San Francisco, California - Entertainment

Cars negotiate Lombard Street to descend Russian Hill

Performing Arts

• San Francisco has a Half-Price Ticket Booth located right in the middle of Union SquareSan_Francisco/Union_Square|Union Square, where tickets for most San Francisco theater performances can be purchased the day of the performance for half-price. Run by Theatre Bay AreaTheatre Bay Area, all service fees collected from the sale of tickets by TIX Bay AreaTIX Bay Area goes right back into the theater community.

• Go to a concert, a play, a Jazz or a folk-song performance. There are performances most days to choose from, as by the San Francisco Opera [1], the San Francisco Symphony [2], in Herbst Theater (where the U.N. charter was signed) [3], in the Old First Church [4], and for musicals in the Orpheum or the Golden Gate Theaters [5], all located in or near the San Francisco/Civic Center|Civic Center. The museum of the Legion of Honor [6], located in Lincoln Park overlooking the the Golden Gate (North end of 34th Ave), has organ concerts which can be heard in many of its galleries, Saturdays and Sundays at 4PM, as well as music performances in its Florence Gould Theater, as by the the San Francisco Lyric Opera [7]. For the fall and spring Jazz festivals look into the SFJAZZ calendar [8]. San Francisco also has many jazz Clubs, best found by browsing the web, as well as SFNation.com[9]. Contemporary bands are featured at The Fillmore auditorium [10] and less frequently at the large Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in the San Francisco/Civic Center|Civic Center. There is an annual blues festival in late September, at various locations [11]. Many, but certainly not all, and no free events are listed by the City Box Office [12]. There are at least two great free bluegrass music festivals each year - during February [13] on the Marina and late September or October [14] in Golden Gate Park.

• Ballet of the world class variety can be seen for only $10. San Francisco Ballet [15] sells standing room tickets (with excellent views from the back of the orchestra) during the afternoon of each performance as well as two hours before showtime.

• Plays are performed at the Geary (by the American Conservatory Theater [16]), Curran, and the Marines Memorial theatres [17], and at the three small New Conservatory theaters [www.nctcsf.org] near the San Francisco/Civic Center|Civic Center.

• American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco, California

• Musicals from Broadway and Los Angeles are shown at the traditional Golden Gate and Orpheum theaters on Market, near the San Francisco/Civic Center|Civic Center [18]. For outrageous fun, princes[19] and paupers go to Beach Blanket Babylon [20] in San Francisco#Districts#North Beach|North Beach. Teenagers are welcome at the Sunday Matinees. It considers itself the longest running musical revue in theater history.

San Francisco has ample resources and opportunities for participatory sports and recreation. The Bay to Breakers footrace, held annually since 1912, is best known for colorful costumes and a celebratory community spirit. The San Francisco Marathon is an annual event that attracts more than 7,000 participants. There are more than 200 miles (320 km) of bicycle lanes in the city and the Embarcadero and Marina Green are favored sites for in-line skating. Extensive public tennis facilities exist in Golden Gate Park and Dolores Park.

Boating, sailing, windsurfing and kitesurfing are popular activities on the San Francisco Bay, and the city operates a yacht harbor in the Marina District. San Francisco's residents have been judged to be among the fittest in the United States.

Culture and entertainment

Although the centralized commerce and shopping districts downtown, including the Financial District and the area around Union Square, are well-known, San Francisco is also characterized by a rich street environment featuring many mixed-use neighborhoods anchored around central commercial corridors to which residents and visitors alike can walk. They feature a mix of businesses and restaurants catering to the daily needs of the community and drawing in visitors. Some are highly gentrified, dotted with boutiques, cafes and nightlife, such as Union Street in Cow Hollow, and 24th Street in Noe Valley. Others are less so, including Irving Street in the Sunset, or Mission Street in the Mission. This approach has influenced the South of Market redevelopment, with businesses and neighborhood services rising alongside highrise residences.

The international character San Francisco has had since its founding is witnessed today by large numbers of immigrants from Asia and Latin America. With 39 percent of its residents born overseas, San Francisco has numerous neighborhoods filled with businesses and civic institutions catering to new arrivals. In particular, the arrival of many ethnic Chinese, which accelerated beginning in the 1970s, complemented the already-established community based in Chinatown and has transformed the annual San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade|Chinese New Year Parade into the largest cultural event of its kind.

Following the arrival of writers and artists of the 1950s, who established the modern coffeehouse culture, and the social upheavals of the 1960s, San Francisco became one of the hypocenters of liberal activism, with the Democrats, Greens, and progressives dominating city politics. Indeed, San Francisco has not given the Republican candidate for president greater than 20 percent of the vote since 1988. The gay rights contributions and leadership the city has shown since the 1970s has resulted in the powerful presence gays and lesbians have in civic life. A popular destination for gay tourists, it hosts San Francisco Pride, the world's best-known gay pride parade and festival.

Entertainment and performing arts

Inside the War Memorial Opera House

San Francisco's War Memorial and Performing Arts Center features some of the longest operating performing arts companies in the United States. The War Memorial Opera House houses the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Ballet, while the San Francisco Symphony plays in Louis M. Davies Symphony Hall. The Herbst Theatre stages an eclectic mix of music performances, as well as National Public Radio's City Arts & Lectures.

The Fillmore is a music venue located in the Western Addition. It is the second incarnation of a venue which gained fame in the 1960s under concert promoter Bill Graham and was where the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and Jefferson Airplane got their start and fostered the San Francisco Sound. Beach Blanket Babylon is a zany musical revue and civic institution. It has performed to sold out crowds in North Beach since 1974.

The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) has been a leading force in Bay Area performing arts since its arrival in San Francisco in 1967, routinely staging original productions. San Francisco frequently hosts national touring productions of Broadway theatre shows in a number of vintage 1920s-era venues in the Theater District including the Curran, Orpheum, and Golden Gate Theatres.