For three afternoons in October, Marina Green becomes the city's grandstand. On Tuesday, October 13, the Marina's calendar shifts east to Fort Mason and moves to weeknights. Several of the newest places on Chestnut Street already keep weeknight hours.
The Fleet Week weekend draws the crowds and the closures. The Fort Mason week that follows is quieter, and most of it is free. In between sits a Chestnut Street that has spent the summer adding places built for a Wednesday night.
| Date | What | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, Oct 8 | Arrival and practice survey flights, listed but not guaranteed | Marina Green | 1 to 5 p.m. |
| Fri, Oct 9 | Parade of Ships, then the Air Show | Waterfront, reviewing stand at Marina Green | 11 a.m. to noon, then noon to 4 p.m. |
| Sat to Sun, Oct 10 to 11 | Air Show with the Blue Angels | Marina Green | Noon to 4 p.m. |
| Tue, Oct 13 | Circus by the Bay | Cowell Theater, Fort Mason | 7 to 8:30 p.m. |
| Wed, Oct 14 | San Francisco Fall Show Opening Night Gala | Fort Mason | Evening |
| Thu to Sun, Oct 15 to 18 | San Francisco Fall Show | Fort Mason | Show hours |
| Fri, Oct 16 | Fort Mason Night Market | Fort Mason Center | 5 to 10 p.m. |
Three afternoons when the Green belongs to the whole city
Fleet Week's Air Show runs October 9, 10 and 11, from noon to 4 p.m. each day at Marina Green. General admission is free, and the lineup includes the Blue Angels and a United 777 demonstration. The Navy's own 2026 schedule lists the Blue Angels in San Francisco on October 10 and 11. Saturday and Sunday are the safer bets for the jets. Friday is better treated as the opening act.
On Friday morning the Parade of Ships comes in under the Golden Gate Bridge. The procession is visible from there to the Bay Bridge, and the reviewing stand is at Marina Green. The San Francisco Fire Department leads with its fireboat throwing jets of water into the air. Fleet Week's dedicated parade page gives 11 a.m. to noon. The organizer's general events list shows a 10:30 a.m. start. Arriving at the earlier time covers both.
Thursday, October 8 is listed on Funcheap as an arrival and practice survey flight day over Marina Green from 1 to 5 p.m. The listing says Thursday flights are typical but not guaranteed.
Paid seating sits beside the free lawn. Reserved Aviators Choice Premium Box Seats on the waterfront are listed at $192.50 including fees. The Marina Green Flight Deck Club adds shade, a buffet lunch and private restrooms, and its listed prices run several times that. Neither ticket includes parking.
The Presidio closes its eastern gates at noon this year
The biggest change for anyone living along the Marina's western edge is happening next door. The Presidio says there are "important differences this year." Starting at noon on Saturday and Sunday, several streets and the park's eastern entrances close to cars, and the closure explicitly includes autonomous vehicles, Uber and Lyft.
- Entrances closed to cars: Arguello Boulevard, Presidio Boulevard, Lombard Street and Mason Street.
- Streets closed to cars: Montgomery Street, Anza Street from Lincoln to Graham, Mason Street from Marina Boulevard, and Halleck Street.
- Still open: cyclists, the Presidio GO Shuttle and Muni buses, at all times.
- Already parked inside: cars in the park before noon can leave once the closures start. No car can enter after that.
- Rideshare: all pickup and drop-off zones are on the Main Post, near the Presidio Visitor Center and the Presidio Officers' Club.
The Presidio expects waterfront parking to fill early. Special-event rates of $9 an hour or $45 a day apply Saturday and Sunday. The free Presidio GO Downtown Route runs every 15 minutes on both days from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Muni changes are concentrated at one corner the Marina knows well. SFMTA is adding 28 and 49 service from Friday through Sunday. The 28 runs a shortened route with its inbound terminal at Van Ness and North Point, and the 49 runs between 11th and Mission and Van Ness and North Point. The agency warns that the 28, 30 and 49 may be delayed near that Van Ness terminal. For the waterfront, SF Travel points to the 22 for Marina Green and the 30 for Crissy Field.
On Tuesday the calendar moves to Fort Mason
The noise ends Sunday at 4 p.m. Two days later, Fort Mason starts a run of evenings that fills the rest of the workweek.
Fort Mason Art's fall "Points of Departure" series presents Circus by the Bay on Tuesday, October 13, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Cowell Theater. The program pairs a panel with live performances. On Wednesday, the San Francisco Fall Show holds its Opening Night Gala on October 14, and the show itself runs October 15 through 18. On Friday, October 16, the Fort Mason Night Market brings food, craft vendors and music to Fort Mason Center from 5 to 10 p.m., with free admission.
Two free exhibitions on the campus make the week easy to extend. Haines Gallery's group show 250 Years, Indigenous Futures, which centers Native American artists, is in Building C through Saturday, November 7. At the Guardhouse, FOR-SITE's new installation Attentive Earth by Muzae Sesay and Alexcia Sundra is on view through January 24, 2027.
In a single block of weeknights, someone could see a circus panel on Tuesday, browse the Fall Show on Thursday and walk the Night Market on Friday, all within walking distance and mostly free. Fleet Week can't offer that kind of week, because it is built for a weekend.
Chestnut Street now keeps weeknight hours too
The clearest example is at 2336 Chestnut Street. Causwells' small side room has had a few lives. It was Lilah, a low-proof concept, and then Super Mensch, a Jewish-deli-inspired spot that closed in May. Since August it has run on a split schedule. From Friday through Monday it serves as overflow seating for Causwells. From Tuesday through Thursday it becomes the Causwells Martini Room, run by beverage director Elmer Mejicanos and his partner Adam Rosenblum.
The menu lists three styles of martini, dry, bright and juicy, and savory, with three options in each. Food is one appetizer, one entree and one dessert. The appetizer is triple-breaded mozzarella sticks. The entree is a mortadella sandwich on a 48-hour mini focaccia. Dessert is Super Mensch's devil's food cake, now built with 10 layers.
"Everything in that room is martinis. It's a martini church." Elmer Mejicanos, speaking to The Standard
The room is on a deadline. The plan is to keep the Martini Room open until Thanksgiving, when the space switches to Causwells' annual holiday pop-up bar. That leaves Tuesday the 13th and Wednesday the 14th of the Fort Mason week open for a martini before or after the evening's event.
A few blocks away, the rest of the summer's additions follow the same schedule:
- Marina Beach, at 3659 Buchanan Street, is a small South Asian dinner restaurant with natural wine. It opened in June 2026, and Eater SF reviewed it in September.
- La Boulangerie de San Francisco now has a café inside ERIA Marina at 2300 Chestnut Street. It held its grand-opening brunch on Saturday, September 12.
- On, the running brand, opened a 2,800-square-foot store at 2061 Chestnut Street on July 30, selling footwear, apparel and accessories.
- The Bird is planned for 2031 Chestnut Street. As of August, it had no opening date, and the current tenant, Asian Box, was nearing the end of its lease.
None of these depends on a crowd weekend. Marina Beach is a dinner room, La Boulangerie serves coffee and pastries, and On offers shoes for the waterfront path that runs past all of it.
The Green that hosts this show is due for changes
This year's Air Show audience is standing on a waterfront the city has already voted to rework. On April 16, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission approved the concept for the Marina Improvement and Remediation Project. The concept includes a roughly five-acre shallow-water recreation area, an accessible kayak-launch dock, Bay Trail and shoreline changes, a nature area, a lawn, viewpoints and volleyball courts. In its April update, the department said it expected to advertise the construction contract this fall and start construction in mid-2027. That timeline is still a forecast.
For now, the plan for October is simple. The Presidio gates close to cars at noon on October 10 and 11, the Fort Mason week begins at the Cowell Theater at 7 p.m. on October 13, and the Martini Room serves Tuesday through Thursday until Thanksgiving.
At Ardila Costello Team, we follow the Marina's calendar block by block, from Fleet Week weekend to the evenings at Fort Mason, and that local knowledge goes into every campaign we run here. If you are weighing how and when to bring a Marina property to market, Schedule a Confidential Consultation.