SAN FRANCISCO CHRISTMAS DATE NIGHT: ONE SHORT DAY IN THE EMERALD CITY!

SAN FRANCISCO CHRISTMAS DATE NIGHT: ONE SHORT DAY IN THE EMERALD CITY!

One short day, in the Emerald City, one short day!

Earlier in December Edible Skinny was lucky enough to celebrate the Holiday Season in the City by the Bay!  For six hours on a Tuesday, I was able t
o experience the whirlwind of cable cars festooned with garland and twinkle lights, satin Sugar-Plummed point shoes, and Christmas craft cocktails that would make Santa extra Jolly!

Here's to life being delicious, all your moments being postcard worthy, and moments of Holiday Wonder and Joy in the Emerald City!

FAIRMONT GINGERBREAD HOUSE

First stop on my voyage with the Fairmont to San Francisco to see their marvelous gingerbread house!

For more than a century, Fairmont San Francisco, one of SF’s most iconic and historic hotels,  has enchanted guests with its joyful holiday festivities and exuberant seasonal ambience.  And for the last ten years, thousands of visitors have flocked to the hotel to see their famous 2-story gingerbread house.  The 22-foot gingerbread house is on display in the hotel lobby, along with other Christmas decorations such as a grand tree decked out with lights and ornaments and a Moët & Chandon Champagne Bar.

Making this massive holiday decoration isn’t easy; the hotel typically starts planning way back in July.  Each year, the life-size Victorian structure takes the Pastry Shop 375 hours to create the gingerbread house.  It then took the Engineering Department 772 hours to build, light, and animate this abode.  All in all, 10,250 pieces of gingerbread were glued together with 3,300 lbs of royal icing.  The mansion is then decorated with 1,650 pounds of candies including Lollipops, Peppermint Candy Canes, Chocolate Confections and so much more!  

There’s nothing like a 2-stories of sugar to bring out the kid in everyone!

SEASONAL ATTIRED CABLE CARS

Can you believe I’ve lived in the Bay Area for 3 Years and I have never ridden on one of SF’s historic landmark cable cars?  

San Francisco’s cable cars are the world’s last manually operated cable car system, a tramway whose cars are pulled along by cables embedded in the street (FYI: in case you were a bit worried, they have been updated to modern standards).  Operating since 1873, these right-out-of-the-Smithsonian cable cars were named a national historic landmark in 1964 (the only moving vehicle to have this honor!).   

Well I figured there’s no better time to experience this classic San Francisco experience than the Holidays!  Every year, scores of volunteers, along with a few off-duty cable car operators, gather in the cable car barn to deck the cars with bows of holly, along with lights, garland and ornaments.

So with inspiration striking, I hopped on board the seasonal attired Powell & Market car.  And just like that, I was marveling at the rollercoaster-like drops, and delighted in the bell ringers clanging away in sounds that would make Clarence from It’s a Wonderful Life proud!  

THE NUTCRACKER 

With the Fairmont’s gingerbread house sparking my sweet tooth, I headed over to watch the San Francisco Ballet’s version of the Nutcracker, one of the city’s most popular and beloved holiday shows.  This is the 80th Anniversary of America’s first Nutcracker, presented in 1944 at the same location I was seeing it that night: the War Memorial Opera House.  

This year was also  the 20th Anniversary of Helgi Tomasson’s version of the ballet.  The former Artistic Director for the San Francisco ballet set this 1915, inspired by the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, a World’s Fair held in San Francisco to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal.  

San Francisco has one of the best ballet companies in the United States, and it shows!  With dancers beginning rehearsals in October, this year the company put on more performances of the Nutcracker than ever before.  Over 1,200 pairs of pointe shoes are used during the production.  

So as the lights faded, Tchaikovsky’s enchanting melodies whisked me away to a fantastical realm where snowflakes, flowers, and yes even candy danced before my very eyes.  

MIRACLE @ P.C.H.

I finished off the night in jolly good fashion at Miracle @ P.C.H. (Pacific Cocktail Haven)

Miracle has become one of my favorite events of the Holiday Season!  For those yet to be in the know, Miracle is a Christmas-themed pop-up cocktail bar that serves holiday cocktails in a festive setting.  With kitschy holiday décor, professionally-developed cocktails, and the nostalgic energy of the best office party you’ve ever been to, Miracle can get even the grouchiest grinch in the holiday spiri
t.

The concept was born in 2014 when upon the advice of his mother, owner Greg Boehm decided to halt construction of what was to be his new East Village cocktail bar called Mace and transformed the unfinished space into a pop-up bar serving holiday-themed drinks among over-the-top Christmas decorations.  After the crowds swarmed the NYC location, the pop-up bar expanded the following year to 4 locations.  In 2016, it went worldwide with pop-ups in Greece, Montreal and Paris. Currently, Boehm and manager Joann Spiegel have expanded the concept to all corners of the US, plus pop-ups in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Central America.  In 2024 there were over 200 locations worldwide with seven located in the Greater Bay Area.  This year I decided to check out Miracle at Pacific Cocktail Haven aka P.C.H. in Union Square, which BTWs is the only Miracle that is actually in San Francisco.  

Founded in 2016 by “Best American Bartender” Kevin Diedrich, the bar has transformed from a neighborhood bar into a must-see destination for locals and visitors alike.  Since its inception, P.C.H. has been recognized as one of the nation’s best bars. P.C.H. won “Best American Cocktail Bar” at the renowned Tales of the Cocktail awards.  P.C.H. is known for its creative, balanced cocktails (I actually had a pea flavored cock
tail there last Spring, it was Auh-Mazing).  The staff is knowledgeable, attentive, and (most importantly) never pretentious.  

Miracle @ P.C.H. did not disappoint.  Like almost every Miracle, you couldn’t make a reservation so I was required to wait in the obligatory line.  Luckily it lasted all of 10 minutes and my other Holiday patrons spirits were Merry and Bright.  After paying the $10 Cover via Venmo (which I totally understand as P.C.H. is a pretty teeny tiny drinking establishment), I was transported to a magical land where Christmas trees hung from the ceiling, there was a throne dedicated one of Home Alone’s most famous quotes, and it snowed, that’s right I said SNOWED, every 15 Minutes.  As I sipped my Koala LaLaLa (Tequila, Apple Liqueur, Tamarind, Eucalyptus Bitters, and Soda), I reveled in the absolute wonderment of my Auh-Mazing Holiday Adventures in the course of six hours! 

So, once again, here's to life being delicious, all your moments being postcard worthy, and moments of Holiday Wonder and Joy in the Emerald City!

Happy Holidays!  See you in 2024!

Kat Thomas is the Editor in Chief of Edible Skinny, a site dedicated to making your life postcard worthy.  She is also the CEO of the creative media company This Way Adventures.  You can find more about both brands at:  http://www.thiswayadventures.com