SF City Hall Lights up Green for The Matrix 4

Submitted by the Event Organizer

San Francisco’s City Hall and its 220+ state-of-the-art LED lighting fixtures will illuminate in green in celebration U.S. premiere of The Matrix Resurrections which takes place at the Castro Theater on December 18th.

Many scenes of The Matrix were filmed in San Francisco in early 2020. Take a self-guided tour of Matrix filming locations in SF.

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. Check sfgov.org/cityhall/lighting for the latest updates.

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.

This Month’s Lighting Events

12/1               Red/green – Civic Center Holiday Tree Lighting
12/3               Purple – International Day of People with Disabilities
12/4 – 12/5     Blue – Shop and Dine in the 49
12/10             Orange – International Day of Elimination of Violence against Women
12/11             Blue – Shop and Dine in the 49
12/12             Blue/White – SFCM Performance by Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra
12/13             Red/green – Happy Holidays
12/14             Green/blue/white – Congratulations to Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep Football Champions
12/15             Orange/blue – Congratulations to Balboa High School Football Champions
12/16              Teal/Gold – National Day of Kazakhstan
12/18              Green – Premiere of Matrix 4 movie
12/19 – 12/25  Red/green – Happy Holidays
12/26              Red/green/black – 1st night of Kwanza
12/27 – 12/30  Red/green – Happy Holidays
12/31              Gold/white – Happy New Year!

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.