Events Around the Bay

September 19th; Noon to 4 p.m.

Celebrate Chinese American Historical Museum’s 35th Anniversary and City of San Jose Resolution Apology to the Chinese Community 5th Anniversary. The museum showcases a building that was a recreation of the last standing temple in San Jose’s Chinatown torn down in 1949. It was rebuilt in the City of San Jose History Park and gifted the building to the City of San Jose  as a token of friendship in 1991. Since then it is open to the public every Saturday and thanks to the dedicated group of the original founders including among them Ms. Gerrye Wong, the most active and tireless member of the Bay Area Chinese Community, who is leading the way for this history not to be forgotten and for the young generations to continue the rich memories and proud traditions of the first settlers in San Jose, CA. A full day of free festivities and commemoration ceremonies with City officials, Lion and Dragon dancers, the history museum will be open with new exhibits. The children’s art center will welcome and teach arts and crafts to families, present a continual lineup of cultural dance and musical entertainment on a large stage in the middle of the park.

On September 19 celebration, the Chinese community will also be celebrating the fifth anniversary of when San Jose proclaimed a Resolution of Apology to the Chinese community for past discrimination and prejudice to the Chinese pioneer immigrants who settled in San Jose around the turn of the century. In 1991, in the Center of Palms in downtown San Jose, Mayor Sam Loccardo and city officials presented this proclamation publicly to Gerrye Wong and  Connie Young Yu, representatives of the Chinese community and the CHCP group.  San Jose was only the second city in the United States  to issue such an apology from the city to the Chinese community for its unfair treatment of the pioneers during the turn of the century, the Exclusion Act, and many other instances of prejudice. Dion Lim will be guest MC for the day.

Information

Free admission

San Jose History Park in San Jose; Photos courtesy of Gerrye Wong

Violinist Hillary Hahn Inaugurates the SF Symphony’s 2026-27 Season

September 24th at 5:30pm

The San Francisco Symphony celebrates the start of its 2026–27 season on September 24th with a special Opening Gala concert conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero and featuring the virtuoso violinist Hilary Hahn in a performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

The program also includes Bay Area-based composer John Adams’s The Chairman Dances—a “foxtrot for orchestra” written while the composer completed his opera Nixon in China—and Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol, a five-movement orchestral show piece inspired by Spanish folk music.

This spectacular repertoire is serving as an inviting overture to the new and exciting season at Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony’s Opening Gala begins at 5:30pm with a pre-concert lobby reception for attendees 21 years of age and older with complimentary beverages, light bites and catered by McCalls Catering and Events, and pre-concert entertainment.

Information: Concert tickets and dining packages for the Gala are available now via sfsymphony.org.  Photos courtesy of SF Symphony; Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco

Unscripted: An Evening with Michael Douglas in San Francisco

October 11th at 4 pm; at the Golden Gate Theatre  

Academy Award-winning actor Michael Douglas sits down for an intimate, one-night only conversation celebrating his candid new memoir “One Helluva Ride” sharing never-before-heard stories from his legendary Hollywood career, including his complex bond with father Kirk Douglas.

A copy of the book with a signed bookplate is included with each ticket. One of the most celebrated figures in American film, Douglas has built a remarkable career both in front of and behind the camera. Throughout his career, he has received two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He was honored with the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009, two Honorary Caesars in 1998 and 2016, a Film Society at Lincoln Center Gala Tribute in 2010, a Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2004, and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018. Douglas has also served for 27 years as a United Nations Messenger of Peace. Beginning with his fractured childhood and a complex relationship with his superstar father, Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas finally gives the full and uncensored account of a remarkable life. “One Helluva Ride” reveals incredible behind-the-scenes stories featuring a Who’s Who of Hollywood, many of them never revealed before and some outrageously funny, with an unflinching honesty about his sometimes bad-boy life.

Information

Tickets price: $79 – $150; Call 1-800-515-2171

Golden Gate Theatre, 1 Taylor Street in San Francisco

Photo courtesy of the Golden Gate Theatre

Celebrating Our Loving Companions in San Francisco and in Berkeley

October 15-18 at The Marsh San Francisco; October 22-25 at The Marsh Berkeley    

Shows: 7:30pm Thursdays-Saturdays and 3:00pm Sundays

A new immersive theater experience celebrating the beautiful bond between people and their pets will capture hearts at both The Marsh San Francisco and The Marsh Berkeley this October with the world premiere of Our Loving Companions directed by Pamela Hollings.

Throughout the course of 90 minutes, audiences will have the opportunity to choose their own adventure of plays that highlight the laughter, devotion, inexplicable joy, and grief that defines one’s relationships with animal companions. Presented in collaboration with Grief Dialogues, the theater and arts organization that uses storytelling to change the conversation around death, dying, and loss, Our Loving Companions started with a nationwide competition, from which 14 plays and poems were selected and crafted into this immersive storytelling experience at The Marsh. Attendees are encouraged to bring a small picture of a dear pet for a collective art installation. Our Loving Companions is directed by Pamela Hollings

Information 

For information or to order tickets visit themarsh.org or call 415-282-3055  

$35 general admission, $50 and $100 reserved, plus a $3 convenience fee per ticket

PHOTOS:  courtesy of Marsh Theatre

By Lina Broydo