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What is there to do for the 4th of July in San Francisco?

What's going on in San Francisco over the 4th of July?

  • Some colleagues and I are staying in San Francisco over 4th of July before a conference in Stanford. What's the best area (or hotel) to stay in for street parties, fireworks and All-American fun? We're Irish and Italians.

  • Answer:

    Apologies if you already knew this: It's foggy here in the summer. Like, really foggy. Some 4ths of July in San Francisco, you're lucky if you can http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2010/07/watching_fourth_of_july_firewo.php - I am not exaggerating. As that article says, the fireworks go off at Aquatic Park. Bring a jacket, hat, and scarf, and find a place to go for hot chocolate afterwards. I can't comment on street parties, since we usually stay home to make sure our house doesn't go up in flames thanks to amateur fireworks in the neighborhood. (Sausalito and Oakland also do fireworks, and are less likely to be fog-bound.)

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Alameda is where you want to be -- stay in a hotel at Jack London Square in Oakland and take the ferry to Alameda for the day.

gingerbeer

Personal fireworks are illegal here (as is drinking outside on the street, more or less), and while people do manage to get ahold of them, revelry in the street is contained to the extent that I don't associate the 4th with street parties at all. Barbecues, yes. Therefore I would say your best bet for experiencing what most Bay Areans experience is to get invited to a barbecue, go see municipal fireworks (or just the rockets' red glare), and then head to a bar. Alameda is a good choice for viewing, as it is on an island in the middle of the Bay. Not what I would call the funnest place, though... Or go to the Giants vs. Padres baseball game, if you're into American sports culture. There will be much beer and lots of fun at the ballpark. The one time I really experienced any sort of street revelry was when I lived in a warehouse in West Oakland, a poorer part of the city where big illegal fireworks were very common. We went up on the roof and watched the municipal fireworks of Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco, at about the same height all the illegal fireworks were going off around us. That was awesome, but crackdowns mean far fewer illegal stuff, and poor city budgets means smaller or zero municipal fireworks. I guess what I'm saying is: don't expect much in the way of serious outdoor partying here.

oneirodynia

Yeah, San Francisco isn't really what I'd consider an "All-American" city, especially when it comes to things like Independency Day celebrations.

speedgraphic

gingerbeer

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