries of Asian art in a Civic Center museum that rewards a slower visit.
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Yerba Buena Gardens
A green pause between museums, with public art, open lawn and the waterfall memorial.
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Salesforce Park
Take your lunch above street level into a rooftop garden with a distinctly urban view.
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Main Library & Exhibitions
Browse an exhibition, settle into a reading corner and give a busy day a quieter chapter.
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San Francisco City Hall
Step into a monumental civic interior beneath one of the city’s most impressive domes.
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Heart of the City Farmers Market
Make a neighborhood produce stop beside Civic Center and fill a bag with what is in season.
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SFJAZZ Center
Choose an intimate listening night in a venue built around the energy of live jazz.
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San Francisco Symphony
Turn an evening in Hayes Valley into an orchestral escape at Davies Symphony Hall.
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The Nightmare Before Christmas: In Concert
Hear Danny Elfman’s score performed live alongside the film for a different kind of holiday night.
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Hook: In Concert
Rediscover Neverland with John Williams’s music played by a live orchestra.
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Deck the Hall
Give a December day a musical lift with the Symphony’s family holiday concert.
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Frankie and The Witch Fingers
A loud, guitar-led Sunday night for anyone who wants to trade the sofa for a live room.
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Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, Fruko, & Carmelo Torres
Start the week with a cumbia gathering that brings Colombian rhythms into a historic San Francisco room.
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Pain of Truth
Make room for a high-energy hardcore bill at Great American Music Hall.
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Danny L Harle
An electronic night with Danny L Harle turns a Thursday into a reason to stay out.
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City Surf Project Presents Dark N Stormy
Catch a live benefit show and turn your Friday music plan into support for City Surf Project.
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Foy Vance
Choose a Sunday listening night with Foy Vance, Bonnie Bishop and Ryan McMullan.
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Rio Amor
Bring a friend for Rio Amor & Friends and make a Tuesday feel less ordinary.
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Jake Xerxes Fussell
Settle into a live folk evening with Jake Xerxes Fussell and supporting guest Dougie Poole.
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Changing Commons Walking Tour
Walk through the cityscapes that echo Susanna Kwan’s imagined San Francisco, with Shaping San Francisco.
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Photograph History, Care & Conservation
Give family photographs a longer life by learning about historic processes, handling and storage.
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Annalee Newitz in Conversation with Soleil Ho
Talk food, technology and imagined futures through Annalee Newitz’s novel Automatic Noodle.
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Rosanna Xia in Conversation with Marina Psaros
See California’s coast through a new lens with journalist Rosanna Xia and climate researcher Marina Psaros.
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Print Kwanimals with Arion Press
Hand-ink a plate, pull a letterpress print and take home your own Kwanimals creation.
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Susanna Kwan: Awake in the Floating City
Hear Susanna Kwan and Becca Prowda explore art, memory and belonging in a changing San Francisco.
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Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Pair a downtown afternoon with visual art that asks questions about the world around us.
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Children’s Creativity Museum
Build, animate, make music and follow the kids’ curiosity through a hands-on museum day.
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A.C.T.: John Proctor Is the Villain
A classroom confrontation becomes a sharp night of theater about heroes, power and who gets to tell the story.
Keep your day local
Choose a few nearby stops. San Francisco is hilly: check walking routes and transit, then confirm opening hours before leaving.