San Francisco, CA

7 Spooky Ways to Celebrate Halloween in San Francisco

Published

1 year ago

October 18, 2024

7 Spooky Ways to Celebrate Halloween in San Francisco

Now that the Bay Area’s pesky heatwave has finally cooled off, it’s time to get in the mood for spooky season. San Francisco bars and restaurants are readying their spaces with fake cobwebs and (in one case) Shining-themed decor, and all they’re waiting for is you. Here are seven ghoulish Halloween gatherings around town, whether you’re looking for a Rodeo Disco or Wicked-themed drinks.

Kona’s Street Market

If you haven’t yet dropped into Kona’s Street Market for their monthlong, annual Halloween takeover, head there now. Black Lagoon is back until October 31, and Kona’s decked out in spooky decor and serving strong cocktails, such as Nightmare Fuel, which mixes tequila with Giffard Mangue, absinthe, matcha, lime, and Bitter Queens Thai spice bitters, or the Psychosis shot, made of rye, miso falernum, and lemon.

Starlite

Vibe out on views of the glittering San Francisco skyline and daring Halloween costumes at Starlite’s “Rodeo Disco” costume party on Thursday, October 31. Wear western or space-themed outfits and enter the bar’s costume contest as you enjoy music and cocktails high above Union Square. Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations via OpenTable are recommended.

The Madrigal

The Madrigal’s annual MadriGHOUL celebration is back and running through Halloween, this time with a special nod to Wicked. The team has decorated the space for the occasion and created 12 very on-brand cocktails for the Broadway musical such as the Wicked Witch, a drink that combines pisco with pandan, green grape cordial, and lime, or Miss Gulch’s Garden, which pairs cucumber-infused vodka with clarified tomato water, basil, pepper, and cucumber-infused vodka.

Holey Moley Golf Club

The newly-opened Holey Moley Golf Club isn’t going to let Halloween pass without putting on a proper, spooky cocktail menu for the occasion. Much like its current cocktail menu, expect some over-the-top garnishes and drinks; work through a round of mini golf while sipping on cocktails such as the Dead Duck, featuring vodka mixed with pineapple, coconut cream, lime, and chamoy. The new menu runs from Monday, October 21 through Friday, November 1.

Rye

Rye is always impressive with its themed bar takeovers for Halloween, and this year the team brings back a classic. Experience the Geary Street bar dressed up as the Shining, where it’s all play and no work with themed cocktails, moody lighting, and creepy Shining decor.

Blind Pig Speakeasy

Polk Street bar Blind Pig Speakeasy is looking to video games for its latest cocktail menu themed for Halloween. The team worked up drinks around the Black Myth: Wukong game with cocktails “inspired by the Monkey King” — the namesake Monkey King drink merges rice baijiu with lychee, strawberries, orgeat, and citrus, while Ice Cold pairs bourbon with sweet sake, apricot black tea, peach, mint, and citrus — all milk-washed to a clarified drink and topped with ube foam. The special menu is here until Sunday, November 3.

Angler

If you’ve been looking for an upscale Halloween event to attend and the words “black tie costume attire required” sound like just what you’re looking for, Angler is here for all your needs. Along with performances and music, notably the Michelin-starred restaurant will have unlimited food and drink, with luxe ingredients like flowing Taittinger Champagne, live carving of Cinco Jotas Jamon Iberico de Bellota, a raw bar, and more. Tickets are $350 per person; festivities begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 31, and tickets can be purchased via OpenTable.

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San Francisco, CA

San Francisco man found guilty of murder in brutal beating of elderly woman exercising

Published

37 minutes ago

November 4, 2025

Press Room

San Francisco man found guilty of murder in brutal beating of elderly woman exercising

SAN FRANCISCO – A young man has been found guilty of murder in the brutal beating of an 89-year-old woman who died a year after the attack.

Verdict

What we know:

Keonte Gathron, 25, was convicted Tuesday in the killing of Yik Oi “Huang Popo” Huang, who was robbed near her Visitacion Valley home in January 2019.

The Attack

The backstory:

Huang had stepped outside to do her daily exercises at the Visitacion Valley Playground when she was attacked.

After beating and robbing the elderly woman, authorities said Gathron went to Huang’s nearby home and burglarized it.

Huang was found on Raymond Avenue, a few blocks from her home, bloodied, disoriented, and suffering from severe head injuries. She died a year later, in January 2020, from complications related to her injuries.

The park where the attack occurred was later renamed Yik Oi Huang Peace and Friendship Park in honor of the woman.

San FranciscoCrime and Public Safety

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San Francisco, CA

This S.F. engineer wants to make it easier to park in the city, with a free app

Published

19 hours ago

November 3, 2025

Press Room

This S.F. engineer wants to make it easier to park in the city, with a free app

Parking can be difficult in San Francisco neighborhoods like the Excelsior. But an engineer who lives in the city wants to make it easier with an app to help people park.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle

Anyone who has parked in San Francisco knows that each street presents myriad possible ways to get a ticket.

There are loading zones. Two- and four-hour restrictions. Scheduled street cleanings. Sprawling construction sites. Red “daylit” curbs to make crosswalks more visible. Hills where curbing wheels is mandatory.

Frustrated by the whole complex puzzle of rules and hard-to-read signs, a software engineer is cobbling an app to make them more legible. His invention, called “Ticketless,” would automatically detect when and where people have parked, and send notifications if they risk receiving a citation.

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“I feel like a lot of people need this,” engineer Abdullah Zahid said of the app, which he hopes to unveil within the next few weeks. A resident of the Outer Richmond, Zahid has learned to navigate all the landmines of parking in San Francisco, including the regular 9 a.m. cleanings on his block. He knows the agony of circling for 20 minutes to find that one elusive parking spot at 6 p.m. in the Mission District, only to walk half a block and see a sign warning not to park there.

Abdullah Zahid has created an app called “Ticketless” which would automatically detect when and where people have parked in San Francisco.

Courtesy Abdullah Zahid

When Zahid advertised the concept on Reddit, his post went viral. As of Monday, Ticketless had roughly 1,000 people on a waiting list.

He is among a group of tech-savvy do-gooders — and pranksters — who are mining data from San Francisco’s public websites and trying to make it more accessible to regular people. Another such innovator, Patrick McCabe, developed an app called SolveSF, which uses artificial intelligence to ease the process of filing reports to the city’s 311 system.

City leaders do not always welcome these creations. When North Beach software engineer Riley Walz rolled out an app to track city parking officers in real time, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency quickly cut off the data source.

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But Zahid’s mission seems to align with that of the SFMTA, in that he wants to help people park legally and safely, perhaps saving them from a colossally expensive mistake, or the headache of retrieving a car from a tow yard.

“Our ultimate goal for parking enforcement is compliance, and we welcome creative ideas if it means bringing safe and helpful reminders on how to properly park,” a spokesperson for SFMTA said in a statement, which included the agency’s own guide on legal parking. SFMTA declined to comment on the app specifically, without knowing precisely how it uses public data.

Abdullah Zahid’s app “Ticketless” would send notifications to people if their parked cars risk receiving a citation.

Courtesy Abdullah Zahid

Zahid’s model largely relies on the city portal DataSF, combined with smart algorithms to decipher when and where people have parked, once they share their location. The app then cross-checks the parking spot with local regulations, determines when the driver has to move, and provides push alerts two hours in advance.

“There are no user accounts, no premium features, no in-app purchases,” Zahid said. “I’m not trying to monetize this. I think it should be free for everyone.”

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At present, he has the app configured to find hourly restrictions, tow-away zones and commercial loading. He’d still like to make it more granular, possibly reminding people to turn their wheels on a sloped street, or recognizing the exact point where a red zone ends.

Maybe he’ll add those features in the next version.

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San Francisco, CA

Election: Early voting for Prop 50 continues in Bay Area

Published

2 days ago

November 3, 2025

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Election: Early voting for Prop 50 continues in Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — On Tuesday, voters up and down California will head to the polls to answer one question.

That question, the so-called Proposition 50, will have them decide whether to give the state legislature authority to redraw congressional districts.

“For me, it’s kind of important that I’m able to do something,” said voter Zoey Dingman.

At San Francisco City Hall, there was a steady stream of voters Sunday afternoon.

CA Election: Everything you need to know about Prop 50

Some, like Robert Mintz and Maxine Bauer, told us they were keen to get their votes in early.

“I think people are waking up and they need to not be so passive and fight back,” said Mintz.

Mintz believes Prop. 50 is a way to push back against the mid-decade redistricting efforts in Republican-led states like Texas.

“I think it’s important to have fair elections and right now one side, it seems they’re trying to fix the future elections in 2026 and 2028,” said Mintz.

MORE: New polls show Californians overwhelmingly support Prop 50 ahead of Election Day

But that mindset can lead to a dangerous game of tit-for-tat, says the chair of the San Francisco Republican Party Bill Jackson.

Jackson says he opposes Texas’ efforts to redraw its congressional maps but thinks Prop. 50 is not the appropriate answer.

“We should be holding our line and trying to get more states to have independent districting commissions, rather than just allowing politicians or whoever’s in power to rig the system for their own benefit,” said Jackson.

Jackson worries that, if passed, Prop. 50 will disenfranchise voters in more rural parts of the state.

MORE: Prop 50: In a California GOP stronghold, voters are not happy with Newsom’s plan to help Democrats

He also has concerns that it won’t end in 2030 as it’s intended to currently.

“I think it’s a real risk. If we just keep with the increased polarization, why wouldn’t the California legislature put another initiative on the ballot in 2028 or 2030 to say well you know it works for us,” said Jackson.

Nearly 23 million ballots were sent out to voters around the state for this election.

As of Friday, about 5.9 million or 26% of them have been returned.

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