The City will begin a 6-week pilot program on Market Street on September 29. The City is testing ways to improve public transit reliability, to provide safe and improved experiences for pedestrians, and to create better connections between north and south districts and neighborhoods. Beginning Tuesday, September 29, private vehicles on eastbound Market Street will be required to turn right at 8th and 6th Streets. The purpose of the trial is to determine if discouraging through traffic on Market Street can improve transit and pedestrian conditions along the corridor. Signs will be installed along eastbound Market Street starting at Van Ness Avenue encouraging drivers to turn off of Market on 10th Street in advance of reaching 8th Street, where the right turn will be required. This trial, which may become permanent if judged successful, will be effective all day, seven days a week. Pedestrians, cyclists, public transit vehicles, taxis, emergency vehicles and delivery vehicles will still have full access to Market Street. This pilot program is the first of several pilot projects designed to determine how best to improve transportation conditions on the Market Street corridor. The City will closely monitor the changes to determine its impacts and will be refined as needed.

At the new Walt Disney Family Museum, opening in San Francisco on October 1, the storyteller becomes the story—with every exhibit detailing and revealing the historic steps in Walt Disney’s magical world.

Housed in three buildings at the 1,491-acre Presidio national park, the museum is filled with animation cels, awards, film gear, family mementos and video and audio displays about Walt Disney—the man, not the company, as the museum’s founders stress.

Visitors can listen to Walt himself (caught on tape by his daughter Diane in the 1950s) and family members and colleagues talking about Disney and his studio’s history. More than 200 monitors throughout the museum play video clips of both Disney and his animated and live-action movies.

The roomy 114-seat screening room will be playing classic Disney movies and is included with your admittance. “Fantasia” plays from Oct. 1 to 19.

The Disney family had thought of locating the museum in Kansas City or Los Angeles, a city more associated with Walt Disney than San Francisco. In the end, the Presidio won because it had the best available building and the collection was already stored nearby. Also, the Bay Area, home to studios such as Pixar and Lucasfilm Ltd., has become an animation hub.

Hours:
Wednesday—Monday, 10am—6pm.

Tickets:
adult: $20:00
seniors (over 65): $15:00
students with valid I.D.: $15:00
children ages 6-17: $12.50
under age 6 free with adult admission
Get tickets online. Groups of guests are allowed inside in 15-minute intervals, so it’s possible for the museum to sell out during the time you want to go – or at least force a long wait.

Location:
104 Montgomery Street
The Presidio of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA 94129

Murals are like peeking into someone’s front window and getting a glimpse of their life: a community remembering it’s past or documenting a political struggle or just bringing beauty to a desolate alley. And the incredible public works of art throughout San Francisco are no exception.

Here are few ideas to get you started….remember, there are reportedly over 600 murals in the City!

Diego Rivera Murals
The most famous of the San Francisco murals is located at The Art Institute of San Francisco, 800 Chestnut Street, open 8am to 9pm daily. “The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City” (1931) is one of 4 murals in the Bay Area painted by Mexican artist Diego Rivera.

Another commissioned mural (in 1940) is the “Pan-American Unity Mural” depicting the marriage of North and South American artistic expression. This notable mural is displayed at its permanent located in the Diego Rivera Theater at San Francisco City College, Ocean Avenue campus.

The Women’s Building Mural
3543 18th Street
This amazing mural was painted in 1994 by Juana Alicia, Miranda Bergman, Edythe Boone, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Meera Desai, Yvonne Littleton and Irene Perez, and many helpers. Covering two exterior walls, “Maestrapeace” is as educational as it is inspirational and serves as a visual testament to the courageous contributions of women through time and around the world. It wraps around the entire building depicting famous women such as Audre Lorde, Georgia O’Keefe, and Rigoberta Menchu. In addition, female icons such as Quan Yin, Yemeyah, and Coyoxauqui lend a timeless and spiritual element to the design.

Coit Tower Murals
Telegraph Hill Blvd.
Public Works Art Project (PWAP, part of the New Deal during the Great Depression) murals, now protected as a historical treasure, can be viewed daily inside the first floor of Coit Tower. These Diego Rivera-inspired murals, many depicting the struggles of working class Americans, were completed in 1933-34. Most murals are done in fresco; the exceptions are one mural done in egg tempera (upstairs, in the last decorated room) and the works done in the elevator foyer, which are oil on canvas. While most of the murals have been restored, a small segment (the spiral stairway exit to the observation platform) was not restored but durably painted over with epoxy surfacing. San Francisco City Guides, a free walking tour of Coit Tower every Saturday at 11:00 AM, gives visitors access to the spiral stairway and second floor murals.

Balmy Alley
Between 24th & 25th St. (south of Folsom Street)
Running straight into a park in a balmy section of San Francisco, this highly political and sometimes whimsical alley started in 1971 and fills the newly cobble-stoned street with Latino and South American murals portraying images of political strife, artistic movements and cultural heroes. Precita Eyes Mural Arts runs walking tours daily throughout the year.

Clarion Alley
One block over from 17th Street between Valencia & Mission
Directly inspired by the mural cluster in Balmy Alley but instead of choosing a single theme focusing on the two goals of social inclusiveness and aesthetic variety. As a result CAMP (Clarion Alley Mural Project) has produced more than 100 murals on and around Clarion Alley by Latino, Caucasian, African-American, Native American, Asian, Indian, Queer and disabled artists of all ages and all levels of experience, with an emphasis on emerging artists and new styles.

Market Street Railway Mural
300 Church Street @ 15th Street in the Castro District
This mural is 12′ high x 38′ wide and the view…..is like taking a walk in the sky and looking at time travel on Market Street from the 1920s to the future. You will appreciate the artist’s sense of humor in many of the details. The artist is Mona Caron, a Swiss-born illustrator. She describes the mural as “a 180-degree bird’s eye view of San Francisco’s Market Street through time”.

This is the perfect chance to catch the newest David Mamet comedy or see the legendary Olympia Dukakis perform or to finally experience live theater, as The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) extends its brand-new 10UP sale program following the huge success for the season opener, Brief Encounter.

$10 second balcony tickets are available to the first 10 performances along with happy hour discounts on drinks for the whole 2009-10 season (excluding
A Christmas Carol). Along with the discounted ticket price, for those 10 performances A.C.T.’s beautiful Sky Bar will open one hour before curtain with happy hour drink discounts on signature cocktails, beer, and wine, making A.C.T. the most affordable and fun entertainment option in the Bay Area.

For more information and to purchase 10UP tickets, visit act-sf.org/10up.