Where San Francisco

It’s mid-June already and San Francisco has so much to offer! Here are a few happenings this weekend that you should check out! Have a great one!!

North Beach Festival
Enjoy the weekend outdoors while sampling fresh Italian cuisine and watching a pizza-tossing competition. Make your way through the North Beach neighborhood on Saturday or Sunday for a free event that features more than 100 arts and crafts booths, Italian street painting, chalk art, live entertainment and more. This festival happens along Grant Avenue between Broadway and Union Streets, click here for further details.
Photo courtesy of: northbeachchamber.com

Ghirardelli Square Kids Bash
Little ones are invited to bounce in a jumpy house, take a train ride, twirl in bubbles, have their faces painted and enjoy live music at the 4th Annual Kids Bash on June 15^th from 11 AM – 3PM. This street festival has all of the perfect activities for every family’s youngest members. Proceeds from the event will fund the donation of organic baby food meals to children in need across the US. Get tickets here.
Photo courtesy of: ghirardellisq.com

SF Juneteenth
Juneteenth is a holiday in the United States honoring African American heritage by commemorating the end of slavery. A parade, appearances by city officials, live music, info on community resources, free health screenings, a car show, food, arts and crafts, and a kids’ area with animals, pony rides and games will take place on June 15th. The celebration will be on Fillmore St. between Post and Turk streets; all youngsters and their families are welcome.
Photo courtesy of: sfjuneteenth.org

The San Francisco Black Film Festival
SFBFF is celebrating its 15th anniversary this weekend. Started on the 13^th, this five day multiple venue cultural event is comprised of film screenings, panel discussions, hands-on workshops, the Urban Kidz film series, and the Melvin Van Peebles Award ceremony, which recognizes an emerging filmmaker for risk taking. SFBFF can be found at the Jazz Heritage Centers Theater on Fillmore or the AAACC on Fulton Street.
Photo courtesy of: sfbff.org

Stern Grove Festival
Kicking off on June 16th and taking place every Sunday through the summer, Stern Grove is an admission-free performing arts festival showcasing live concerts and performances. Come for an afternoon of music, food, drinks, and dancing in beautiful Sigmund Stern Grove! This Sunday, don’t miss the Big Picnic Party with Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs on 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard.
Photo courtesy of: sterngrove.org

The Wipro San Francisco Marathon
Enjoy the amazing city of San Francisco by taking part in one of the world’s great marathons on June 16th. The race starts and finishes on the Embarcadero (near the Ferry Building), traversing San Francisco. The Full Marathon runs through Fisherman’s Wharf, the Marina, across the Golden Gate Bridge (and back!), through the Presidio and into Golden Gate Park. Participants will run either the full marathon, half marathon, progressive marathon or 5K run/walk races.
Photo courtesy of: thesfmarathon.com

There are all kinds of events to get you ready for summer. Here are a few of the most exciting things going on in San Francisco this month.  

June 1-2 
Union Street Festival
Held on the fashionable Union Street, this festival is one of San Francisco’s largest annual events featuring more than 150 boutiques and over 100,000 attendees. Visit unionstreetfestival.com or (415) 456-6436 for more info.

June 1-9
Healdsburg Jazz Festival
World- renowned  jazz musicians spanning generations perform in wine country while patrons sip wines and sample delicious bites. Check out healdsburgjazzfestival.org or (707) 433-4633 for more information. 

June 7- 30
San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival
Celebrating its 35th anniversary, this festival features a series of inspiring performances by 35 dance companies from the Bay Area. Each weekend of the month, dance performances will take place at many venues across the city. For more info, visit worldartswest.org or call (415) 474 3914

June 9
Haight Ashbury Street Fair
Celebrate peace and love at the Haight Ashbury Street fair in the neighborhood that defined the hippie generation in the 1960’s Summer of Love. The festival will include live music on two stages, a variety of food, arts and crafts and an atmosphere with a uniquely San Francisco vibe. Visit haightashburystreetfair.org for more information. 

June 15- 16
North Beach Festival
Sample fresh Italian cuisine and watch a pizza-tossing competition as you make your way through the North Beach neighborhood, known as San Francisco’s Little Italy and home of the famed beat generation. This free event features more than 100 arts and crafts booths, italian street painting, chalk art, live entertainment, and more. northbeachchamber.com

June 16, 23, 30
Stern Grove Festival
Kicking off June 16 and taking place every Sunday throughout the summer, the Stern Grove Festival is an admission-free performing arts festival showcasing live concerts and performances. This month, don’t miss Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs on June 16th, Ramsey lewis and Dee Dee Bridgewater on June 23, and Dan the Automator, Del the Funky Homosapien and Kid Koala on June 30. Visit sterngrove.com or call (415) 252-6252 for more information.

June 29-30
San Francisco Pride Celebration and Parade

Are you looking for exciting, fun activities this weekend? Well, there is a lot coming up! Here are some suggestions for things to do around the beautiful City by the Bay. 

1) San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival
The Ethnic Dance Festival kicks off this weekend. Professional dancers will perform both traditional and world premiere dances. One of the shows will take place at the City Hall Rotunda Dance Series (free of cost) and the other at the Florence Gould Theater at the Legion of Honor Museum. Get tickets here.

2) Gray Whale Exhibit
Learn about the journey of gray whales at the San Francisco Zoo’s new exhibit, “Travesia,” which travels from the Arctic seas to the Mexican lagoons of Baja. The multimedia show makes its only U.S. stop at the San Francisco Zoo starting Saturday, June 8.
 

3) World Oceans Day and Free Aquarium tickets
Join fellow fans of a healthy San Francisco Bay on Saturday for World Oceans Day and help them clean the Aquatic Park beach and the surrounding shoreline. Volunteers will get free coffee and pastries before the cleanup and a free ticket to the Aquarium of the Bay afterward.

5) San Francisco Free Folk Festival
The Folk Festival celebrates folk music with 14 stages of non-stop music on Saturday and Sunday from noon-10 pm. There will be more than 60 free live concerts, a folk film festival, more than 100 music and dance workshops, and family activities. At Presidio Middle School, 450 30th Ave. at Geary.

6) SF Cooking School Open House
Calling all food lovers: Come check out the new school, kitchen and demonstrations at San Francisco’s Cooking School open house, Sunday from 10 am-1 pm. Free and open to the public. 690 Van Ness Ave.

With temperatures into the 70s, it’s turning out to be a beautiful weekend in San Francisco. Here are a few of the cool happenings you might want to check out this sunny Saturday and Sunday.

1) The June issue of Where Magazine was released today with the cutest picture of Jillian, the newest tiger cub at the San Francisco Zoo featured on the cover. You can pick up an issue of Where San Francisco from over 200 locations throughout the City. 

2) The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is free this weekend in preparation for a two year expansion project that will more than double their gallery space. RSVP here if you would like one final chance to visit the SFMOMA for a while.

3) If you can’t make it to the SFMOMA, the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park is also free to the public this Sunday, June 2. Explore the mysteries of life in this diverse science museum. We suggest arriving early, because it’s usually crowded. 

4) This Saturday and Sunday, the San Francisco SPCA are hosting an adoption block party June 1st and 2nd from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 201 Alabama street in the Mission. All pet adoptions are free this weekend, so stop by and add a new member to your family.

  Have you heard of foodspotting? The website and mobile apps that make up a global guide to great food and where to find it. With foodspotting, you can find and recommend not just restaurants, but specific dishes. Foodspotting began in 2009 when its cofounders realized that while there were many restaurant review apps, there was no easy way to find specific dishes. The innovative apps allow you to share great dishes that users recommend to others by tagging food photos. Since its launch in January 2010, over 2.5 million dishes have been spotted around the world. Foodspotters can connect their profiles to Facebook, Flickr, FourSquare, Instagram and Twitter. Foodspotting is a great way to find what you are craving, a restaurant’s signature dish, or find out what others, friends and experts love. All of the content is positive because the platform is all about foods that people love. Foodspotting is a visual platform so if you are in a hurry and don’t have the time to read through long reviews, you can simply check out what looks good and has been recommended by other foodspotters. 

The foodspotting app has been a great success, named one of Time Magazine’s 50 Best Apps of 2012 and a Top Travel Application by Travel + Leisure. Today, the popular apps are more up-to-date than ever. OpenTable, the online reservation business, acquired foodspotting and for the first time you can see a picture of a delicious meal and reserve a table just a few clicks later. These are OpenTable’s first steps to using customer data to make dining more personalized and booking a table more intimate and social. Foodspotting is a must have app for anyone who loves food.

The Memorial Day weekend is here! If you are not going away to so-cal or Vegas, we have come-up with some fun city-friendly activities to indulge in. Have fun Bay Area!!

1) The new season of the award-winning show,“Arrested Development” is out this weekend! Best part you can watch ALL of the episodes in concession, on Netflix! Michael Cera-and-Jason Bateman filled day? Sign us up! Netflix, you are the best Bay Area video-streaming platform, ever. Have a cozy Day/Night-in eating your favorite movie-time snack food, popcorn, candy and  we suggest any kind of chocolate from Ghirardelli Square.  P.s. EAT24 will be your best friend! 

2) What better way to celebrate Memorial Day weekend then to go to the movies? Even better a classic cinema with an unique and historic vibe to them. The Hangover 3, a Memorial Day standard, will be screened. If you are staying in San Francisco, go to the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, located at 1881 Post St. Check out the showtimes and get tickets here.

If you are near Oakland, go to the Grand Lake Theater, located at 3200 Grand Ave. Their showtimes can be seen here.

And if you are in Berkeley, go to Shattuck Cinemas on 2230 Shattuck Avenue. Check the showtimes and get tickets here. 

3) There are still some tickets left for the ‘Battle of the Bay’ Oakland Athletics vs San Francisco Giants.  For tickets visit: THIS LINK. The game will start at 4:15, but you can also go to the casual tailgate in the parking lot at 2:30 pm.

The special promotion for the Memorial Day, is celebrating America’s Armed Forces. The Sport Clips and the A’s have partnered and will offer their fans hair cuts at the game on May 27-28. This special offer can be found behind Section 235 before the 7th inning. Sport Clips will be accepting donations of $10 per haircut, which will benefit Fisher House.

The Battle of the Bay, or the Bay Bridge Series, is the series of baseball games played between the Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics of the American League and the San Francisco Giants of the National League. Two of the games will take place in Oakland on May 27^th and 28^th and two will take place in San Francisco on the 29^th and 30^th. For the first two games in Oakland, Straily and Parker will be the respective pitchers for the A’s, the Giants have not yet announced, we suspect Bumgarner will be one of them! Who is going to replace Voggie!?

4) The Carnival in the Mission District is one of San Francisco’s most popular traditions. This year’s theme is “Spanning Borders; Bridging Cultures.” The Grand Parade on May 26^th features music, food, brilliant floats, and lavish costumes. It will take place from 24^th and Bryant streets to 24^th and Mission. Also, be entertained by the festival on Harrison between 16^th and 23^rd streets.

5) The Exploratorium, at its new Pier 15 home, will be open to the public for Special Monday holiday hours on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27, 2013, from 10 am until 5 pm. The new location is spacious, three times bigger than before, and presents all old and more than 150 new exhibits! The new Remote Rains, for example, allows visitors to dial up their own rainstorm, controlling raindrop size and frequency. Go check it out during this three-day weekend! Bay Area residents get a special price!