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Ready for the coming Christmas weekend?
You probably want to spend the day with family and friends at home. But in case you’re treating some visitors, or want to spend several days out, there is a lot going on in the city over the week.
Our weekly Stuff To Do can be your holiday guidebook. If you’re looking for holiday gift ideas, see our staff recommendation here.
Las Posadas celebration
Las Posadas, meaning “the Inns,” is a festival celebrated by the Latinx community between December 16 and 24. Visit Calle 24 Latino Cultural District to enjoy holiday food and drinks offered by various small businesses in the corridor with traditional holiday music! You can follow its instagram for more cultural events.
Christmas Mass and Choir
On Christmas Eve, there will be a family mass at 5 p.m. and Christmas carol singing at 9 p.m. in the Mission Dolores Basilica. At 10 p.m., a full ceremonial solemn mass of Christmas will be held in both English and Spanish. More information is available here.
New legacy businesses
This fall, 10 new businesses were approved by the San Francisco Small Business Commission for the Legacy Business Registry. This list is a recognition of longstanding, community-serving businesses as valuable cultural assets to the city.
The new list includes Black and Blue Tattoo in Mission. It was the very first women-owned tattoo parlor in the city, opened in May, 1995, by Idexa Stern and Natalie Chandler. The opening met with skepticism and even threats, since the tattoo industry was a heavily male-dominated one at the time. But they kept their doors open, providing a safe haven for both queer and female tattoo artists.
Latin Bridal, a Latinx-owned formal clothing and jewelry store between 22nd and 23rd streets on Mission Street, and Dog Eared Books, a lovely bookstore at 20th and Mission streets, are also on the list.
Holidays are a good time to visit and support these iconic local businesses. Check the map below to see the new-added ones.
The Drawing Room’s call for sky art
The submission form for “SKY,” the last exhibition of a climate-related series at 780 Valencia St., will open on Dec. 26. Over the past year, the drawing room has been asking artists to raise awareness of environmental degradation and injustice. After “LAND,” “Adaptations,” and the current show, “SEA,” here comes the grand finale. The new exhibition will take place Feb. 4 to March 25, 2023.
After that, this space might come to an end. Organizers are actively fundraising for another year, and you can show your support here.
Pick a holiday gift from a local bookstore?
Books, New Year’s planners and calendars and blank journals all sound like solid holiday gift choices. Dog Eared Books at 900 Valencia St. offers gift-wrapping, and can order most books for you. Feel free to call at 415-282-1901 or drop a line online. Its eBay store is also a cool virtual space for unusual and collectable titles!
The bookstore will close early on Christmas Eve, and remain closed on Christmas Day, but is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. every other day!
New exhibitions at the Asian Art Museum
Want a time-travel experience during holidays? The Asian Art Museum has a ticket for you.
You can expect to see colorful landscapes inspired by Yoshida Hodaka’s global journeys through his “Color Trip: Yoshida Hodaka’s Modern Prints” exhibition. Then see “Past Continuous Tense” to step into Lam Tung Pang’s gallery-spanning forests. And don’t miss your chance to travel with the critically acclaimed “Kongkee: Warring States Cyberpunk,” a neon-soaked, futurist fantasy that’s only on view through Jan. 23.
Last call for several exhibitions you can’t miss
If you haven’t seen “Diego Rivera’s America” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, or “Egyption Pharaohs” at the De Young Museum, please plan a visit before they leave on Jan.y 3 and Feb. 12, respectively. But do keep in mind that SFMoMA will be closed this weekend, and the De Young will be closed at 4 p.m. on Dec. 24 and all day Christmas.
Also, an exhibition featuring work from Guatemalan artist Carlos Mérida and Swiss-born modernist Paul Klee will also come to an end this month. So don’t miss the second floor when you visit the MoMA. If you wish to see more arts from Central America, Sin Titulo is a good place to go. They also have one of Carlos Mérida’s serigraphs from 1971 on view at the Mainly Mexican exhibition on Union Square.
Community Music Center needs a photographer
Community Music Center (CMC) is a 100-year nonprofit music school and performance space with branches in the Mission and Richmond Districts. They will offer some new classes includingBlack Music Studies and Hip Hop, from Jan. 3rd, the date the new winter quarter begins. If you’re interested in taking some courses, check its website here.
Also, the center is looking for a volunteer to help photograph concerts, events, and classes. You can contact Michelle Lee (mlee@sfcmc.org), marketing assistant, to learn more about the opportunity.
Last but foremost, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
