Festival season just ended and the city is better for it. Outside Lands packed up ten days ago and Stern Grove closed with Al Green yesterday afternoon. What is left is the good part: opera you can hear for free on a lawn, twelve pianos hidden in a botanical garden, and a Skinny Puppy side project that has played live maybe four times since 1985. These are the five weeks when San Francisco stops performing for visitors and goes back to entertaining itself.
Sport carries the load. The Valkyries play twice this week, vanish for a month, then return for a back-to-back that decides their seeding. The Giants have fourteen home dates across four series. USF quietly hosts seven soccer matches on Fulton Street that almost nobody outside the campus attends. And in the Presidio, a three-restaurant food hall built around one shared kitchen opened on Saturday with a Momofuku Ko alumnus consulting, which means the next fortnight of Bay Area food talk is already spoken for.
A textbook marine-layer week. City highs hold between 66 and 69 through Sunday, overnight lows near 57. Friday is partly sunny at 66. Saturday is mostly sunny at 66. Sunday carries a slight chance of drizzle before 11am, then clears to 69. Rain plan: nothing outdoors here is threatened. Sunday's drizzle window closes before the Suds Francisco rooftop session starts at 2pm. At Drakes Beach and Point Reyes expect fog and wind rather than rain. Source: National Weather Service, San Francisco, updated today.
Sunday, September 13 · Robin Williams Meadow, Golden Gate Park · Free, no ticket, no RSVP
The day after San Francisco Opera opens its 104th season inside the War Memorial, the whole company walks across town and performs in a meadow. Principal singers, full orchestra, roughly fifteen thousand people on picnic blankets. No ticket, no dress code, no barrier of any kind.
Six weeks, colored by category. Multi-day events run as a continuous band. Click any entry to jump straight to its listing.
| Mon21 | Tue22 | Wed23 | Thu24 | Fri25 | Sat26 | Sun27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eternal Paris: Photographing the City of Light | ||||||
| Giants vs Minnesota Twins | ||||||
| Jacob Hashimoto: Giant Arc | ||||||
| San Francisco Opera opening night: Simon Boccanegra | ||||||
| San Francisco Opera: Mary, Queen of Scots |
Every event with a resolvable address, pinned and colored by category. The category filters above control this map too.
60 of 63 events have a mapped location. Everything is listed below, pinned or not.
Valerie June builds her songs out of banjo, loop pedals and a voice that sounds like it arrived from somewhere older than Memphis. The Chapel's forty-foot arched ceiling gives her reverb that no shed could match, and Tianna Esperanza opens both nights. This is a marquee-caliber artist playing at club scale, which is the whole argument for going.
All agesTwo nightsTonight and Tuesday
Black Joe Lewis plays soul the way a garage band plays it: too fast, too loud and better for it. Chris Guthridge opens. At $25 this is the cheapest genuinely great ticket anywhere in the coverage window, and the Chapel's floor will be sticky by the third song.
All ages
A two-night stand at Chase Center is rare for a non-stadium R&B act, and it is the biggest indoor pop booking of the whole window. 070 Shake opens, which makes the undercard worth arriving early for. If you want exactly one big-room night in an otherwise club-heavy month, this is it.
All agesTwo nightsStart time to confirm
Byrne's current tour is built on choreographed movement and a mobile band rather than a static rock setup, and the Greek's 8,500-seat stone bowl is exactly the room for it. Sunset happens mid-set. Expect audience singalongs and more spectacle than a straight concert.
On sale
Tori Amos tours are built around long-form storytelling and deep cuts rather than a greatest-hits run, and she almost never plays open-air rooms. The Greek's stone acoustics carry solo piano cleanly. Best for people who already own the records.
On sale
The Fox is arguably the best-sounding 2,800-capacity room in the region, and Flowers away from the Killers leans more Vegas-torch-song than stadium chorus. Labor Day Saturday in Uptown means every bar and restaurant on the block is open late. Make a night of the neighborhood, not just the show.
On saleAge policy not posted for this date
The Shins in an arena support slot is unusual enough to be the story here. Silversun Pickups open. It is the only straightforward nostalgia arena night in the window, and the package is deeper than most.
All agesStart time to confirm
Miner Auditorium was purpose-built with a steep rake so that every seat sees the players' hands, which matters more for McBride than for almost anyone. His bands change shape constantly, so check which project is on the bill before you buy. This is the anchor jazz booking of the window.
Two nightsCurtain time to confirmConfirm which project he is bringing
Music director Eun Sun Kim opens the company's 104th season with Verdi, and opening night at the War Memorial is the closest thing San Francisco has to a red carpet, with the Opera Ball running across the plaza at City Hall. The detail most people do not know is the $30 entry point. You do not have to be in the ball gown to be in the building.
Season openerRuns through Sep 27Curtain time to confirm
The day after opening night, the company moves to a meadow in Golden Gate Park and performs for roughly fifteen thousand people sitting on the grass. No ticket, no dress code, no barrier of any kind. It is the best free music event in the entire window and the one a visitors' guide will either list wrong or miss completely.
FreeNo ticket, no RSVPStart time to confirm
Frost is a grass amphitheater with lawn seating, so bring a low chair or a blanket. Irish pop provocateur CMAT opening for Carlile is an odd pairing that works better than it reads on paper. This is the biggest outdoor show south of the city in the window.
On saleStart time to confirm
Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots almost never gets produced, and staging it is exactly the sort of programming that separates San Francisco Opera from a standard-repertory house. Clelia Cafiero conducts. It will not sell out the way the Verdi does, which means good seats stay available late.
Opens Sep 20Runs through Oct 4Curtain time to confirm
Son Rompe Pera took the marimba, a instrument most people file under folkloric, and play it at hardcore tempo. The Independent's flat floor is built for this and it fills in early. Inti Mystica opens. If you want to see something you cannot name in advance, this is the booking.
Price not posted
Thievery Corporation tour with a full band and a rotating cast of vocalists, so the show plays as a world-music revue rather than two men behind laptops. It is the most danceable booking on the Fox's fall calendar. Long-running Oakland favorite with a crowd that spans two decades of fans.
On sale
The Tear Garden is cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy and Edward Ka-Spel of the Legendary Pink Dots, making psychedelic industrial music for four decades with almost no live activity. Anthony Xavier Jackson opens. A Tuesday night deep-cut booking like this pulls black-clad lifers from three counties, and that crowd is half the show.
Star pickRarely toursPrice not posted
Avery performing live means machines on stage and a set built like a composition instead of a mix. The Independent's system handles low end better than most rooms its size. This is the closest thing to a warehouse night in the window with a real roof over it.
Late slotPrice not posted
Elwes trained generative models on footage of working drag performers, and the result sits precisely where queer nightlife meets machine learning. It has been up since May and this is the last stretch. Pair it with a night at Oasis for a real-versus-synthetic double bill.
Last call, closes Sep 6
Hashimoto's commission fills SFMOMA's double-height street-level gallery with nearly 75,000 hand-built paper kites suspended into a floating mass. Because the Roberts Family Gallery sits in the museum's free ground-floor zone off Howard Street, this is the rare major-museum commission with no admission barrier. Go on opening weekend before the crowds find it.
FreeOpens Aug 22Free-admission gallery, confirm at the door
The walk runs along South First Street anchored by the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles and the Anno Domini gallery, with street performers and trucks between stops. It is the South Bay's closest analogue to Oakland First Fridays. The cheapest way to see the whole SoFA scene in one evening.
FreeAll ages, individual bars are 21 and over
The Fine Arts Museums' one significant opening in this window traces Paris photography from the era of the newly illuminated Eiffel Tower forward. The seven-month run means there is no urgency, so treat opening weekend as an excuse rather than a deadline. The walk out to Lands End afterward is half the trip.
Opens Sep 5Runs through April 4, 2027
This has a cult following for woodwork, ceramics and jewelry you will not find at a typical street fair, and the setting on Skyline Ridge does most of the work. It runs as a fundraiser for the Kings Mountain volunteer firefighters. Labor Day Monday is the calm day if crowds are not your thing.
FreeThree daysConfirm street address with the organizer
For eleven straight days the Botanical Garden scatters pianos through its groves and lets the public play them, which produces strangers butchering Chopin next to a redwood and, every so often, someone extraordinary who wandered in off Ninth Avenue. There is no stage and no set list. Scheduled sets are posted, but the unscheduled hours are the reason to go.
Eleven daysStar pick
Millbrae closes Broadway for a summer evening of live music, local wineries and breweries, and the restaurants along the block serving into the street. Entry costs nothing and drinks are bought as you go. It is a genuinely low-commitment weeknight option on a stretch of the Peninsula that does not get many.
FreeAll agesNo RSVP
Small, charming and exactly three hours long, which is the right length for this kind of thing. Bakers compete, the public tastes, and the museum's period garden does the rest. Works well with kids or as a stop before something else in Palo Alto.
FreeAll agesSmall venue, arrive early
Not just beer: breweries, wineries, cideries, kombucha makers, sake producers and fermented-food artisans across a 5.4-acre elevated garden that rarely hosts drinking events at this scale. The venue is the real draw. Confirm the pour count and the age policy before you buy, because the listing does not spell either out.
TicketedConfirm 21 and over statusConfirm what the ticket includes
An East Bay Regional Parks festival built around Bay marine life, with a food truck lineup alongside the ecology exhibits. It leans family and education rather than chef-driven, so set expectations accordingly. As a free morning on the water it is hard to beat.
FreeAll ages
The number in the name is the tell: this is an institution, not a promoter event. Moussaka, gyros, dancing and live bouzouki on a hillside above the Peninsula, running late into both evenings. At five dollars at the gate it is the best-value food festival in the window.
All agesCheapLabor Day weekend
The twenty-sixth running of Crocker & Starr's harvest lunch, timed to their thirtieth crush, with live music and library pours of Pam Starr's Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. This is the small-format, high-ticket end of Napa harvest season rather than a walk-around tasting. Book through the winery directly.
Reservation required21 and overBook direct, no street address published
Free at the gate, with everything sold a la carte, which makes it one of the better-value South Bay food days of the month. The grape leaves and the pastry table are the reason people drive up the hill. Go early and go hungry.
FreeFree entryAll agesPastry tables sell out
The winemaking team pours the new Rubicon at one of the valley's most historic estates while harvest is actually happening around you. Evening timing and the members' rate point to a club-forward crowd, so non-members should book early. Confirm availability with the estate rather than the trade calendar.
Ticketed21 and overBook direct
The East Bay's largest single-day street festival opens with a costumed parade and runs the full mile of Solano across two cities. Organizers count over 400 vendors, 50 entertainers, 25 food booths and 100 artisans. One day that covers food, crafts and live music without a ticket.
FreeAll agesFunding shortfall reported in May, confirm before you go
Neighborhood-scale rather than destination-scale, which is the point: this is the Castro on a Friday evening with the street given back to people. Food stalls and makers set up between Hartford and Collingwood. Recurring series listings sometimes skip a month, so confirm before you make the trip.
FreeAll agesNo RSVPConfirm the September edition is running
The 3pm start makes this more of a late-afternoon market than a true night market, which suits Glen Park's small commercial strip. Stalls and local restaurants set up along Diamond Street. It is one of the least touristed food events in the city.
FreeAll ages
Amateur and restaurant teams compete on the grass at Dunphy Park while bands play and a beer garden runs alongside. Your admission is the tasting kit, which makes it one of Marin's best-value paid festivals. The five-dollar advance discount is a real deadline, not a marketing one.
Buy in advance to save $5All ages, beer garden is 21 and over
New rooms with real hype behind them. Opening dates slip constantly, so anything unconfirmed says so here rather than being printed as fact.
At 201 Halleck Street in the Presidio. Three restaurants running out of one shared open kitchen, with Peter Serpico (opening partner at David Chang's Momofuku Ko) consulting. Boda does Korean fried chicken, kimchi fried rice and mandu. Breadwinner does breakfast sandwiches, smashburgers and a porchetta-meets-Philly-roast-pork hybrid. Day Boat does oysters, crudo and build-your-own handrolls. Roughly 88 indoor seats and 120 outdoor overlooking Crissy Field, plus a coffee bar and a full cocktail bar. Opened Saturday, August 15.
Worth knowing. One source reported an August 14 opening and another August 15. Either way it is open now, and there is no dining criticism on it yet, so nobody telling you it is great has actually eaten there twice.
At 415 Brannan Street in SoMa. Chef Thitid Tassanakajohn, of Bangkok's Michelin-starred Le Du and Nusara, in his first Bay Area project. Le Du has ranked at the top of Asia's 50 Best. The tagline is three flavors, one soul. This is the highest-pedigree arrival of the summer by some distance.
Worth knowing. Opening confirmed by two independent sources in late July.
At 1160 Howard Street in SoMa. Azikiwee Anderson takes his cult wholesale sourdough operation retail, in a storefront carved out of the existing production kitchen. Ube loaves, masala and gochujang breads, ube kouign-amann and a chanterelle miso grilled cheese.
Worth knowing. This was originally expected in July and slipped to a tentative mid-August. As of today there is no reporting confirming it has actually opened. Call before you go.
At 1838 Union Street in Cow Hollow. John Park brings Kaiyo, the restaurant that put Nikkei (Japanese-Peruvian) cooking on the city's map, back to its original Union Street address in a handroll format. Bar veteran Danny Louie is on drinks. The menu runs past handrolls to lomo saltado and ceviche.
Worth knowing. Targeted for late August and explicitly described as tentative by the source. If it holds it lands inside this window, which is exactly why the flag matters.
At 2545 24th Street in the Mission. Angela Cao with cocktail partner Nathan Angelo Depante, modelled on Shanghai's all-day cafes: coffee and bagels in the morning, pan-Asian cocktails at night. Opened in early July.
Worth knowing. The source gives two different July dates in the same article. It is open either way.
What the city is actually arguing about right now, with the hype calibrated honestly.
Anthony Strong is funding a new Cole Valley location through a crowdfunding campaign with a lifetime-pasta reward tier. What is actually going viral is not a dish, it is a financing model, at the exact moment restaurant economics are the running civic conversation in this city. Lifetime-membership offers are contested inside the industry, because they function as an interest-free customer loan against future food cost. That is why people are arguing about it rather than just reposting it.
The Momofuku Ko lineage through Peter Serpico, 120 outdoor seats on Crissy Field, and a format question people find genuinely interesting: can one line credibly execute Korean fried chicken, a smashburger and raw oysters at the same time? Be honest about what this is. It is opening-week attention driven by an exclusive preview, not earned consensus, and there is no criticism on it yet.
A favorable review landed this morning calling it the city's only Friulian restaurant. Regional-Italian specificity is the durable San Francisco dining obsession, and Friuli (Alpine northeast Italy, polenta and frico country) is a legitimately unclaimed niche here. Calibrate accordingly: this is one good review on day one, not a phenomenon. The actionable part is that it will likely become hard to book over the next fortnight.
Not famous yet, but the people who pay attention are paying attention.
Anthony Strong has a real following from Prairie and the original Pasta Supply Co., and the crowdfunding campaign is currently the only way in. Address and opening date are both unconfirmed. If you like his food, this is the moment to buy before the doors open.
Azikiwee Anderson built Rize Up from a pandemic bread project into one of the most recognized Black-owned bakeries in the city, entirely on wholesale and drops. The Howard Street cafe will be the first place you can simply walk in and buy it. Expect tight, early hours, since it runs out of the production kitchen. The date has already slipped once.
The city's flagship drag cabaret reopened on July 17 in a newly owned space, with house residencies Princess, Reparations and Baloney. All events are 21 and over. Dated listings were not available on the venue site at press time, so check the calendar before going. A reopened Oasis is the biggest structural change to SF nightlife this year.
The eight-team sweep. Golden State Valkyries sit fourth in the Western Conference in season two and have four home dates here, split by a long gap: two this week, then nothing at Chase Center until September 18. San Francisco Giants play fourteen home dates across four series, grouped below by series rather than by individual game.
Bay FC get only two home fixtures, both nationally broadcast, including a Black Heritage Match on August 23. USF Dons are the quiet value of this edition: seven home matches across the men's and women's programs at Negoesco Stadium, and the men host California on September 16.
San Jose Earthquakes have one confirmed home date, against Minnesota United on August 22. Oakland Roots SC host Orange County SC at the Coliseum on August 29. Both clubs publish later fixtures through pages we could not verify, so treat anything past those dates as unconfirmed. Golden State Warriors are out of season: the NBA does not tip off until late October, with camp and preseason in late September. SF City FC play in USL League Two, whose season conventionally ends in early August, so their year is almost certainly over. We could not reach the club page to confirm it, and we would rather say so than guess.
Golden State sit fourth in the West in their second season, and every remaining home date carries seeding weight. Chase Center has been close to full for Valkyries games since the inaugural year, so this is not a walk-up-and-sit situation. The tip time was converted from an Eastern-time listing, so confirm it before you leave the house.
TonightPlayoff race
This is the last Valkyries home game for almost a month: the schedule breaks after August 30 and does not resume at Chase until September 18. The Lynx are the measuring stick of the conference, so it is the better of the two August home dates on paper.
Playoff race
Negoesco is one of the best small stadiums in the city and almost nobody who does not go to USF has been inside it. The women's side has the stronger home slate of the two Dons programs this window. Thursday evening kickoffs on Fulton are an easy, cheap night out for anyone in the Richmond, NoPa or the Haight.
Home opener in the window
PayPal Park is the loudest soccer-specific stadium in Northern California and the supporters' end behind the north goal is the reason to sit there rather than at midfield. Minnesota United visit on a Saturday. The club's later-season fixtures were not published in a form we could verify, so check the schedule page for anything after this date.
Kickoff time to confirm
A promotional date with real programming attached rather than a jersey and a hashtag, and a 3pm Sunday start that works for families. The Dash have been a mid-table side this season. This is one of only two Bay FC home fixtures in the entire window.
Black Heritage MatchNational broadcast on CBS Sports Network
A Power-conference visitor at Negoesco is a real draw and the reason to pick this over the other Dons dates. Noon Sunday means you can be at PayPal Park for Bay FC by 3pm if you move quickly. Bring sunscreen: the Negoesco stands have no shade.
Strongest non-conference visitor of the window
The Giants are on the road from August 17 through August 23, so this is the first home baseball of the edition. The Wednesday getaway day game at 12:45pm is the one worth taking a long lunch for: afternoon light on McCovey Cove is the whole reason Oracle Park is famous.
Wednesday is a getaway day game
The Saturday date showed two scheduled games in the league data feed, which usually indicates a split doubleheader from a rained-out game earlier in the year. We could not confirm it, so check mlb.com before buying a Saturday ticket. The Friday 7:15 start is the classic Oracle Park night game.
Possible Saturday doubleheader, unconfirmed
With the A's gone, the Roots carry Oakland's professional sports identity, and their Coliseum crowd is louder and more inventive than the attendance figure suggests. Orange County SC beat them at home in March, so there is something to settle. The club's late-season fixture list was not published in a verifiable form, so confirm anything after this date.
Kickoff time to confirm
Kansas City have set the standard in the NWSL for two seasons and this is a Friday night national broadcast, which means both sides will treat it as a showcase. It is Bay FC's second and final home date before the window closes. Friday traffic south is the only real obstacle.
National broadcast on Prime Video
USF open the season with four straight away games at Wake Forest, UNC Greensboro, Creighton and Kansas City, so this is the first look at the side in the city. Air Force are a physical, organised opponent. A 7pm Friday under the Negoesco lights is one of the better-kept cheap nights in San Francisco.
First men's home match of the window
A holiday-weekend noon start at Negoesco, which is the easiest Dons fixture to fold into a normal weekend. Nevada are a Mountain West side and a decent test. Combine it with a walk across Golden Gate Park afterward.
Labor Day weekend
The Giants come back from a road stretch to open with an early Labor Day evening start, which is the rare Oracle Park game you can get to before dinner. The Wednesday 12:45 game closes out the homestand's first half. September baseball at Oracle is when the fog stops mattering and the light gets good.
Labor Day 5:10pm startWednesday day game
A holiday-Monday afternoon fixture is the easiest ticket of the Dons' home stand, and Negoesco in early September afternoon light is at its best. Marist travel across the country for this one. Low stakes, good football, ten minutes from the Panhandle.
Labor Day Monday
This is the baseball weekend of the edition: a division rival at Oracle Park in mid-September, when every game has playoff-race weight attached. The Sunday 4:20 start catches golden hour over the cove. Expect the biggest crowds of the homestand and buy ahead.
Divisional seriesBiggest baseball weekend of the window
USF against California at Negoesco is the best atmosphere the campus gets all fall, and it is a Wednesday night, which keeps the crowd local and loud. Both programs recruit heavily from the same Bay Area pipeline, so the rosters know each other. If you go to one Dons match, go to this one.
Local rivalryMarquee home date
The last women's home match inside the coverage window, and the fourth of a strong home stand. Idaho are a Big Sky side. Negoesco on a September evening is one of the better cheap tickets in San Francisco and almost nobody outside the campus knows it exists.
Last Dons women's home date of the window
After the break the Valkyries play back-to-back home games against Portland and Seattle, and the West is tight enough that both matter for playoff position. Portland are in their first season, which makes this the first meeting of its kind at Chase. Buy for both nights or pick the Seattle game if you can only do one.
Back to back with SaturdayPlayoff positioning
The Storm are a genuine Western Conference contender and this is the second half of a back-to-back that will shape the Valkyries' seeding. It is also the last home date inside this edition's coverage. If you buy one Valkyries ticket this month, this is it.
Saturday nightPlayoff positioning
A Monday night series opener against the Twins, and the last event inside the coverage window. The rest of the series falls into the next edition. Late September at Oracle Park is the best weather of the entire baseball season in San Francisco.
Series opener, continues past this edition
Sound systems on trailers, regroup stops that turn into street parties, and the largest recurring participatory bike event in the South Bay. The start point is announced on the ride's own channels shortly beforehand, so check before you drive down. Ride culture here is strict that party does not mean reckless.
FreeAll agesStart location published shortly before the ride
Stinson to Mill Valley over the Mount Tam stairs, then turn around and do it again. The field is deep and the stairs are the part nobody is ready for. This is not a first trail race, and the entry list is usually full well before race day.
Historically caps and sells outRegistration deadline applies
The course follows the Prince Memorial Greenway and the Joe Rodota Trail out through vineyards, which is why it draws people chasing a qualifying time. Marathon, half, 10K and 5K are split across the weekend so you can pick a distance to match your fitness. The finish-line festival is a wine-country party, not a paper cup of Gatorade.
Boston qualifierRegistration deadline appliesConfirm staging address
For Bay Area readers the fee waiver mostly means free entry at Muir Woods and Pinnacles. The catch is the part worth knowing: Muir Woods sells out parking and shuttle reservations well ahead, so a fee-free day is useless if you did not book. Point Reyes and the Marin Headlands have no entrance fee anyway, so nothing changes there.
FreeFree entryMuir Woods reservation still requiredBook parking in advance
The course loops Perimeter Road and the fire road with 360-degree views of the city, both bridges and Marin. Logistically it is the most interesting race of the window, because the ferry sets the field size and the schedule. Runners who care about the setting more than the split will love it.
Ferry capacity limits the fieldSells outFerry ticket may be separate
Teams get the morning to build under the white cliffs at Drakes Beach, then the public walks the results before the water takes them. Judging runs by category and the winning builds are genuinely ambitious. It is a National Park Service tradition that has survived four decades precisely because nothing about it is permanent.
FreeStar pickTeam registration required to compete, spectating is walk-up
Labor Day weekend on Mount Diablo means inland September heat, and the early start times are not decorative. The four-mile option is the family entry point while the 50K is a genuine day out. On a clear morning you can see the Sierra from the summit ridge.
Distances from 4 miles to 50KHeat management race
Tilden and the ridge trails are the East Bay's best-loved network, and this is the easiest big trail race to reach from San Francisco. The 10K is approachable for anyone who runs regularly; the 35K and 50K climb hard and reward it with the view. Aid stations are well stocked.
10K, 35K and 50KConfirm staging address
About as accessible as Bay Area racing gets: no hills, no trail, and four distances including a one-mile that makes it a genuine family morning rather than a runners-only event. The shoreline course looks straight across at the city. A good first race for anyone.
One mile, 5K, 10K and halfKids' mile
Just past the window, and worth knowing about now.