Inside the Ferry Building’s plan to own the night

Walk into the Ferry Building after 9 p.m. midweek, and it feels cavernous and quiet, lined with closed stalls. Save for one, that is. 

Humphry Slocombe is the sole shop that stays open until 10 p.m. (seven days a week in the summer), when the building closes to the public. The strategy is working: In the past year, the Secret Breakfast scoop purveyor has seen sales increase more than 50% during that last hour of operation. 

As one cheery employee put it on a recent foggy Wednesday evening rush: “You would think with it being 50 degrees outside, people wouldn’t want ice cream, but the weather doesn’t matter. They want ice cream either way!”

As the Ferry Building continues its ascendence as a foodie oasis, its managers have tried to embrace after-dark activities. The results so far have been mixed.

Impending openings and schedule changes have meant there’s more going on as the sun sets. But at the same time, the lack of conformity in opening hours, with many shops shuttering at 5 p.m., has been a barrier to changing the perception of the Ferry Building as a daytime destination. Here’s how it’s trying to shift the narrative. 

When real estate firm Hudson Pacific Properties took control of the Ferry Building in 2018, its plan was to turn it into a hot spot both day and night. But the pandemic kicked off an exodus from the property, leading to a vacancy rate that peaked in 2022.

Now the focus is back on igniting evening activity, according to Shawn McGarry, the company’s executive VP for Northern California. “I think that in the past quarter, that vision is really starting to come to fruition,” he said. 

With San Francisco and the Ferry Building shucking their doom-loop narratives, Hudson Pacific has launched regular programming, including workout classes and mahjong meetups. The extended hours have contributed to increased foot traffic. “Q2 2025 was actually our busiest quarter on record,” McGarry said. 

To continue the streak, Hudson Pacific is suggesting that tenants experiment with later hours. The building has only two unoccupied suites: the recently departed Boulettes Larder and a full kitchen with a seating area (an expansion of the former Reem’s space). Hudson Pacific expects tenants who lease those spaces to have evening hours. 

Accordingly, Italian restaurant Lucania, which will start serving pastas and steamed mussels next year, has confirmed that it plans to stay open until 10 p.m., and forthcoming wood-fired California cuisine restaurant Arquet will include dinner service. Red Bay Coffee, which reopened in late July, plans to debut a cocktail menu for the evening in the coming months.

Other shops are testing later hours. “We’ve definitely seen a spike in customers in the evening since we started staying open till 8 p.m. on weekdays,” said Lunette owner Nite Yun. “That extra hour really made a big difference.”

Even morning favorite Blue Bottle now stays open until 8 p.m. General Manager Jody Heltze attributes the steady stream of evening caffeine-seekers to the fact that more people are spending their days in offices downtown. 

Ferry Building veteran Gott’s Roadside has noticed a similar trend. “We’re coming off some of our busiest weeks of all time,” said Clay Walker, Gott’s president. “What’s fueling that is the return to office that we’ve seen since January.” 

The burger-and-beer joint gets a steady stream of post-work happy-hour patrons and team dinners. It stays open until 9 p.m. midweek and until 10 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. One addition has been a cookie counter alongside its soft serve station for those looking for something sweet to end the day. “We keep exceeding projections, which as a restaurant is a really nice problem to have,” Walker said.

Still, those that stay open late are in the minority at the Ferry Building. Despite the case studies of success, getting restaurateurs to commit the resources and take the plunge deeper into the evening isn’t an easy sell. It means additional staffing, at the risk of scarce crowds. Store owners and managers suggested a “hold hands and jump” model to overcome the problem of collective inaction.

“While we’ve been internally considering expanding evening hours, we’d want to see other businesses staying open later as well,” said Remy Anthes, marketing manager at Hog Island Oysters, which closes at 8 p.m. 

Walker believes that the more businesses stay open later, the better sales will be for everyone. He and Anthes both credited the late hours of the defunct Slanted Door with driving significant business to their own restaurants. 

James Morelos, founder of artsy variety shop Fog City Flea, said he’d opt to stay open later if his neighbors did so too. 

“If other businesses were open until 7 p.m., we’d gladly do it,” he said. He almost wishes management would require standardized hours across the board, noting that a uniform schedule would create a buzzier Ferry Building. “We’d be happy to rise to the occasion and be on board.”

Morelos is out of luck: McGarry said Hudson Pacific has no plans to introduce strict requirements for tenants’ hours. It is making other changes, though: The company plans to install more lighting and signage outside, so it’s clearer to passersby that the building hasn’t shut down at sunset. “If someone is walking down the Embarcadero and looks over at the Ferry Building, they should be able to see that something’s happening inside and out back,” McGarry said.

Part of the visibility problem is that much of the nighttime action happens on the Ferry Building’s back deck. On a recent evening, tables in front of Hog Island, Cholita Linda, and Señor Sisig remained buzzing right until closing. But the scene is largely hidden from view to those at the front of the building.

To counter this, building management has started to increase its cadence of evening events, like live music and food and drink tastings. While most non-resturant shops close at 5 p.m. or earlier, they’ll often extend their hours alongside special programming. (Morelos, for one, attests that such events have been a boon to foot traffic.) Meanwhile, the food hall’s upstairs neighbor, the social club Shack15, regularly hosts Thursday- and Friday-night DJs to keep its dance parties flowing until 11 p.m. 

The Ferry Building is encouraging other tenants to throw their own fêtes. Fort Point Brewing, for example, has had success drawing drinkers after sundown with its Ferry Flix series of movie screenings in the plaza outside.

“The city has been feeling more alive lately, which feels good,” said the brewery’s founder, Justin Catalana. “San Francisco residents who might think the Ferry Building is still sleepy or hasn’t really reawakened since the pandemic should come check it out.” 

Walker says the Ferry Building and the Embarcadero are some of the most beautiful, safe spaces in the city, popular with tourists and locals, and shouldn’t give in to the temptation to shutter so early. 

“SF has never been a late-night town — unlike New York, it’s a daytime city,” he said. “But we don’t need to put on our pajamas at 8 p.m. That’s a little bit of a cop-out.”