Adrian ValverdeTHIS WEEKENDS TOP TEN AROUND THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA | AUGUST 20–23
Skip past the obvious. Mike’s 10 for the Weekend digs into the Bay Area’s neighborhood shows, outdoor music and local finds worth knowing about - plus this week’s Hidden Gem and Family Pick.
Now, here are Mike’s 10 for the Weekend:
1. Jazz & Blues by the Bay — Sausalito — Friday, 6:30 PM — FREE Big Blu Soul Revue at Gabrielson Park. Live music on the Sausalito waterfront is a pretty good way to start the weekend.
“The big events are easy to find. We’re looking for the ones that aren’t.”
— Mike MacPherson - SFBayWeekend
2. Afrobeats at the Lake — Oakland — Saturday, 1 PM An afternoon of Afrobeats at Snow Park by Lake Merritt, with two stages and more than 40 vendors. This is one you could easily build a Saturday around.
3. Bang the Bay: Feel the Sounds — Orinda — Saturday, 12 PM — $36.10 Doors at 11 AM at Siesta Valley Bowl. Jimmy Dale, Penelope Houston & The Jailbirds plus 21 local bands and DJs make this an all-day East Bay music pick.
4. Orpheus Descending — Oakland — Thu–Sun, 7 PM — PAY WHAT YOU CAN FROM $10 Tennessee Williams at FLAX art & design. Four nights gives you some flexibility, and the pay-what-you-can option makes it worth a look.
5. Double Barrel BBQ Pop-Up — El Cerrito — Friday, 6 PM — FREE ENTRY Friday-night BBQ at Little Hill Lounge. Food for sale, no admission and the kind of neighborhood stop that can disappear in a giant event calendar.
6. The Untouchables & The Inciters — Menlo Park — Saturday, 8 PM A Saturday-night double bill at The Guild Theatre. Smaller room, live music, no stadium required.
7. Paper Kayak — Pleasant Hill — Friday, 7 PM — FREE No cover at WiseGirl. Proof you don’t always have to cross a bridge to find a Friday night.
8. Music on the Square: Foreverland — Redwood City — Friday, 6 PM — FREE Live music at Courthouse Square. Get there early, grab dinner downtown and make a night of it.
9. JOURNEY’S EDGE + HAIRSTRIKE — Walnut Creek — Saturday, 7 PM A Journey tribute plus Hairstrike at Retro Junkie. Sometimes staying closer to home wins.
10. Sunday Jazz — Little Hill Lounge, El Cerrito — Sunday, 8 PM — $10 Back to Little Hill Lounge to close the weekend with jazz. A smaller Sunday-night option after a weekend full of festivals and big shows.
HIDDEN GEM
Poetry Takes Root — Berkeley — Saturday, 2 PM Poetry inside Donkey & Goat Winery on a Saturday afternoon. Berkeley, wine and live poetry — exactly the kind of thing that gets buried underneath the weekend’s bigger events.
FAMILY PICK
Garden Bros Nuclear Circus: Humans Gone Wild! — San Jose — Thu–Sun The circus rolls into the West Wind Capitol Drive-In this weekend. Friday shows are at 4:30 and 7:30 PM, Saturday at 1:30, 4:30 and 7:30 PM, and Sunday at 1:00, 4:00 and 7:00 PM.
The big events are easy to find.
We’re looking for the ones that aren’t.
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Explore SF Bay Weekend
Find the Magic.
Gems Along the Way
Worth a stop on the way — JM's picks for a bite, a drink or a sweet treat.
Bad Walter's Bootleg Ice Cream
Skip whatever you'd normally get and pick the flavor you've never heard of.
Casa Orinda
Go Wednesday–Sunday (dark Mon–Tue); get there when doors open at 4 unless you enjoy waiting. Order the fried chicken.
Del Oliva
At Del’Oliva Wine try some of their fresh premium extra Virgin olive oil
Loard's Ice Cream
A milkshake, and follow Larry's lead by having it instead of lunch rather than after.
San Francisco Creamery
Try the famous Kitchen Sink sundae challenge or housemade hot fudge with warm fresh waffles!
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A lunar eclipse brought people into the Oakland hills. The bigger discovery was a place where redwoods, NASA and three remarkable telescopes have been hiding in plain sight.
Boots on the Ground: The Weekend Is Getting Bigger
What started as a phone full of weekend photos is becoming something bigger. Meet SF Bay Weekend’s Boots on the Ground, real people getting out there, following the playbook, and coming back with stories of their own.
Local DiscoveryWhere to Watch the Fog Roll In at Golden Hour
Five underrated spots to catch the Bay Area at its most cinematic — where the marine layer spills over the hills and the light turns to gold.
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