San Francisco City Hall Lights Up for Election Day

San Francisco’s City Hall and its 220+ state-of-the-art LED lighting fixtures will illuminate in red, blue, and white to celebrate Election Day. It’s a great photo opportunity that’s only up a few days a year.

San Francisco City Hall Lighting Schedule
November 1-6, 2020 – Election Day

The schedule is always tentative for the holiday lighting and subject to change when there are special events and the building is lit in honor of those.

This Month’s Lighting Events

11/1 – 11/6      Red/White/Blue – Election!
11/9                Purple – Honoring Our Hospitality Industry
11/10              Gold – Honoring Frontline Workers
11/11              Red/White/Blue – Veterans Day
11/12              Red/White/Blue – Honoring First Responders
11/15              Yellow/Black – World Day Of Remembrance For Traffic Victims –  25th Anniversary
11/16              Purple – Honoring Our Hospitality Industry
11/17              Purple – World Prematurity Day
11/18              Blue – Honoring Healthcare Workers
11/19              Red/White/Blue – Honoring First Responders
11/20              Pink/Blue/White – Transgender Day Of Remembrance
11/23              Purple – Honoring Our Hospitality Industry
11/24              Gold – Honoring Frontline Workers
11/25              Orange – International Day For The Elimination Of Violence Against Women
11/26 – 11/29  Autumnal Colors – Happy Thanksgiving!
11/30              Green – 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize (31st Annual)

About City Hall’s Exterior Lighting

Every evening at sunset, over 220 state-of-the-art LED lighting fixtures illuminate City Hall’s exterior. Normally, a soft white glow shows off the play of light and shadow on the full façade and dome. Frequently, special plaza façade lighting schemes honor or celebrate events, seasons, and holidays.

Until 2016, the lights were standard incandescent bulbs. Changing their colors was expensive and time-consuming; two to three building staff members, plus a crew of four staff from a lighting contractor, spent hours crawling in and out of office windows and onto the rooftop to install colored theatrical gels on each of the 220 fixtures, even in bad weather. For removal of the gels, the whole process happened in reverse.

Power use is now much lower, and with just an occasional cleaning, maintaining the fixtures is much easier: LED bulbs last as long as 20 years