Remember the scene in “You’ve Got Mail” when Tom Hanks emails “Don’t you love New York in the fall?” and offers a “bouquet of newly sharpened pencils” to Meg Ryan?
In San Francisco we love fall, too, and here’s a few reasons why:
Architecture and the City Festival
Celebrating San Francisco’s unique built environment and design community, Architecture and the City offers tours, film screenings, exhibitions, design lectures and more Sept. 1-30. Presented by the American Institute of Architects and the Center for Architecture + Design, the festival theme “Design: It’s About Time” explores the enduring power of design in our built environment.
Over the Bridge and Through the Waldo Tunnel
Sausalito is the destination for two fall favorites: the annual Sausalito Art Festival, Sept. 1-3, and the Sausalito Floating Homes Tour, Sept. 22. Sausalito’s yearly art festival has been showcasing stars from the contemporary art world since 1952. Browse fine art and crafts along the beautiful bay. The floating homes tour includes access to 16 of the most unique homes in the world; docents are onboard to describe Sausalito’s incredible waterfront style and answer questions.
Monday Night Football Is Back!
The San Francisco 49ers have four pre-season games behind them, and fans are geared up for the start of the regular season when the 49ers meet the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 9, followed by a home game on Sept. 16 against the Detroit Lions. Need some menu suggestions for the party? Zero Zero, whose menu is somewhere between Californian and Neapolitan — call it Calipolitan — offers frozen versions of their three most popular pizzas: the Margherita, the Fillmore and the Castro. Or check out these other pizza purveyors: Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria; Tony’s Pizza Napoletana (home of 11-time World Pizza Champion Tony Gemignani); Cybelle’s Pizza and Zpizza. And if you’re really all that, phone the folks at Off the Grid and book some curbside service for your buddies. 11 time World Pizza Champion Tony Gemignani.
Eastern Persuasions
East meets West here there and everywhere in San Francisco starting with sushi-making classes at Nombe on Sept. 6 and ending with the Autumn Moon Festival in the heart of Chinatown Sept. 22-23. In between take in sumo wrestling in Japantown’s Peace Plaza Sept. 8, the San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival on Treasure Island Sept. 15-16, and the second annual Hong Kong Cinema Festival Sept. 21-23 at New People Cinema.
My Fair Ladies
For those who follow fashion the galas for the openings of the San Francisco Opera (Sept. 7) and the San Francisco Symphony (Sept. 19) are San Francisco’s version of the September issue of Vogue. Haute couture, vintage Chanel, commissioned pieces from local designers and new frocks from the students at the Academy of Art University will be worn by all the fair ladies (and gentlemen, too). The steps of Davies Symphony Hall and the War Memorial Opera House are where it all unfolds.
Free, Free, Free – Yerba Buena Family Day
Yerba Buena Family Day, presented by Target, takes place Sept. 23 at five top cultural institutions and museums downtown. SFMOMA, Contemporary Jewish Museum, Museum of the African Diaspora, Children's Creativity Museum and Yerba Buena Gardens Festival will all be free. Plus there will be lots of free performances including Latin jazz legend Eddie Palmieri as well as family-friendly shows by the Red Panda Acrobats, Prescott Circus Theater, Picklewater Hula Hoop Troupe, Frances England and Friends, storyteller Michael Katz, Afro-Puerto Rican band Los Pleneros de la 2, and oodles of special art making activities for kids at all the venues.
And More Free, Free, Free
Tips for tightwads: Register with the Smithsonian Magazine to gain free admission to several Northern California museums on Sept. 29 including Bay Area Discovery Museum, California Historical Society, Chinese Historical Society of America, Museum of Craft and Folk Art and the SS Jeremiah O’Brien. Both the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Symphony have free outdoor concerts scheduled this month. There’s Opera in the Park on Sept. 9, Opera in the (other) Ballpark Sept. 15 and the Symphony performs in Justin Herman Plaza Sept. 21. And wait, wait, there’s more: Shakespeare in the Park starting Sept. 1 in the Presidio and the San Francisco Theater Festival Sept. 23 in the Tenderloin and North of Market areas.
Treasure Island Flea Fetes Petaluma Little League Team
Treasure Island Flea, an urban open-air market held on Treasure Island the last weekend of every month showcases local designers, specialty food purveyors, wineries and entertainment. On the weekend of Sept. 29-30 they’ll honor the Little Leaguers from Petaluma who placed third in the Little League World Series. No doubt the boys will be drawn to the 300-foot-long Hot Wheels track set up on the site, too.
Makes You Just Want to Climb the Walls
If the words edgy, experimental and innovative mesh with your viewpoint on art, San Francisco’s central Market area is the perfect fit, especially between Sept. 28-Oct. 21 when the 24 Days of Central Market Arts Festival sends performers up walls, spiraling down city blocks and boarding Muni. Kick-off day on Sept. 28 includes jazz at Mint Plaza; an art walk showcasing more than 100 artists at 25 locations all within two blocks of Sixth Street (between Market and Howard streets); a dance, music and visual art performance by Project Agora at Mint Plaza; and two evening performances by Flyaway Productions and Dancers’ Group/Onsite on the west wall of the Renoir Hotel; encore performances are also scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 29.
What do you have planned this month? Tell us in the comments.
