San Francisco Events - San Francisco Entertainment Guide

Recommended Events
Earthquake Premier Party California Academy of Sciences : 6:00 p.m. May 25
In the early 1900s, San Francisco was considered the most European locale in America. It boasted more restaurants than any city outside Paris, it had one of the world’s largest luxury hotels, and on its main drag horse-drawn carriages gave way to streetcars. The Barbary Coast was in full... More >>
Richmond (Inner)	History, Education, Arts

Vintage Paper Fair San Francisco County Fair Building : Daily from April 21 until April 22
What do the following things have in common? The dining room of the Victoria Sanatorium in Colfax, Iowa. Severe damage in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, from the 1964 Good Friday earthquake. A gas station owned by a black man in 1941 in a town called Brooklyn Bridge, Kentucky. You probably... More >>
Sunset (Inner)	Shopping, Pop Culture, History, Free Events, Flea Markets, Arts

Golden Gate Festival Multiple San Francisco Locations : Daily from May 25 until May 27
It could have been the Bumblebee Bridge, our Golden Gate. Back in 1937 when the iconic span was built, the Navy wanted to make sure ships and planes wouldn’t go careening into it and suggested it be painted in bands of black and yellow. Fortunately, saner heads prevailed and the trademark... More >>
Union Square/ Financial District	History, Community Events, Arts

S.F. Carnaval Festival 2012 Harrison Street : 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. daily from May 26 until May 27
San Francisco Carnaval is a cultural arts celebration born of the determination of a strong-willed neighborhood collective. Now in its 34th year, this lively and colorful event has grown into one of California’s largest multi-ethnic events. This year, Carnaval invites locals to... More >>
Mission/ Bernal Heights	Festivals, Family Events, Food & Drink, Cultural Events, Music, Arts

Contents: Love, Anxiety, Happiness and Everything Else RayKo Photo Center : 6:00 p.m. every Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat. from May 10 until June 15
We think like a photojournalist (natch): Shoot absolutely everything interesting, from every angle and setting, and from the bigger set you’re sure to get a handful of good shots and one that just nails it, the image that wows people and could speak for the whole shoot. Now imagine this... More >>
Potrero Hill	Photography, Arts

Homestead Skillshare Festival Hayes Valley Farm : 10:00 a.m. May 26
We San Franciscans are go-getters. If we don’t like the way things are done, we change them. Oh, the vegetables being sold at this grocery are picked by underpaid and exploited workers? Fine, we’ll boycott and grow our own carrots! The power rests in the hands of the people to make... More >>
Hayes Valley/ Tenderloin	DIY

Masturbate-a-Thon Center for Sex & Culture : 10:00 a.m. May 27
You might equate an event called the Masturbate-a-Thon with “only in San Francisco.” But you’d be wrong. San Francisco was the site of the first one, but similar events have occurred in Portland, London, and Copenhagen. According to organizer Carol Queen, the idea for the... More >>
South of Market	Sex & Fetish Events, DIY, Contests, Benefits

Presidio Park Stewards Multiple San Francisco Locations : 9:00 a.m. every Wed., Sat.
Sometimes it seems like we have it so good around here. Even our volunteer work is relatively glamorous -- no working with corny religious charities for us! (Even our religious charities are cool, as in Glide Church.) Instead, we can hoof it out to the gorgeous reclaimed military installation... More >>
Union Square/ Financial District	Volunteer Opportunities, Outdoors

"Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past" Asian Art Museum of San Francisco : 10:00 a.m. daily from May 18 until September 2
Asian art is hot, selling at unprecedented highs and eclipsing Western art. San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum, one of the largest in the world dedicated to Asian art and culture, taps into that energy with the exhibition “Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past.” Last... More >>
Hayes Valley/ Tenderloin	Arts, Art - Ongoings

"Topaz: Artists in Internment" San Francisco Main Library : 10:00 a.m. daily from April 28 until June 24
Between 1942 and 1945, 11,200 Japanese-Americans were sent to Topaz Camp. It was located in a parched stretch of desert about 125 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Most of the prisoners were from San Francisco. Some were forced to live in horse stalls at Tanforan Race Track before being... More >>
Hayes Valley/ Tenderloin	Visual Art, History, Arts, Art - Openings & Events

Bitter Melon Union Square Park : 8:00 p.m. daily from May 25 until May 28
A collaboration of live dance and three-dimensional visual art takes over Union Square in the form of Bitter Melon. The point? To recontextualize San Francisco’s most foot-trafficked public spaces from the consumerist shopping thoroughfare it is today back to the symbol of victory and... More >>
Union Square/ Financial District	Dance, Arts

The News SOMArts Cultural Center : First Tue. of every month
LGBT performance art thrives on multiple levels in San Francisco. Trannyshack leads the recurring clubs that are escorting drag into the 21st century. Kirk Read and Larry-bob Roberts head monthly open mic Smack Dab. Local choreographers Laura Arrington and Jesse Hewit push boundaries in their... More >>
South of Market	Performance Art, LGBT Events, Arts

Tuesdays Are Jillarious Tommy T's Showroom : 7:30 p.m. every Tue.
Stand-up comedy is an all-or-nothing game, economically speaking. All comics -- including some of the best we know -- basically have to do it for free unless and until they get "discovered," which roughly translates to "move to L.A. or New York in order to make a living." Which brings us to our... More >>
Hayes Valley/ Tenderloin	Performing Arts, Comedy

“Animal Attraction” California Academy of Sciences : Daily
In ancient Rome, the god of fertility was honored in February, with ceremonial love lotteries and mock-floggings with a bloody goatskin. Even those are a pale reflection of truly bizarre courtships that unfold in the natural world. For example, the common garden snail is a hermaphrodite that... More >>
Richmond (Inner)	Zoo & Animals, Environmental, Education

“Orange Peel, Harbor Seal, Hyperreal” Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco : Every Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat. from May 12 until July 21
“Hyperreal” is the watchword for mixed-media artist Adrian Wong’s first Bay Area solo exhibition. It’s called “Orange Peel, Harbor Seal, Hyperreal,” and it identifies the throughline connecting Chinatown’s architecture and the iconic look of 1960s and... More >>
North Beach/ Chinatown	Arts

Fauxgirls! Infusion Lounge : 7:00 p.m. third Thu. of every month
As far as we can tell, San Francisco’s first drag bar was a happy accident -- unofficial history holds that Joe Finocchio established his eventually world-famous “female impersonator” spot in 1936 after hearing a customer in his father’s bar imitate Sophie Tucker, known... More >>
Union Square/ Financial District	Theater, LGBT Events, Food & Drink, Drag, Cabaret, Arts

“Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought” Contemporary Jewish Museum : Every Mon., Tue., Thu., Fri., Sat., Sun. from February 16 until September 9
The tree, as a motif, repeatedly appears in mythology and ancient tales, often representing a powerful aspect of nature. There’s Yggdrasil in Norse cosmology -- a tree that is central to all that exists -- as well as the one in the Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve weren’t supposed... More >>
South of Market	Religion & Spirituality, Environmental, Cultural Events, Arts, Art - Openings & Events, Art - Ongoings, Art - Galleries

Outdoor Exploratorium Exploratorium : Daily
Did you know that when the Golden Gate Bridge gets hot, it sits low in the saddle? Course you didn’t: You don’t have a Bridge Thermometer, which looks like one of those scenic coin-op binoculars crossed with a first-person shooter. Peer into it (no coin needed!) and it shows the... More >>
Marina/ Cow Hollow	Tours, Museum Exhibits & Events, Games, Free Events, Family Events, Children's Events, Arts

“Audience as Subject, Part 2: Extra Large” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts : Every Thu., Fri., Sat., Sun. from February 17 until May 27
“Audience” does not always equal “spectator.” Have you ever bulled into the thick of a mosh pit, body-surfed at an outdoor festival, or thrilled to the collective power of a political rally? These scenarios and others are presented for what they are -- and aren’t... More >>
South of Market	Arts, Art - Openings & Events, Art - Ongoings, Art - Galleries

Some Thing The Stud : Every Fri.
The unGoogleable inheritor of the Trannyshack art-drag scepter is known as Some Thing; each Friday brings a new theme via semi-pun. It could be simple, such as Some Thing Good, or it could be A Li’l Sumptin’ Some Thing, which is funny but what are you going to wear? The first show... More >>
South of Market	Theater, LGBT Events, Drag, Arts

“Intimate Science” Southern Exposure : 12:00 p.m. every Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat. from April 20 until June 2
Mushrooms are the new plastics. At least according to San Francisco artist Philip Ross, a man who has spent years coaxing reishi mushrooms into the shapes of blocks and other architectural forms in the hope that they could be the next environmentally friendly construction material. Ross is one... More >>
Mission/ Bernal Heights	Free Events, Environmental, Arts, Art - Openings & Events, Art - Ongoings, Art - Galleries

Gardens of Alcatraz Tours Alcatraz Island : 9:30 a.m. every Fri., Sun.
To our recurring surprise, many locals never get the idea to visit Alcatraz, because traveling by boat to an island to walk around cellblocks is just something they don't like do. How come? Because tourists get that idea, every day, by the shorts-wearing boatloads. Here's your solution: The... More >>
North Beach/ Chinatown	Tours, Parks & Preserves, Home & Garden, Free Events

Tenderloin Exit Theatre on Taylor : Every Thu., Fri., Sat., Sun. from April 27 until June 3
Many San Franciscans associate the gritty downtown neighborhood of the Tenderloin with crime, or Glide Memorial Church, or maybe ethnic restaurants. To documentary theater specialist Annie Elias, it had been a place to get in and out of as quickly as she could, with as little interaction as... More >>
Hayes Valley/ Tenderloin	Theater, Film, Arts

“The Peace Keeper” Fabric8 : Daily from October 3 until August 31
We went to Rome once. One thing that blew our minds was the public art. There’s so much of it that some has been reclaimed by the needs of everyday life. You see people taking lunch on what’s left of an ancient fountain or a big sculpture that anywhere else would be surrounded by... More >>
Mission/ Bernal Heights	Parks & Preserves, Free Events, Arts, Art - Galleries

Magic Bus Union Square : 10:00 a.m. every Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri. from May 1 until August 31
We want to warn you, because otherwise it might bum you out: You’re sitting comfortably on the Magic Bus, grooving out on a loving multimedia gloss of what happened in San Francisco in the 1960s, and the windows suddenly disappear. Because you’re sitting facing the windows, this... More >>
Union Square/ Financial District	Tours, History, Film, Arts