Fun and entertainment San Francisco & Bay Area

In front of the BART station, a brick building where you can come for a drink or a very good pizza or a big salad while listening to a live band. The program extends all week long, and is rather jazz oriented. Its main asset? The beer garden style outdoor patio, heated in winter and sunny in summer. The best place to remake the world while sipping your glass. On the menu: delicious craft beers, alternative drinks and good bottles of wine.

In January 2013, San Francisco opened this center dedicated to jazz performance and education. The structure, a $60 million architectural project, was designed by Mark Cavagnero and houses a 700-seat auditorium, three rehearsal rooms, a digital music lab and a restaurant. The SFJAZZ season, in addition to the jazz festival and summer sessions, includes more than 400 performances a year in the San Francisco Bay Area. The concerts have gained international recognition, so it's best to book your tickets in advance.

On Hayes Valley's bustling square, you'll find this little wooden shack that offers a wide selection of cold-pressed juices (often from vegetables), and is a must for locals. After a jog or for an energizing and sunny break, succumb to the delicious green elixirs, cleverly dosed and packed with vitamins. Ginger, turmeric or even celery juices are yours! Last but not least: in addition to being good, these juices are excellent for your health. They are even particularly recommended for people with a fragile liver.

The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1911 and resident since 1980 at Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of the city, has a worldwide reputation. The programming is very varied and the acoustics are perfect. The orchestra's awards and honors include an Emmy Award and 15 Grammy Awards over the past 26 years. After 25 years of conducting the orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas stepped down as conductor in 2020 to take over from Esa-Pekka Salonen of Finland.

It is a real institution in San Francisco and one of the favorite bars of the locals. The specialty of the Buena Vista is theIrish coffee, invented here in 1952 by the bar's owner Jack Koeppler and Stanton Delaplane, a journalist from the San Francisco Chronicle. A mixture of hot coffee, whiskey and cream, the recipe has never changed, but has spread all over the world. And the waiters of the Buena Vista Café have served, according to the house accounts, more than 30 million Irish Coffee. To be tasted in its original version!

This is the historic North Beach bar, located next to Lawrence Ferlinghetti's legendary City Lights Bookstore. Founded in 1948, it was frequented by a number of Beat Generation celebrities including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady, as well as Bob Dylan and Francis Ford Coppola. Cosy decor with walls lined with paintings, posters and photos. Perfect to immerse yourself in the bohemian atmosphere of the early 60s. To complete the picture, the pedestrian alley shared with City Lights is called Jack Kerouac Alley.

One of San Francisco's great concert halls, from 1965 to 1968 it was the epicenter of creative music in the San Francisco Sound. During the 1967 Summer of Love , the venue produced some of the most innovative and provocative music in the Bay Area. The Grateful Dead, Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Captain Beefheart, The Who and Otis Redding were all heard there. Among the more recent stars to have trodden the Fillmore's stage are Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Radiohead, The Cure, The White Stripes, Ali Farka Toure...

San Francisco's premier theater, the American Conservatory Theatre is considered the best theater company in the region. It describes itself as a gathering place for artists and diverse communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its mission is to stimulate the artistic life of the region, activate sociological stories, and promote diversity. The company values inclusion, transformation through learning, participation and fun.

Experience an unforgettable experience. This show is a mixture of cabaret numbers, theatre scenes, circus arts, music and humour, all accompanying a gourmet dinner of 5 dishes. This is expensive, but it would be missing one of San Francisco's major attractions than not going there.

Audium is the place where sound, space and deep immersive experience meet. This "theater of sound" proposes to intensely explore music and the spatial dimension of sound, thanks to a multi diffusion installation. Today, Audium has become a true center for spatial art, which has set itself the goal of amplifying perceptual awareness of the space and sounds that surround our society. It is a canvas for artists, playing with technological and creative boundaries. The pieces proposed are however of uneven quality.

Founded in 1933, San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States. Founded in 1933, the company staged the first full American productions of Coppélia (1938) and Swan Lake (1940). Led by Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson, SF Ballet is accompanied by its own orchestra and operates one of the most prestigious ballet schools in the country. It combines classical and avant-garde programming, claiming to be the most adventurous company in America.

Saloon would be the oldest bar in San Francisco (1861). Nothing has changed for decades: the population is still predominantly male, beers are still drunk at the counter and folk and country bands play there every night. And every Monday it's the resident band The Bachelors that welcomes you, a most enjoyable blues-rockabilly ensemble! We love the picturesque interior and the atmosphere. The owner will be happy to serve you and tell you his best anecdotes.

Opened in 1956 by the Giotta family, Caffe Trieste is a must in North Beach. The coffee is roasted on the spot in the purest Italian tradition, it is certainly one of the best espressos in the city. Jack Kerouac and Allan Ginsberg frequented the place in the 60s and it was here that Francis Ford Coppola wrote the script for the movie The Godfather. San Franciscans take Trieste by storm day and night, so try to sit among them to share the Italian atmosphere of the neighborhood!

Berkeley Repertory Theatre is a theater company located in Berkeley. It runs seven productions each season from its two stages in downtown Berkeley. Performances take place during the season, which runs from September to June. Winner of numerous Tony Awards for the best in American theater. A must-see for theater lovers in Berkeley. In addition to being a performance venue, it is a theater school.

For a concert of indie music in a vintage decor where the red dominates among the

old rickshaws. An establishment frequented by all ages and particularly appreciated by the little rock of San Francisco.

Bourbon & Branch is a cocktail bar. It offers a unique experience, immersing you in the atmosphere of the 1920s, during the Prohibition era. This speakeasy, which operated illegally at this address from 1921 to 1933, transports you back in time with its period decor and atmosphere. Please note that Bourbon & Branch has a few rules to maintain the "speakeasy" atmosphere: it's forbidden to use your cell phone, stand at the bar, ask for a "cosmo", take photos and make noise when leaving the establishment. Cocktail enthusiasts will be delighted to discover the bar's selection of quality spirits, as well as the mixology courses offered at the Drinks Academy.

Here is a bar as we like them, in the heart of Haight. Discreet entrance that opens on a sea of red around a horseshoe-shaped bar. The decoration is old-fashioned but funny, a surprising mix of old Persian fresco and American style juke-box from the 1950's very well supplied with old school sounds. Finally, a relaxed atmosphere perfect to have a cocktail, then another one and to mingle quite naturally with the regulars of the house... Bonus: a real old school jukebox full of good old pop/rock classics!

Other North Beach institution, Tosca Café is a old school bar with white catering, jukeboxes and retro cocktails. Apparently Sean Penn is a habit when he is in San Francisco, just like Coppola. A history-steeped establishment that would imagine being the headquarters of the North Beach mafia.