Events
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Holiday Shopping at Ghirardelli Square
Open. Spread some holiday cheer this season with gifts from Ghirardelli Square. The holiday gift guide window features suggestions from retailers throughout the square if you’re looking for a little inspiration. Wrap up your visit with festive lights and snow every evening at sundown—a perfect backdrop as you wait for your takeout dim sum from Palette Tea House or a sundae to go from Ghirardelli Chocolate. 900 North Point St., 415.775.5500. ghirardellisq.com
Silicon Valley Dance Festival: “Renewal”
Begins Dec. 19. ZiRu Dance is bringing a diverse line-up of main stage choreographers, independent dancemakers and young choreographers from around the world straight to your screen at home. This virtual festival features work centered around the theme of “Renewal,” a year-long project that will help to dispel xenophobia and feelings of isolation developed as a result of responses to Covid-19. $15-$50. zirudance.com
Christmas Tree Lot at Bayfair
Through Dec. 24. It’s not too late to get a Christmas tree if you haven’t already! Head to Bayfair Center in San Leandro, which has been serving the community for over 35 years, and pick a tree from a wide variety and selection of live trees available. Don’t forget to snap a picture in front of one (or both) of the holiday backdrops—one with a red truck and the other with a VW Van—then enter post photos on Facebook or Instagram tagging Bayfair Center for a chance to win a $200 gift card. Open daily 10 a.m.-9 p.m. shopbayfair.com
Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce … Pandemic!
Through Jan. 2. Taylor Mac is back this holiday season with a full serving of virtual vaudeville. Celebrating the holiday season in all of its dysfunction, Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce … Pandemic! blends music, film, burlesque and random acts of fabulousness to reframe the songs you love and the holidays you hate. This limited virtual engagement is available for streaming through Jan. 2. All of Curran’s proceeds from ticket purchases will be donated to Openhouse, whose mission is to help enable San Francisco LGBTQ+ seniors and older adults to overcome the challenges they face as they age. $10. sfcurran.com
Food + Drink
Perbacco Christmas Dinner To-Go
Order by Dec. 19. Save yourself the hassle of planning Christmas dinner with Perbacco’s dazzling four-course Italian dInner to-go. The take-home dinner starts with small bites and an antipasto course, followed by a pasta course and a 32-ounce ribeye steak with black truffle butter and Barolo reduction accompanied by truffled potatoes gratin, roasted brussel sprouts and Fagioli all’uccelletto. And for dessert? Tiramisu di panettone. Orders must be placed by Saturday at 7 p.m. for pick-up on Christmas Eve from noon to 7 p.m. $110 per person (two-person minimum). 230 California St., 415.955.0663. perbaccosf.com
Holiday Sweets and Cocktails From San Francisco Proper
Now Available. Treat yourself to some sweets and sips from the San Francisco Proper Hotel. Take home a selection of hand-crafted treats such as hot cocoa bombs and DIY holiday cookie sets made by pastry chef Sohrob Esmali—winner of 2020 Food Network spring baking competition— as well as Sohrob’s signature cakes, including competition winner strawberry/vanilla milkshake, spiced orange and the lemon custard. Speciality cocktails crafted by the award-winning Bon Vivants also available. 1100 Market St., 415.735.7777. Order
Arts + Culture
After Dark Online: Celestial—Winter Solstice
Dec. 17. Lighten up your outlook as the Exploratorium observes the end of the sun’s journey across the horizon. The winter solstice marks the longest night of the year and return of daylight as our star reverses its apparent course in the sky. Learn about the significance of the solstice and the mechanics that make it possible, and celebrate the light during this final After Dark Online of the year. Join on the website or via YouTube or Facebook. 7 p.m. Free. exploratorium.edu
A Christmas Carol: On Air
Through Dec. 31. For the first time in its 44-year history, the Bay Area’s favorite holiday tradition comes to life as a fantastical immersive audio event—A Christmas Carol: On Air. Reimagined as a spatially-designed radio play for our virtual era, and adapted from the critically-acclaimed stage production seen by over half a million theatergoers, A Christmas Carol: On Air invites you and your household to gather together to take in this timeless story of optimism and humbugs, memories and redemptions, spooky presents and hopeful futures. $40-$60. 415.749.2228. act-sf.org
Post-War Art at Christopher-Clark Fine Art
Open. Post-War American art is much in demand, as the impact of the movement had a tremendous impact worldwide. With the center of great artistic innovation shifting from Paris to New York, the term Post-War art became an umbrella under which movements such as Abstract Expressionism and Pop art flourished. Christopher-Clark Fine Art is featuring an outstanding collection of works by the most important artists of the period, including Frank Stella, Sam Francis, Robert Motherwell, Alexander Calder and Roy Lichtenstein. Appointments for private viewing are now available, or the collection can be enjoyed on the gallery’s website. 377 Geary St., San Francisco, 415.397.7781. clarkfineart.com
Photo credits: Taylor Mac’s “Holiday Sauce … Pandemic!” by Little Fang Photography/Curran. Ghirardelli by Albert Law (porkbellystudio.com). Holiday cakes from San Francisco Proper by Bronwyn Knight. “Cicada” (1981) artwork by Jasper Johns. All other images are courtesy of the venues.
