If the constant barrage of fireworks echoing through the streets wasn't a tip-off: the Chinese New Year celebrations are gearing up. But with one week to go before the big New Year's festivities begin, we're focusing on the three-day Valentine's Day weekend ahead.
39,000 tulips are blooming at PIER 39 for #Tulipmania. Check them out! https://t.co/4tK3MrBAw0 pic.twitter.com/CxOsl5kJGK
— PIER 39 (@PIER39) February 8, 2016
As luck would have it—or just a solid Valentine's Day marketing plan—Tulipmania takes over Pier 39 this weekend, bringing with it more than 39,000 blooming tulips and other garden blooms on display. There are free tours (complete with free donuts from Trish's Mini Donuts) starting at 10am, or you can take a self-guided tour on your own schedule. Don't worry if you miss it this weekend, the event runs through next Sunday.
On the flip side, the San Francisco Dungeon has its own, equally solid Valentine's Day marketing plan: it will waive entrance fees specifically for recent divorcees through Sunday.
Of course, if Valentine's Day isn't your thing at all, you can head down the Embarcadero towards Justin Herman Plaza and lay the smackdown on your neighbors in the annual SF Pillow Fight.
Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar/Flickr
If you haven't heard, the buzz around Fisherman's Wharf is that Dungeness crab is back on the menu. And the Chronicle brings another hot local story, about a bizarre Airbnb incident in which a Telegraph Hill resident allegedly duped his neighbors into renting him their unit by using a false identity on Airbnb, then, after two months in the apartment, claimed he qualified for tenants’ rights. Read the full story here.
Elsewhere, National Geographic took a stroll around Chinatown and North Beach as part of its "where the locals go" blog series. And if you'd like to step back in time a bit, SFGate wrote about how Finocchio's (on the corner of Broadway and Kearny) used to attract tourists and locals alike to the area.
There's plenty more good stuff happening in and around North Beach this weekend, so check out hoodline.com/events before you head on out the door. Or, submit your own event for the chance to see it featured in our next events roundup.
Now, on to our editor's picks for the weekend ahead.
