Despite soaring energy costs, you can cool off in this billowy pillow of fog for practically nothing. All you need is some money for gas and bridge toll - or ferry ticket - and you've got the Emerald City at your feet.
This weekend, there's a particularly good reason for families to head the city - FREE. Target's Arts & Wonder Free Family Event offers free general admission to six leading museums today through Sunday. The museums take turns welcoming families with art activities and performances in what amounts to a progressive free-for-all of cultural fun.
We chose five museums to highlight, then threw in five more freebies for families looking to bust out of Dodge without busting the bank. (For a complete list of museums offering free admission this weekend, go to onlyinsanfrancisco.com/target.)
Here are our Top 10 free things to do in the City by the Bay this weekend:
1. The De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park opens its doors for free general admission from 5 to 8:45 p.m. Friday, July 16. The museum will host a free ballet performance — a nod to Impressionist painter Edgar Degas — in conjunction with its special exhibit, “Birth of Impressionism.” Tonight, tickets to the special Impressionist exhibit are available at a discounted price of $15 for adults and $10 for children ages 6 to 17. Kids 5 and under are free. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. (famsf.org/deyoung.)
2. The Asian Art Museum, in the busy Civic Center, opens its gates for free from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 17. The museum, which displays Asian artwork from India to Japan, will offer storytelling tours that bring to life the many gods and goddesses, emperors and philosophers of the Far East. If you want to see the “Shanghai” exhibit, the cornerstone of the museum's year-long celebration of San Francisco's sister city, it'll cost $5 for adults 18 and over, but zero for kids 17 and younger. 200 Larkin Street. (asianart.org.)
3. The San Francisco Musuem of Modern Art (SFMOMA) downtown will be open for free from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, July 18. Located near Yerba Buena Gardens, the museum displays ean exhibit of larger-than-life artwork, and will invite young people to turn an every-day object into something 10 times its size. 151 Third Street. (sfmoma.org.)
4. San Francisco's Children's Museum. While you're in the area, stop by the high-tech Zeum, which offers free admission from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, July 18, plus free rides on its 1906-era carousel. Kids interested in animation can sculpt and film their own clay animation, giving them a hands-on experience of multimedia arts and technology. 221 Fourth Street at Howard. (zeum.org.)
5. Yerba Buena Gardens is celebrating 10 years of free outdoor programs this year with its gala Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. Polish up your samba steps and bring a feathery costume to celebrate the international spirit of Carnaval from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, July 18 in the outdoor gardens. A free concert includes performances by Mas Makers Massive, SambAsia, Fogo Na Roupa, Sistas-wit-Style, Tambores de Colombian Soul, Latin All Stars, Chelle! and Friends and Mixtiso. 760 Howard Street. (ybgf.org.)
6. San Francisco Art Exchange. If you find yourself near Union Square, check out the new “Beatles to Bowie” photography exhibit opening Saturday at the Art Exchange. The show of original photos, taken by rock photographers from 1962 through 1974, runs through mid-August. A free opening-night reception will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 17. 458 Geary Street. (sfae.com.)
7. Stern Grove. At the western edge of the city, Stern Grove will present an electro-global concert at 2 p.m. Sunday, July 18, as part of its free summertime festival. Take a spin around the world with gypsy-jazzsters Caravan Palace and Latin rockers DePedro, but make sure you get there early to nab a spot for your blanket and picnic basket. Sigmund Stern Grove, 19th Ave. and Sloat Blvd. (sterngrove.org.)
8. Golden Gate Park offers a wide array of free activities for the whole family. Here's just one possible scenario: Music lovers can listen to The Golden Gate Park Band tooting its own horn at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 18, during a free concert at the renovated Spreckles Temple of Music on the Music Concourse. Then green-thumb gurus can head over to the San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum, which offers a free tour at 2 p.m. Sunday, departing from the north entrance's Friend Gate. (sfbotanicalgarden.org.) Finally, grab your in-line skates and glide en masse to the Skatin' Place, 6th Avenue and JFK Drive. Every Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., Kennedy Drive is closed to auto traffic and transformed into an outdoor roller rink. Bikers and strollers also welcome.
9. Crissy Field. If you're looking for a patch of coast to hike with the kids and the dog, it would be hard to beat Crissy Field, boasting 100 acres of windswept shoreline with stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, keeling sailboats and kite surfers. The former military airfield (which closed in 1974) and restored salt marsh stretches from Fort Point to the Marina Green. Bring a sweatshirt for cool afternoon winds and plan to stop at the Warming Hut cafe for a snack. You can park on Mason Street near the Exploratorium or at Fort Point, just below the Golden Gate Bridge. (parksconservancy.org.)
