Hilly streets turned into shallow rivers, Daly City saw significant flooding, fallen trees were reported all over, and SFO continues to see significant flight delays after the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day storms.

It's not over yet, and a flood watch remain in effect for San Francisco County until 10 pm Friday as more rain is expected through the afternoon. But the worst seems to have passed in this holiday storm that was as bad or worse than had been predicted.

No major flooding has been reported in the city proper so far, though reports still could be coming in.

Video f00tage from early Thursday morning showed 18th Street in the Castro become a rushing river at one point, with water streaming downhill toward Dolores and the flatter Mission District.

And parts of Daly City saw significant flooding on Christmas Day, with water entering homes and garages, and partially submerging cars on streets as seen below.

Flooding that was apparently exacerbated by clogged storm drains caused knee-deep water to accumulate along one street in Menlo Park a day earlier.

As of Friday morning, per the Chronicle, two bores of the Caldecott Tunnel in the East Bay remain closed to traffic due to an electrical issue, and around 40,000 PG&E customers were reportedly still without power as of this morning across Northern California.

Winds caused damage around the Bay as well, with downed trees reported across SF, Marin, and the North Bay. A huge redwood tree toppled in Guerneville on Wednesday and crushed someone's parked car, but thankfully no one was hurt.

Still, Southern California got the brunt of the heaviest rainfall, and the most devastating flood imagery we've seen so far from the storm comes from San Bernardino County, specifically the mountain area of Wrightsville, where rivers of mud took out roadways, and there is a major mess to clean up.

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said that issues like localized flooding and downed trees were all addressed quickly during the storm. And the department said to residents, in a tweet Friday morning, "Thank you for looking out for one another and staying prepared. Steps like securing loose items, clearing storm drains, and checking forecasts before travel help keep everyone safe."

This is a developing story.

There was some next-level Grinchy behavior at a Fillmore District housing complex, with the maintenance staff apparently caught on camera pilfering the tenants’ Christmas gifts, and the low-income tenants are now out thousands of dollars.

Five days before Christmas, Mission Local broke a porch pirate story that is absolutely unlike any other we had ever heard. Because in this case, the porch pirates were not everyday thieves looking to score a free package off someone’s porch.

They were actually employees of the property management company allegedly stealing gifts from inside the apartments, apartments for which they had keys. And mind you, this was a low-income housing complex in the Fillmore District, so the jilted tenants could ill afford to lose an estimated thousands of dollars worth of stolen gifts.

The apartment complex is the Thomas Paine Square Apartments at Golden Gate Avenue and Webster Street, and the tenants’ Ring video camera seems to capture the Christmas-stealing caper. Tenants have confirmed that three of the four people seen in the video are employees of the property manager Domus Management Company. Nothing incriminating really happens until the 2:04 mark of the video, when one employee is clearly trying to disable the Ring camera.

“This shit drilled on the wall,” the employee says. “You gotta drill it off to take it off.” But two other staffers are gleefully carrying out wrapped gifts at that point, and they use a heart-shaped wreath to block the camera’s view

“This is cute, actually,” one of the employees says of the wreath she is using to hide her stealing.

As Mission Local explains, one of the robbed (and disabled!) tenants’ caregivers details the stolen items as being worth more than $2,000. Another tenant says that a box of power tolls was stolen from the garage during the same time frame. Police reports have been filed in both cases.

KGO picked up the story on Tuesday, speaking to the caregiver for the robbed tenant. "They took over $2000 in Christmas items. They took advent calendars, built bear kits, they took gifts and presents that were purchased for friends and family members," that caretaker Aveda Hussain told KGO.

The Lodi-based property manager says the three employees were fired effective immediately, but the company is not exactly bending over backwards to do the right thing.

“Staff did enter the unit, as evidenced by the Ring footage, and remove what they referred to as trash,” Domus president Cathy Metcalf told Mission Local last Thursday. “However, that is a violation of Domus policy and they have been terminated effective today.”

But she also claimed that the unit was occupied by multiple tenants who were “squatters” and that company was working on evicting them. “The attorney is working on the notice,” she said last week, strongly indicating that the eviction proceedings are being influenced by the fact that the tenant complained to the press about the company’s shady employees.

Mission Local notes there is only one tenant in the unit, and the caregiver lives elsewhere. And the tenant says they have lived there since 2021, and have never received any eviction communications over those four years.

So we may have a miserable Christmas situation where a tenant not only had their gifts stolen, but might get evicted for speaking up about it.

Also, this whole situation adds insult to injury for tenants at Thomas Paine Square Apartments, who earlier this year went to the media with their complaints about deferred maintenance by Domus and generally substandard living conditions at the complex.

Related: San Jose Christmas Decoration Thief Is Stealing Specifically Only Disney-Themed Decorations, Remains at Large [SFist]

Image: Google Street View

At a San Jose elementary school concert, school board trustee and teacher Brian Wheatley went off-book and sang an unapproved, old-timey Christmas parody mentioning guns, which he’s reportedly sung over the years. The school principal swiftly cut him off and sent out an apology.

As NBC Bay Area reports, families of students at San Jose Unified School District’s Reed Elementary received an email apologizing for a controversial song that was sung by Wheatley during the school’s winter concert program Friday. Principal Jennifer Ponzio wrote in the email that Wheatley had requested to sing a song that wasn’t on the schedule, which Ponzio quickly deemed inappropriate upon hearing and jumped in.

“During the concert, which included eight classes, our Trustee requested to sing a song that was not part of the planned program,” Ponzio says in the email, per NBC Bay Area. “The song, which dates back to the 1940s, included references that were not appropriate for a young audience, including mention of a weapon. After approximately 30 seconds, I intervened and stopped the sing-along.”

"Our Trustee has acknowledged this lapse in judgment and has taken full responsibility for the impact of his actions,” the email continues.

"As a school community, we also recognize the importance of clear expectations and safeguards for school events,” Ponzio’s email concludes. “Moving forward, we will be more intentional and diligent in ensuring that all performances and remarks follow approved agendas and reflect our shared values, so that this does not happen again.”

Ponzio shared Wheatley’s apology, which assures families it will never happen again.

"I wanted to follow up with a direct and sincere apology for my lapse in judgement during the school sing-along,” Wheatley’s email states, per NBC Bay Area. “In an effort to bring levity and humor, I shared verses that were inappropriate, and I'm truly sorry for any disruption or distress this may have caused students, staff or families.”

"I take full responsibility for the impact of my actions,” he continues. “As a board member for the past seven years, I value the trust our school communities place in us and have deeply appreciated many positive moments we have shared at Reed events.”

“Please rest assured it will not happen again” Wheatley concludes. “Moving forward, I will be more deliberate and thoughtful in every school setting to ensure my actions reflect our shared commitment to student safety and well-being.”

Wheatley is currently running for re-election for the Trustee Area 4 seat.

Some parents from Reed Elementary discussed the matter on Reddit. The original poster said his five-year-old came home mentioning some old guy singing a parody of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” about a cowboy with a “big red gun.”

“My daughter came home from our last day before winter break and explained that an old man asked to sing a song at the holiday sing along today,” writes the OP, Huge_Lingonberry_140. “According to my daughter and the principals email, he took the microphone and started singing a parody of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer except the lyrics were about a cowboy with a big red gun, ‘turn and run’.”

“How did this guy get elected trustee and how do we get him out?” the OP concludes.

Redditor iamagrizzly responded saying the song in question was likely “Randolph the Red Gunned Cowboy.”

Another Redditor, CommunicationMany507, said they're a former student of Wheatley, who reportedly sang the song annually, including while carolling with students at local convalescent homes. They said the students loved it back in the day.

But times have changed, largely due to gun violence.

Image: Brian Wheatley Trustee

The post has been updated with the correct first name of Reed Elementary's principal, Jennifer Ponzio.

In case you've wondered why there's a place called Christmas Tree Point, and a street on Twin Peaks named Christmas Tree Point Road, it's that time of year to recount the story behind this.

Yes, San Francisco has a spot that remains on maps called Christmas Treet Point, as well as that road named for it, despite the fact that this hilltop on Twin Peaks has not seen a Christmas tree lit on it for 75 years.

It is certainly a visible spot that would make for a festive tree installation, and that was the idea behind the original Christmas tree installed there in 1927, spearheaded by the city's former newspaper of record, the San Francisco Examiner. The Examiner announced its plans that year to install a tree on Twin Peaks, and as the Chronicle's Peter Hartlaub recounts for us this week, big-money interests and City Hall got involved, helping to fund the cutting down and transportation of a giant, 120-foot tree from Mendocino.

That tree proved so massive that it had to be cut into parts with all of its limbs removed, and then reassambled like a Lincoln Log structure with hole drilled in the trunk for the formerly attached branches to stick out of. Once decorated, the tree apparently still looked quite spectacular. It was lit up until 3 am each night, and reportedly could be seen from Marin County and across the East Bay.

What follows is a very San Francisco story that you might even find surprising given the timeframe. As this historical account on OpenSFHistory tells it, and as Hartlaub also explains, the Examiner Christmas Tree, as it was called, only lasted for a couple of years — even though it was popular, and there was even a gateway set up at the bottom of what's now Christmas Tree Point Road for visitors to get up close to the tree for a look.

The tree returned in 1928 and again in 1929, the year the Depression began. But its first couple years were met with loud protest from St. Francis Wood resident and local tree lover Charles “Sandy” Pratt. Pratt, a gravel magnate with a business in Santa Cruz, enjoyed decorating a redwood in his own yard every year with strings of lights for the Christmas season. He scorned the practice of cutting down fir trees to decorate and then discard them every year as a "slaughter of the innocents," and he founded a group called the Outdoor Christmas Tree Association that handed out redwood seeds around the Bay for people to grow their own, permanent Christmas trees that wouldn't need cutting.

He also, according to his 1958 obituary, would dig up redwood seedlings from forests to give to friends at the holidays.

Pratt's fight against the Examiner Tree was celebrated by the rival San Francisco Chronicle, per Hartlaub, ahd Pratt then successfully lobbied Golden Gate Park Superintendent John McLaren, then 82, to start decorating the 120-foot Monterey cypress outside his office at the edge of Golden Gate Park, on Stanyan Street.

Uncle John's Tree, as it's become known, was first lit up with twinkling lights on December 20, 1929, and a new city tradition was born. That became the city's "official" Christmas tree as of 1931, and that was pretty much it for the Examiner Tree — the funding of which might also have dried up during the Depression.

Per the Chronicle, the San Francisco Police Department, looking to steal some thunder from the San Francisco Fire Department, installed a Christmas tree one more time at Christmas Tree Point in 1950, after the SFFD started their annual contest decorating fire houses around the city.

This week: 1960s gems at SCRAP, Muni’s holiday wrap artist, and Deck the Halls out the wazoo. Plus, queer performer and activist Tahara, astronomy talks, queer land stewardship, the wildlife of Yosemite, and the return of the salmon.

Holiday lights in the Castro

Deck the Halls has reopened for the season in a new pop-up space at 2298 Market Street, bringing its wall-to-wall holiday décor to the Castro. The bar leans into playful cocktails — cotton-candy spritzes, matcha-mezcal blends, an espresso martini riff, and a chestnut drink finished over an open flame.

Food ranges from pumpkin soup to small bites and sandwiches, with a weekend brunch buffet added for this year. It’s open daily from 4 pm to midnight, with brunch served Friday through Sunday from 11 am to 2 pm, and runs through December 28. — Secret San Francisco

Stars over the Sycamore

Astronomy on Tap is a monthly San Francisco event where local astronomers give short talks at local bars. The Sycamore in the Mission recently hosted a full house of attendees learning about planets, galaxies, and cosmic phenomena.

Presentations are casual, with time for questions and conversation, making space science accessible without a lecture hall. The next session will be held at Blackhammer Brewing later this month. — KPIX

Sparkle in the workshop

SCRAP SF is hosting its Jewelry & Joy Pop-Up from December 9–13, showcasing vintage Swarovski crystals and rhinestones from the 1960s. The pop-up highlights pieces that are no longer in production, giving collectors and jewelry lovers a chance to see and buy rare finds.

The workshop is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm, and visitors can browse the selection and shop directly on site. — SCRAP

Thread of the city

Anton Belov grew up riding Muni, always curious about who made the artwork on the buses. Now he’s that person, and in a new video he shares his perspective on designing the Patchwork of the City holiday wrap.

Belov talks about tracing landmarks, neighborhoods, and local wildlife into a single design, and how he hopes each rider catches a moment of joy, pride, or connection when they see it. You can watch him walk through the process and his inspiration in the video. — SFMTA

Angels and rebellion

Tahara, Bay Area performer and early queer activist, will share personal stories from the city’s gay liberation era in a conversation with August Bernadicou on December 14. He reflects on the ways art, costume, and fearless identity intertwined on stage and in the streets with groups like the Cockettes and Angels of Light, shaping a movement that still resonates today.

Known for his vibrant performances and dedication to queer storytelling, Tahara traces the threads of creativity and courage that carried through the 1960s and ’70s. His recollections offer a window into a moment when culture and community collided in unexpected, transformative ways. December 14, Queer Arts Featured, 575 Castro Street. — Bay Area Reporter

Tending the land

Along the Russian River, queer communities have long made their mark on the land, from redwoods to meadows. Shelterwood Collective manages 900 acres through controlled burns and restoration, creating space for both the forest and queer gatherings. Nearby, Solar Punk Farms combines small-scale farming with climate-focused events, from drag shows to natural wine tastings.

These projects continue a history of queer presence in the region while shaping practices for land stewardship and community. Weekend visits and seasonal gatherings welcome those looking for connection and time in the woods. — KQED

River runners

After years of absence, salmon are finding their way back to South Bay streams, leaping up Guadalupe River, Los Gatos Creek, and Penitencia Creek this season. The restoration work by local groups — removing barriers, cleaning creeks, and improving fish passage — seems to be paying off.

On weekend walks, you can spot the fish slipping upstream, especially after fresh rains swell the rivers. The season continues through December, offering a rare glimpse at these survivors in the Bay Area. — Weekend Wanderers Inc.

Hidden residents

Yosemite Wildlife, the new book by Beth Pratt, dives into the park’s animals, from pikas on rocky slopes to peregrine falcons soaring over Yosemite Valley. Paired with Robb Hirsch’s photos, it updates a century-old record and gives a close look at creatures often overshadowed by the scenery.

Pratt draws on decades of experience living near the park, showing how wildlife and landscape coexist. She’ll discuss the book Sunday at Corte Madera’s Book Passage. — Marin Independent Journal

Image: Angels of Light/Facebook

Previously: Field Notes: Kenny Alley, Holiday Architecture Book Fair, and Oakland’s Last Old Redwood

Cross Amazon off your shopping list and pump your dollars locally, as the Sunset Holiday Mercantile takes over the SF County Fair Building with two days of local vendors and makers, plus yes they will be serving holiday espresso martinis.

If you’re the kind of person who would rather make local small businesses’ cash registers jingle instead of forking your money over to Jeff Bezos and his Trump-supporting Amazon monstrosity this holiday season, mark your advent calendar for this weekend’s Sunset Holiday Mercantile. More than 50 local merchants, artists, and vendors will be packing the SF County Fair building in Golden Gate Park for a holiday iteration of Sunset Mercantile’s popular recurring shopping bazaars. It runs both Saturday, December 6, and Sunday, December 7, and admission is free.

The point of all this merriment is obviously gift shopping, but the Sunset Holiday Mercantile will have a whole lot more going on. There will also be food trucks and food vendors, live music, and a holiday photo booth from Bling Photo Booths.

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Kids and adults alike can also hand-craft a wide variety of gifts or keepsakes, as there will be furious holiday crafting hosted by Artship. The handmade ornaments seen above are just one of the craft pursuits at your disposal.

Sunset Holiday Mercantile is a family-friendly event, but the grownups can also enjoy beer and wine tasting, mimosas, and even an espresso martini or three.

Both Saturday and Sunday’s lineups runs from 11 am to 5 pm, but Saturday comes with a little afterparty bonus. The Inner Sunset Holiday Lights Stroll runs from 5 - 8 pm Saturday, just one block south on Irving Street. That event will feature "Moving Mannequins — where holiday windows come to life, plus trolley rides, cookie decorating, live music, a neighborhood scavenger hunt, raffle prizes, and holiday specials from local shops and eateries."

Sunset Holiday Mercantile December 6th and 7th from 11 AM to 5 PM at the SF County Fair Building (1199 Ninth Avenue, at MLK, Jr Drive). Admission is free.

Related: The ‘Let’s Glow SF’ Holiday Projection Mapping Extravaganza Kicks Off Again Downtown Friday Night [SFist]

Image: Sunset Mercantile via Facebook

Look how freakin’ festive the 49-Van Ness bus will look for the holidays, with snowflakes, mittens, wrapped gifts, and more. But is that… a Christmas coyote near the front left wheel?

It was admittedly something of a cute cult-hit thing this summer when the SF Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA) decided to roll out Grateful Dead/Summer of Love-themed Muni buses to get people all stoked for the Dead & Company shows in Golden Gate Park. They were like wraparound advertising, except they didn’t really advertise anything other than Muni itself.

Now as we head into the holiday season, the SFMTA is back at it with a more holly, jolly flair. Today the agency announced that buses on the 49-Van Ness route would have a wraparound decorative holiday design, as seen below.

“Starting today, one Merry Days of Muni bus will be picking up riders on the 49 Van Ness / Mission route,” the SFMTA says in their announcement. One of these holiday buses is seen above. But wait a minute… is that a coyote near that bus’ front left wheel? I bet some coyote haters in certain neighborhoods are going to be pissed off by that.

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The “Merry Days of Muni bus” (that is what they are calling it) was designed by in-house SFMTA artist Anton Belov, the designer of the Muni ugly holiday sweater, which they prefer you call a “holiday pullover.”

“The patchwork idea came from thinking about how Muni connects different neighborhoods, people, communities – how it stitches the city together,” Belov said in an SFMTA press release. “I wanted people to get excited and surprised when they expected to see a regular bus in gray and red and then, all of a sudden, this bright wrap comes their way and makes them feel even happier going to work and school.”

Again, the SFMTA claims that these went into circulation today, though apparently only one bus on the 49-Van Ness line each day will be the holiday decorated bus. The agency’s announcement says these will remain in circulation “through the end of the year.”

Related: Muni Is Truckin’ Grateful Dead-Themed Buses for Next Weekend’s Big Dead & Co. Concerts [SFist]

Image: SFMTA

In the aftermath of the Saturday afternoon protest at San Francisco’s downtown shopping district, in which one man climbed the giant Union Square Christmas tree, 3 adults and 1 minor were arrested.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the area around 1:30 p.m. Saturday, as the Chronicle reported, calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and demanding the charges against the pro-Palestine protesters who shut down the Bay Bridge in November be dropped.

SFPD responded to the scene around 2 p.m. and began more arrests, per KRON4. The department reportedly said that in Union Square, “several people began to commit crimes ranging from assault to felony vandalism and causing property damage.”

The identities of those arrested have not been released publicly. But according to KRON4, two adult males, one adult female, and a minor were taken into custody, facing charges including felony vandalism, resisting arrest, assault and battery on a police officer, and battery with serious bodily injury inflicted.

The protest reportedly began outside the Market Street Westfield Mall, blocking traffic on the street. Protesters marched down the street toward Union Square and surrounded the Christmas tree and ice skating rink. They were chanting  “free Palestine” and “cease-fire now,” and had signs that said, “No Xmas as usual in a genocide” and “DA Jenkins drop all charges on the Bay Bridge 78,” according to the Chronicle.

As we previously reported, about 200 people gathered at the SF Hall of Justice on December 18 to protest DA Brook Jenkins' decision to charge 78 Bay Bridge Gaza protesters with multiple misdemeanors.

PREVIOUSLY: Pro-Palestine Protester Climbs Union Square Christmas Tree In SF

Feature image of festive Union Square via Getty Images/pikappa.

The two-story, walk-in, 7,750-brick gingerbread house is back to spice up San Francisco’s holiday season, and the icing on the cake is that you can book a dinner inside of it.

Nob Hill’s esteemed Fairmont San Francisco has been placing its famed life-size gingerbread house in the lobby for 13 years now, but this year the architectural gingerbread marvel has snowballed into something bigger, better, and sweeter than ever.

The 2023 incarnation boasts 7,750 real gingerbread bricks, 1,500 pounds of royal icing, and 700 pounds of candy, a task requiring so much work that the project began in July. But this feast for the eyes is now on display at the Fairmont through New Year's.

“The Fairmont San Francisco has been building the famed Gingerbread House for more than 10 years,” Fairmont Hotels spokesperson Michelle Heston tells SFist. “Each year the team takes great pride in enhancing, expanding and adding more holiday magic.”

The 2023 Fairmont gingerbread house towers two stories tall; 22 feet high and 23 feet wide. And its halls are decked with a dazzling array of Christmas lights, plus detailed accessories of edible gumdrops, gingerbread cookies, candy canes, and peppermint balls.

“The Pastry Shop spends approximately 375 hours creating the gingerbread house,” Heston says. “The Engineering Department works 520 hours to construct its framework.”

And for good measure, there are chocolate Santas, too. “For the past several years, the hotel has partnered with See’s Candies,” she explains. “They provide all the candy for the decoration of the house.”

But you will notice that some of the edible house accessories have been plucked — particularly those at kids-arm level. All of them will be replaced by hand the following morning.

“Kids and ‘kids at heart’ often find it too tempting not to take a bite or swipe a candy,” according to Heston. “Each early morning, the pastry department elves work to replace missing candies.”

Absolutely anyone can enter the life-size Fairmont gingerbread house walk-in area (which has a working train). Its 10½-foot clearance is welcoming to both Tiny Tims and the tallest of Tims.

And the gingerbread house is open to the public, located in a lobby area that does not require hotel registration. But yes, you can book a dining experience inside the “private Gingerbread” for up to eight guests. Booking information is available here, though prices are not listed. Last year it was a $300 reservation, with a $1,200 minimum on food and beverage. So you’re probably looking at $1,500-plus experience, just to manage expectations.

But again, the Fairmont gingerbread house is absolutely free to visit and enjoy for anyone, and kids of all ages. (For kids of a certain age, there is a Lobby Champagne Bar.) Plus the gingerbread house is sustainably built. “In maintaining the hotel’s commitment to the environment, each year the framework is recycled, and the edible ingredients are composted,” Heston says.

The Fairmont gingerbread house is on display daily through the New Year, from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., at 950 Mason Street (at California Street). And for other festive Fairmont attractions, there’s a Holiday Tea at 1 p.m. on Thursdays through Sundays, and Santa Suites packages for holly, jolly overnighters.

Related: Life-Size Gingerbread House Back At Fairmont Hotel, And You Can Book A Dinner Inside It [SFist]

Image: Fairmont-San-Francisco.com

The annual, abominable snowman of a pub crawl known as Santacon returns Saturday, and here’s how you better watch out for the damned thing, or else Santa yourself up and ride the tide of Yule.

Red Alert! Consider yourself warned that Santacon returns with bells on this Saturday, December 9, bringing drunken fools in Santa costumes getting black-out drunk during the daytime all over the streets of San Francisco with their unpermitted, unsanctioned meetup and pub crawl. It’s SF’s 28th annual iteration of the Christmas cosplay bacchanal that dates back to 1994 — the era of its early Cacophony Society days when it was also colloquially known as Santarchy — and it has since spread to dozens of other cities worldwide.

You will either think that Santacon used to be cool but jumped the shark more than a decade ago and turned into a drunken disgrace, or that it is still absolutely the most glorious pub crawl on the whole calendar. Your feelings on this probably depend on your age.

Santacon SF 2023 starts at Union Square at 12 noon Saturday, and then goes awry to various SF neighborhoods that have lots of bars.

HOW TO AVOID SANTACON

The best way to avoid Santacon is to just stay home! But if you must go out, you’ll want to avoid Union Square for sure, and you’ll likely also be seeing red in Polk Gulch, the Tenderloin, Nob Hill, and North Beach. The Marina may also be highly infested with Santas reeking of Axe body spray.

Santacon’s horrible reputation is richly deserved. The deplorable Santas have become known for leaving a stream of broken bottles, vomit, and urine behind them, and many bars have banned Santacon revelers. The nadir of Santacon may have come in the early 2010s, when Eater SF published their handy “NO SANTAS: Go back to the North Pole” signage for establishments to post in 2012. The original organizers also declared Santacon dead in 2014. That came on the heels of one frustrated New York resident penning the angry 2013 New York Times op-ed begging city officials to “Bring Drunken Santas Under Control.”

Yet, still, a new generation of elves has grown into the outfit and taken over the informal organizing of the apparently unkillable Santacon. And since San Francisco is still a town that loves to day-drink like no other, especially when costumes are involved, this thing has taken on a life of its own well beyond those more modest early years.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN SANTACON

Mamacita… Dónde Esta Santacon?

As mentioned above, Santacon starts at 12 noon at Union Square. Participants are asked to bring an unwrapped toy to donate to Santacon’s toy drive. After the Union Square meetup, the flash mob of Santas will rooty-toot-toot and rummy-tum-tum all over town in ways impossible to predict, but likely migrating towards neighborhoods with plenty of bars.

NOTE: Do not buy tickets to Santacon! It’s a free event! For the third year in a row, some shysters are trying to market Santacon as something you have to pay for, and their execrable marketing is seen above. This year they’re charging between $29.99-$49.99 for something you do not have to pay to participate in (oh, but they’re also offering a “FREE Exclusive NFT”!). Nothing but a lump of coal and maybe an NFT for them!

Santacon SF 2023 is Saturday, December 9, starting at 12 noon Union Square, and then debauching about the city.

Related: Rival ‘Sexy’ SantaCon Angers Traditional SantaCon with $20 Wristband Fee, Cheesecake Advertising [SFist]

Image via Facebook

The 22-foot-tall, 3,300-brick life-size gingerbread house is back at the Fairmont Hotel atop Nob Hill, and you too can make a dinner reservation to eat inside of it, for what shakes down to about a $1,500 minimum.

World-famous tiki bar the Tonga Room has been bumped from being the most festive, kitschiest attraction at the Fairmont Hotel for the holidays, as it traditionally is. The Fairmont Hotel’s life-size gingerbread house is back for 2022, as KGO reports in a holly, jolly segment below. It’s the twelfth year for this delectable domicile, and since its original iteration, it grew to two stories in 2012, later added an internal dining room (for people!) and this year contains 3,300 gingerbread bricks, and took approximately 520 hours to build.

“With hundreds of bricks of real gingerbread baked by our pastry team and pounds of See’s Candies, our Gingerbread House display brings out the kid in everyone,” the Fairmont web page says. “Looking for a special treat? Book a dining experience inside the private Gingerbread [House] for up to 8 guests and take in the scents and sounds of the holiday season."

Does this look like COVID safe indoor dining to you? If so, two-hour private dining reservations in here are available for parties of up to eight people. The reservation itself is $300, and it’s a $1,200 minimum on food and beverage. So you’re looking at a minimum of a $1,500 for the experience, and that’s before taxes and gratuities.

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But there's no denying it’s an architectural gingerbread marvel. “We started around November 7 or so, just like building a house, it’s literally brick by brick,” Fairmont executive chef Michael Quigley tells KGO. “For cement they use royal icing, and instead of bricks they use gingerbread bricks. We actually started baking the bricks for the house back in July.”

This year’s structure uses 1,500 pounds of royal icing, which is effectively powdered sugar, egg whites, and vinegar. “It’s better than Super Glue,” Quigley says. “It keeps the house together.”

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Even if you don’t have the $1,500 laying around for a private dining experience, the Fairmont Hotel’s gingerbread house is free to visit. And it seems that kids enjoying relieving the house of some of its decorative candy.

“I have to have my little team of elves come through every morning and kind of replace the candy that children have eaten,” Quigley adds. “Especially those big chocolate Santas, they like to break them off.”

Related: Solano County Home Featured on 'Great Christmas Light Fight' [SFist]

Image: Fairmont-San-Francisco.com

Tom BetGeorge, the lighting designer whose holiday light displays on his home in Tracy at Halloween and Christmas time have been the stuff of much local-news fodder the past few years, is back at it, but with new personal meaning to this year's work.

BetGeorge, a former music teacher in the East Bay, parlayed his talent for LED shows set to music into a small business in recent years, as SFist has noted previously. He began with locally famous light shows on his home in Fremont back in 2014, and he popped back on our radar last year at Halloween and Christmas, when he set his show to the holiday mashup tune "Sarajevo" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

This year, as he tells ABC 7, the music choice was "Titanium" by David Guetta and Sia — not exactly the soundtrack to a holiday show, per se, but BetGeorge picked it for a special reason.

Referencing the lyrics, BetGeorge says that his wife survived a stroke while pregnant this year, and he wanted the show to honor her strength.

"She barely survived and is the strongest person I've ever known," BetGeorge tells ABC 7. "She's truly 'bulletproof'."

Enjoy:

The new Xbox Series X is hard to come by in stores, but it will be free for some lucky youngsters at the four Bay Area UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital locations.

Hayward native, former professional wrestler, and generally very highly regarded human being Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson put out a press release last week, announced via the Xbox website, that he was giving free Xbox consoles to 50,000 kids at children’s hospitals across the country. The sharp eyes at KPIX noticed an interesting local detail — the Bay Area’s UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital is one of the children's hospitals getting the Xboxes, so The Rock will rock some local kids’ holiday season pretty hard.  

This is the just-released new Xbox console called the Xbox Series X, and these brave hospitalized youngsters got the new video game console before it was available to the public. These things are apparently in very short supply as coronavirus has affected the retail and production chain. PC Magazine says that the console is “out of stock at all the major retailers” and that “you’ll have to go to eBay, where third-party merchants are hawking the hardware for at least twice the normal pricing.” Walmart says they’ll be selling them online only as of Black Friday, so these kids are getting something pretty rare and special.

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Yes, there are clearly several different levels of marketing “synergy” at work here. But the end result is a nice thing, as video games are understandably an important coping mechanism for children in hospitals.

“Me, as being an avid gamer, I just remember the nights when I would stay up all night long, and I would just get my ass kicked playing games,” Johnson says in the video above.

Honestly, The Rock, is that how we talk to kids these days?

Fans of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson may know that he and his family all tested positive for COVID-19 in September. But he is now out of quarantine and appears in good health.

Related: The Rock Is In Town Shooting 'Ballers' And Greeting Fans, Should Be Easy To Spot [SFist]

Image: HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 10: Dwayne Johnson speaks during a Hand and Footprint ceremony honoring Kevin Hart at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on December 10, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jean Baptiste Lacroix/Getty Images)

Tom Taylor, the creator of the Tom & Jerry House Christmas display with its enormous tree at 21st and Church Street passed away last week. The cause was reportedly prostate cancer.

At 77, Taylor had spent a significant amount of his life devoted to the gay community of the Castro, to LGBTQ activism, and to bringing joy to others come December with a display outside the home he shared with husband Jerry Goldstein that grew and grew over the years — a product both of Taylor's whims and engineering know-how.

As Taylor told SFist in 2015, the tree had started out as a houseplant purchased at Cost Plus Nursery in 1970. A few years later it was too big for the living room and Taylor transplanted it outside where it "grew and grew" to over 60 feet tall in more recent years.

"The roots found the sewer pipe and went crazy," he said. "People always ask 'where did you bring it in from?' and I say 'The North Pole, which is South of Market.'"

"It got so big that I couldn’t just throw lights on it anymore,” he said. “I wanted it to be like what you experience when you were a child, because the most important thing to you when you were a child was the presents, the toys and the stuff you’re going to get."

Taylor decorated the tree as one would a normal Christmas tree, but his design sense eventually led him to create outsize ornaments to better fit the scale of the tree as it grew. Then he had to make everything around it, including the wrapped presents, larger as well, eventually constructing an entire theater set around the tree each year, girded by steel framework underneath, that dwarfed the house itself.

As friend and fellow activist Cleve Jones tells the Chronicle, Taylor was well known in the community for his ingenuity and creative abilities. "It was like he was some sort of crazy gay engineer," Jones said. "He could do anything, really. He could fix your HVAC system or make you a ball gown."

Taylor also took it upon himself to repair and replace the huge rainbow flag that flies over Harvey Milk Plaza at Castro and Market, as needed when it became tattered — and as Jones recalls, he made sure to remind everyone it could never fly at half mast because it would get entangled with the overhead Muni lines.

Taylor was also one of the rare long-term survivors of HIV, having been diagnosed in 1983 when it was an all but certain death sentence — and he and Goldstein, like Jones, watched a legion of friends of die in the 1980s and 90s.

Jones, who wrote in his own memoir about the experience of surviving the AIDS crisis long enough to receive the drug cocktails that saved countless lives starting in the mid-1990s, tells the Chronicle, "Some people were very badly hurt by the experience [of AIDS]. And some of us just turned out to be tough as nails. Tom was tough as nails."

While he and Goldstein were also well known for their fundraising for various causes, Taylor will be best remembered by the public for that audacious, over-the-top tree. It's unclear whether plans have been made to keep the tradition going after his death.

Eating on Christmas means stuffing yourself stupid, regardless of your religion, lack thereof, or place on the socioeconomic hierarchy. So we here at SFist broke down San Francisco/Bay Area restaurants open on Christmas Day by price range, culinary genre, and delivery status so you can order food for celebrating Hannukah, feed tourists a fancy meal, or call for delivery so you can lay around in your underwear watching the Warriors game.

To help you find the type of restaurant whose cuisine you crave on Christmas Day, we’ve grouped restaurants by the following categories arranged in this order so you can just scroll right to the section you want:

• Chinese Food on Christmas
  
• Fine Dining on Christmas
  
• Casual Eats on Christmas
  
• Movies and Shows Serving Christmas Dinner
  
• East Bay Restaurants Open on Christmas
  
• Delivery Available on Christmas
  

CHINESE FOOD ON CHRISTMAS

It’s not a given that your favorite Chinese restaurant will be open on Christmas. Mission Chinese Food will be closed December 25, as will Chinatown’s Mister Jiu’s and the East Bay’s iconic Shan Dong. R&G Lounge is already fully booked up for December 25 and Kung Pao Kosher Comedy is sold out, but there are still some excellent Christmas Day Chinese food options available for Jews and gents alike.

San Tung
We should note that San Tung is a very well-reviewed Chinese restaurant open 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. on Christmas Day. We should also note San Tung has received a Poor Safety Score on Yelp recently.
1033 Irving Street between 11rh Avenue and 12th Avenue, and 1031 Irving Street between 11rh Avenue and 12th Avenue,

Z&Y Restaurant
At the North Beach / Chinatown border, Z&Y Restaurant is open and serving during normal hours on Christmas Day.
655 Jackson St between Grant Street and Kearny Street

Chinatown Restaurant
Janky on the outside and gorgeous on the inside, Chinatown Restaurant is open their normal 10 a.m.-10 p.m. hours on Christmas Day with Cantonese, Szechuan, and fixed menus for $16.95 or $20.95.
744 Washington Street between Kearny Street and Grant Street

Koi Palace
This is the only Daly City restaurant on this list, but Koi Palace merits inclusion thanks to its Christmas Day hours and transcendently tacky interior.
365 Gellert Boulevard between Serramonte Boulevard and Hickey Boulevard, Daly City

Yank Sing
There are two Yank Sings in San Francisco, but they’re both open 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Christmas Day. One is near the Embarcadero, the other in the Financial District.
49 Stevenson Street between First Street and Second Street, and 101 Spear Street between Mission Street and Howard Street

Terra Cotta Warrior
Also operating with the “mid-day break” of many Chinese restaurants, the Outer Sunset’s Terra Cotta Warrior is open 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 - 9:30 p.m. on Christmas Day.
2555 Judah Street between 30th Avenue and 31st Avenue

Hunan’s Home
No frills and usually packed, Hunan’s Home will open at 11:30 on Christmas Day and remain open until 9:30 p.m.
622 Jackson Street between Kearny Street and Grant Avenue

Just Go To Chinatown
People, there are dozens Chinese restaurants all over Chinatown that are open on Christmas Day.
Between Kearny Street and Powell Street

TRACE (Image: Ken H via Flickr)

FINE DINING ON CHRISTMAS
Many fine dining establishments are open to style you out on Christmas Day, especially hotel restaurants, and oh were their publicists happy to alert SFist of their executive chefs’ Christmas Day specials.

TRACE
Get your Christmas Dungeness crab fix in elegant style at the W Hotel’s TRACE, who are also serving grilled ribeye with oxtail marmalade, seared Black Cod with charred Cipollini and a chocolate mousse bar with sea salt caramel for dessert.
181 Third Street between Mission Street and Howard Street

Ruth’s Chris Steak House
More like Ruth’s Christmas Steak House, ammirite? They’re open Noon to 8 p.m. on Christmas Day.
1601 Van Ness Avenue between Sacramento Street and California Street

Americano Restaurant & Bar
In the Embarcadero’s Hotel Vitale, Americano is offering a special Christmas Day three-course prix-fixe menu at $70 per person, featuring Crispy Curry Potato Pancakes, Roasted Duck Breast and Cranberry Brown Butter Tart.
8 Mission Street between Steuart and The Embarcadero

The Grill at The St. Regis San Francisco
A pop-up that’s gone permanent, The Grill in St. Regis San Francisco grills up an opulent four-course Christmas Day menu featuring roasted half Maine lobster with braised manila clams, sweet potato fritter and sorrel leaves and Snake River Farm ribeye of beef with yellow beans, celery root purée, hazelnuts and veal jus. It’s $115, with an additional wine pairing at $55.
125 Third Street between Mission Street and Howard Street

Campton Place
For a two-Michelin star Christmas dinner, Campton Place has a five-course meal at $158 per person.
340 Stockton Street between Sutter Street and Post Street

Big 4 Restaurant
The fellow at the piano will presumably be playing some Christmas tunes, and Chef Miguel Garcia will definitely be serving a three-course tasting menu from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. It’s $125.00 per person and they say “seating is very limited!”
1075 California Street between Taylor Street and Mason Street

Morton’s The Steakhouse
Limited hours on Christmas Day (4 p.m. - 9 p.m.), but Morton’s The Steakhouse will still be sizzling.
400 Post Street between Powell Street and Mason Street

The Cavalier
They will probably not have the Cavaliers-Warriors game on at The Cavalier, but the Hotel Zetta restaurant will have a prix fixe holiday menu. Reservations are required.
360 Jessie Street between Mission Street and Market Street

Roy’s
The three-course holiday menu for $59.95 is a pretty good deal for food of this quality, though the normal Hawaiian fusion menu will be otherwise limited on Christmas Day.
101 Second Street between Mission Street and Howard Street.

Hornblower Cruise
Christmas dinner on a yacht! Is that classy or tacky? Either way, it’s a Churrasco feast with an accompanying seasonal menu. On a boat, motherf******!
Pier 3 at The Embarcadero

L’Olivier (CAUTION! OBNOXIOUS AUTOPLAY MUSIC ON LINK!)
There’s a special Christmas menu and you can totally click on that link without the obnoxious music autoplaying as it does on the homepage of L’Olivier.
465 Davis Street between Jackson Street and Washington Street

Cliff House
Both The Bistro and Sutro’s are open Christmas Day at the Cliff House, though The Bistro only takes walk-ins so you are probably looking at a lengthy wait. Still, the view!
1090 Point Lobos Avenue between Seal Rock Drive and Balboa Street

1300 on Fillmore
You will probably require reservations for Christmas Day at 1300 on Fillmore, as they’re only doing three seatings (2 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.).
1300 Fillmore Street between Eddy Street and Ellis Street

Zingari
Inside the Donatello Hotel, Zingari is doing a three-course prix fixe for Christmas except they call it a “prezzo fisso”.
501 Post Street between Taylor Street and Mason Street

Brasserie S&P
The Christmas menu is $75 a pop and served from 4 p.m. - 9 p.m. at this Loews Regency Hotel restaurant.
22 Sansome Street between Pine Street and California Street

Albona Ristorante Istriano
How about a Croatian or Slovenian Christmas dinner? ‘Cause that’s what’s happening from 5 p.m. -10 p.m. at Albona Ristorante Istriano.
545 Francisco Street between Taylor Street and Mason Street

Beso Bistronomia
For brunch (11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.) and dinner (3-10 p.m.) there is a four-course prix fixe offered on Christmas Day.
4058 18th Street between Hartford and Castro Street

Scala’s Bistro
Italian and seafood hot spot Scala’s Bistro is just doing breakfast (8 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.) and brunch (11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.) on Christmas Day.
432 Powell Street between Sutter Street and Post Street

Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse
Churrasco feast is in effect from 11:30 a.m. - 9 p.m. at Fogo de Chao.
201 Third Street between Howard Street and Folsom Street

Finn Town (Image: Lesley M.C. via Yelp)

CASUAL EATS ON CHRISTMAS

Finn Town
The hot new Finn Town in the Castro is serving Short Rib and Sloppy Joe specials on Christmas Day (5 p.m. - 12:30 a.m.), but the important thing here is that on Christmas Eve from 5 p.m. - 1:30 a.m. anyone wearing anything red gets a free shot of homemade Fireball! They do not want to run that promotion during SantaCon.
2251 Market Street between Sanchez Street and Noe Street

Bisou Bistronomy
For fine dining flair on a gig economy budget, Bisou Bistronomy is doing an excellent Christmas Day prix fixe that’s seven courses for just $70.
2367 Market Street between Noe Street and Castro Street

Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessesn
Of course these guys are open on Christmas Day! But their Ferry Building location is not. Check their three other locations for Christmas Day hours.
3150 24th Street between Shotwell Street and South Van Ness Avenue, 1520 Fillmore between Geary Street and O’Farrell Street, and 736 Mission Street between Third Street and Fourth Street

Fior D’Italia
Pig out Italian style at the classy but moderately priced San Remo Hotel restaurant open Christmas Day from 1-9 p.m.
2237 Mason Street between Chestnut Street and Francisco Street

Mission Beach Cafe
Pie and mimosas, people! They’re open til 6 p.m.
198 Guerrero Street between 14th Street and Duboce Avenue

Pinecrest Diner
This fabulous and notorious greasy spoon is always open, including the full 24 hours of Christmas Day.
410 Geary Street between Mason Street and Taylor Street

Cafe Mason
The slightly less greasy spoon at Cafe Mason is also doing 24-hour duty for Christmas.
320 Mason Street between Geary Street and O’Farrell Street

Mangia Tutti
They’re only open for dinner (5-10 p.m.), but the FiDi’s Mangia Tutti is serving their Italian fare on Christmas Day.
635 Clay Street between Montgomery Street and Kearny Street

Jane
Your healthy, fair-trade vegetarian and salad options, should you want those, are on hand at both Jane cafe locations on Christmas Day.
2123 Fillmore between California Street and Sacramento Street, and 925 Larkin Street between Geary Street and Post Street

Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers (Image: Dennis Hearne via Facebook)

MOVIES AND SHOWS SERVING CHRISTMAS DINNER

Biscuits and Blues
Whoa, Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers are doing a Christmas show with dinner served? Actually, they’re doing two shows (7 p.m. and 9 p.m.)
410 Mason Street between Geary Street and Post Street

Alamo Drafthouse Theater
They deliver great food to your seat, and on Christmas Day the Alamo Drafthouse is screening Rogue One, La La Land, Fences, and Manchester by the Sea.
2550 Mission Street between 21st Street and 22nd Street

Sundance Kabuki
The Sundance Kabuki serves really excellent dinner dishes, along with a space-age “beeper” that lets you know when your is ready, which is perfect for watching Rogue One.
1881 Post Street between Geary Street and Post Street

Lungomare (Image: Martin W via Yelp)

EAST BAY RESTAURANTS OPEN ON CHRISTMAS

HS Lordships
It’s a big ol’ Christmas Day Champagne Buffet with crab legs, ham, and a carving station going from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Santa will allegedly show up at this Berkeley bayside restaurant to visit with the kids.
199 Seawall Drive in the Berkeley Marina

Lungomare
Ham, swordfish, prime rib and all the high-calorie Christmas dishes are served from Noon to 8 p.m. at Oakland’s Lungomare.
1 Broadway at Jack London Square

Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto
Berkeley seafood favorite Spenger’s has two non-seafood prix fixe options on Christmas, with a roasted turkey or a prime beef.
1919 Fourth Street between Hearst Avenue and University Avenue

FIVE
Bottomless mimosas are going throughout brunch on Christmas Day (10 a.m. - 2 p.m.) along with a $70 full buffet at the Berkeley bistro. Reservations are recommended.
2086 Allston Way between Shattuck Avenue and Milvia Way

Cafe Colucci
Do they know it’s Christmas at the Ethiopian Cafe Colucci in Oakland? They do, because they’re closing early at 6 p.m. but still available for lunch and dinner until then.
6427 Telegraph Avenue between Alcatraz Avenue and 65th Street

Saul’s Restaurant & Deli
Saul’s in Berkeley is happily open from 8 a.m. (!) to 9 p.m. on Christmas Day.
1475 Shattuck Avenue between Rose Street and Vine Street

Ba Le Sandwich Shop
Even earlier than that, Oakland’s cult hit, no-frills Vietnamese sandwich shop is open all day, beginning at 7 a.m.
1909 International Boulevard between 19th Avenue and 20th Avenue

Crazy Pepper (Image : Silky S via Yelp)

DELIVERY AVAILABLE ON CHRISTMAS

Crazy Pepper
The Crazy Pepper restaurant is seating on Christmas Day, but I’m guessing none of you are going to hike out to its unfashionable backwoods Excelsior location. Call for delivery, there’s a game on.
2257 San Jose Avenue between Geneva Avenue and Seneca Avenue

Pizza Zone N Grill
Despite the trashy name, I would argue that Pizza Zone N Grill delivers the very finest chicken wings in San Francisco. Of course Brock Keeling would disagree. They’re open Christmas til 2 a.m.
178 Valencia Street between Duboce Avenue and Market Street

Seniore’s Pizza
There are actually six Bay Area locations delivering on Christmas Day (including Berkeley, San Mateo, San Bruno, and Santa Clara), but the Seniore’s Pizza shops in the Western Addition and the Sunset are both delivering too.
559 Divisadero Street between Fell Street and Hayes Street, and 2415 19th Avenue between Taraval Street and Ulloa Street

AllStar Donuts
You would need to use Postmates, GrubHub or some delivery service to get AllStar Donuts and their signature garbage burgers delivered on Christmas Day, as the establishments do not deliver. But all four AllStar Donuts locations are open on Christmas, which is just hilarious.
399 Fifth Street between Folsom Street and Harrison Street, 98 Ninth Street between Market Street and Mission Street, 901 Clement Street between 10th Avenue and 11th Avenue, 290 Golden Gate Avenue between Leavenworth Street and Hyde Street

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