The Fox News-driven narrative that San Francisco was a grim, joyless place from which everybody was fleeing was always inaccurate. All you had to do to disprove the thesis that we were a failed city was go to Dolores Park on a warm afternoon any weekend during the last two years and try to find space to spread out a blanket. Or walk down Clement Street in the Inner Richmond. Or visit one of our many new green spaces.
But downtown? Downtown really has been struggling since Covid. That’s why City Hall, partnering with music promoters, arts nonprofits, and local bars and restaurants, started investing heavily in entertainment and public art to draw people back to the area. Live music was key: To win the right to throw a second, post-Outside Lands festival in Golden Gate Park every August, concert promoter Another Planet Entertainment was obliged to generate extra programming in and around downtown for three years, and it rose to the challenge.
From votes to vibes, how San Francisco moved the needle this year
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All summer long and into the fall, Union Square, Civic Center, and the Embarcadero were home to giant outdoor events. Some of the raves were free, while tickets to the Fred Again x Skrillex show cost $80. Still, these shows managed to do what Sunday Streets, Let’s Glow SF light shows, and other well-intentioned efforts could not: lure people in droves.
Suddenly, some of the city’s most troubled neighborhoods got their swagger back. Market Street got rainbow lasers and miles of fresh asphalt, while the renovated Transamerica Pyramid now has the city’s most gold-flecked ice cream. There were outdoor drinking zones, where lederhosen-clad hordes threw back $23 steins of beer for Oktoberfest, as well as the Bhangra & Beats Night Market at the previously moribund intersection of Battery and Clay streets — to say nothing of Obama-era internet star Rebecca Black using December’s First Thursday party as part of her comeback. What’s next, Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes and a gay bathhouse or two? Actually, yeah, maybe.
Love ’em or hate ’em, even the techies who’d fled for Austin and Aspen agreed that we are so back.
The resurgence isn’t limited to downtown, of course. Established neighborhoods like Japantown, which were economically precarious during lockdown, came roaring back amid Godzillafest and the K-pop craze, while Stonestown may be among America’s few flourishing malls.
The craving for exhilarating experiences, from over-stimulating arcades to Chappell Roan’s infectious bangers, has been inescapable, and 2025 looks to bring more of the same. This city is ready to party.