SF City Hall Lights Up for Thanksgiving (Nov. 25-27)

San Francisco’s City Hall and its 220+ state-of-the-art LED lighting fixtures will illuminate in beautiful shades of amber in celebration of Thanksgiving, November 28-29, 2024.

It’s a great photo opportunity to capture San Francisco’s iconic dome lit up for the occasion.

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.

November 2024’s SF City Hall Lighting Events

• Saturday, November 2, 2024 – orange/gold – in recognition of the San Francisco Symphony’s annual Dia de los Muertos Celebration
• Sunday, November 3 and Monday, November 4, 2024 – red/white/blue – in recognition of Get Out the Vote
• Tuesday, November 5, 2024 – red/white/blue – in recognition of Election Day 2024
• Wednesday, November 6, 2024 – teal – in recognition of the Alzheimer Foundations’ annual “Light the World Teal” Campaign
• Thursday, November 7, 2024 – red/yellow – in recognition of American Indian Heritage Month
• Friday, November 8, 2024 – Poppy/Navy – in recognition of the BayFC making the Playoffs
• Saturday, November 9, 2024 – red/white/blue – to commemorate the Legion of Honor’s 100th Anniversary and the U.S./France Relationship
• Monday, November 11, 2024 – red/white/blue – in recognition of the Veteran’s Day Holiday
• Friday, November 15, 2024 – pink/yellow – in recognition of Bhanga and Beats Night Market Diwali Celebration
• Sunday, November 17, 2024 – yellow/black – in recognition of World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
• Monday, November 18, 2024 – purple – in recognition of World Prematurity Day
• Tuesday, November 19, 2024 – red/white – in recognition of the National Day of Monaco
• Wednesday, November 20, 2024 – blue/pink/white – in recognition of Transgender Day of Remembrance
• Monday, November 25, 2024 – orange – in recognition of the International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women; this is part of the annual United Nations Campaign: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence
• Thursday, November 28 through Friday, November 29, 2024 – shades of amber – in recognition of the Thanksgiving Holiday