North Beach Week: First Fridays, Off The Grid Returns, Cal Academy Free Weekend, More

North Beach Week: First Fridays, Off The Grid Returns, Cal Academy Free Weekend, More

Photo: MK Feeney/Flickr

Mike Pinzuti
Published on March 03, 2016

Winter isn't over yet, so while we brace for a rather soggy start to the month, why don't you head indoors for some (free!) culture?

If you live in Chinatown, the Marina, North Beach, Russian Hill or Telegraph Hill, this weekend is your moment for free admission to the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. So bring a photo ID, try and limit yourself to only six kids in tow, and check out the Natural History Museum, the 3-D Rainforest exhibit or any number of other daily events.

If you don't mind getting a bit wet, First Fridays is back tomorrow, with a slew of art openings and events weaving through North Beach (and mentioned below) You can even end the night over in Fort Mason, where Off The Grid season is kicking off with the usual bevy of food trucks.

Next Tuesday, the Exploratorium is going to make it ridiculously easy to watch next week's total solar eclipse—dubbed "a happy accident of nature"—with a live webcast from the island of Woleai.  If you can't physically make it to the Exploratorium, the live telescope feed will be streamed from their website, starting at 5pm. 

Elsewhere in the area, there's been an Iron-Chef-style fundraiser at the City College Chinatown/North Beach campus, with four teams of students guided by Executive Chefs from the Marriott Marquis Hotel, Hotel Nikko, Palace Hotel and Park Central Hotel. 

SFGate has your history fix via a few quirky lists with local mentions, including weird museums like the Wharf's Musee Mecanique, unusual street names like Waldo Alley near the Broadway Tunnel, and how some streets got their names—including Grant Avenue, which cuts through the heart of North Beach's entertainment area. 

For a full list of what's going on around town this weekend and beyond, don't forget to check out hoodline.com/events. If you see a local event missing and want to get in on the fun, submit it for free for the chance to see it featured in our next events roundup.

Here are our editor's picks for the days ahead. 

Friday, March 4th


Saturday, March 5th


Monday, March 7th


Tuesday, March 8th


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