100 Cultural Moments That’ve Shaped the Bay Area This Century (So Far)

Well, that snuck up on us! Can you believe that we’ve just capped the first 25 years of the millennium?

Here at the KQED Arts & Culture desk, we started thinking about what the Bay Area arts scene has been through. The pivotal moments. The launches and openings. The inspiring, funny, touching and just plain weird — an entire quarter century that’s shaped our region.

So we did what people online do, and we made a list.

Note that this is by no means comprehensive, nor are these the most important moments from the past 25 years. We really didn’t overthink it. But hopefully you’ll scroll through, see some familiar developments here, and think: Damn. We did that!

The Very First Bring-Your-Own-Big-Wheel Race (2000)
Participants in the Lombard Street race consist of John Brumit and only John Brumit. Nice one, John Brumit.

The Sims (2000)
Electronic Arts develops the definitive human tamagotchi game; teenagers capitulate to the temptation to kill their Sims families in various creative ways.

The Grand Century Mall opens in San Jose (2000)
One of the first all-Vietnamese shopping malls to open in America, the Grand Century helps establish San Jose’s Little Saigon neighborhood as one of the most vibrant hubs of Vietnamese food and culture in the U.S. — a one-stop shop for ripe durian, V-pop albums and steaming-hot bowls of phở.

Deltron 3030 Takes On Interplanetary Corporate Overlords (2000)
Del the Funky Homosapien, Dan the Automator and Kid Koala kick off the millennium by blowing everyone’s minds with a hip-hop space opera — recorded in San Francisco, of course.

Jess Curtis Launches Gravity (2000)
Dancer and choreographer Jess Curtis starts the forward-thinking dance ensemble Gravity. Nearly two decades later, in 2017, Gravity expands into Gravity Access Services, which devises ways for blind and visually impaired audiences to feel, hear and experience performances.

Seeing San Francisco Through Hamburger Eyes (2001)
The black-and-white photo zine’s first issue, printed at Kinko’s, comes out on Valentine’s Day. Over the years, the influential publication would go on to make over 200 zines, magazines and books, capture a gritty skate- and graffiti-filled world, run an analog photo lab and open a Mission District gallery.

PeaceOUT World Homo Hop Festival (2001)
After chatting on message boards for years, queer rappers and DJs from all over the globe have a place to come together. Juba Kalamka of experimental rap group Deep Dickollective put on the PeaceOut World Homo Hop Festival at East Bay Pride every year until 2007.

COPIA Opens (2001)
The massive “Food and Wine Disneyland” of Napa opens with less-than-expected attendance for its galleries, theaters, restaurant, library, and gardens; it would close just seven years later.

The Strictly Bluegrass Festival Launches (2001)
“Hardly” gets added to the name after a few years, but the free admission and absence of advertising stays. Thank Warren Hellman for refusing to take corporate sponsorship for this annual concert in Golden Gate Park!

The Coup Has to Change the Cover Art for ‘Party Music’ (2001)
“Oops, we accidentally planned to put out an album in September 2001 with images depicting us blowing up the World Trade Center.”

Steve Jobs Introduces the First iPod at Moscone Center (2001)
It may have been small, but it revolutionized how the world listens to music. (At the time, 5GB of song storage seemed like an entire universe.)

Sketchfest Launches (2002)
Debuting at the Shelton Theater with six local sketch-comedy groups, this beloved comedy festival still brings in big names each year.

A Crew of Underground Artists Becomes ‘the Mission School’ (2002)
Bay Area arts writer, curator and educator Glen Helfand pens a feature for San Francisco Bay Guardian that cements a loosely defined (and later hotly contested) emerging artistic movement while writing about Barry McGee, Margaret Kilgallen, Chris Johanson, Alicia McCarthy and others.

Blue Bottle Launches (2002)
What started as a cart selling pour-over coffee at East Bay farmers markets eventually helps turn the Bay Area into one of the epicenters of the “third wave coffee” movement — along with all the smug tasting notes, mansplaining and, yes, genuinely exciting coffee that came with it.

826 Valencia Opens (2002)
San Francisco’s young writers now have a place to go for creative writing classes and homework help, a Mission District tutoring center founded by authors Dave Eggers and Ninive Calegari. 826 Valencia publishes student writing and produces impressive alumni, including Marvel screenwriter Chinaka Hodge and poet Sally Wen Mao.

Sean Dorsey Starts Fresh Meat Productions (2002)
It’s the first major platform for transgender and gender-nonconforming dancers and performers, and puts on an annual festival every year.

Michael Lewis Publishes Moneyball (2003)
Subtitled “The Art of Winning an Unfair Game,” the nonfiction book (later made into a 2011 movie starring Brad Pitt) covers the incredible 20-game winning streak of the Oakland A’s and its general manager Billy Beane.

Restored SF Ferry Building Reopens (2003)
No longer just a transit hub, the new Ferry Building establishes itself as one of the Bay Area’s most iconic food destinations, anchored by its nationally renowned farmers market. (In his novel, Sourdough, Robin Sloan lovingly satirized it as the place where passionate artisans launch a little “ramshackle cart” that eventually allows them to sell their company to Starbucks for $19 million.)

California College of the Arts and Crafts (2003)
After opening an additional campus in San Francisco’s design district, the nearly 100-year-old Oakland school drops its historic connection to the arts and crafts movement from its name.

Another Planet Entertainment Launches (2003)
A bunch of former Bill Graham Presents staffers upset at the direction of their former company, sold to non-local corporate yahoos, decide to quit and start their own. Their first show is Bruce Springsteen for over 40,000 people at the Giants’ ballpark in San Francisco.

Friendster Kickstarts Social Media as We Know It (2003)
Mountain View tech guy Jonathan Abrams launches the first widely popular social media site. Time-wasting begins in earnest and has not ceased since.

Mac Dre Dies, Forever Infusing His Spirit in the Bay (2004)
If you don’t lose your mind when “Feelin’ Myself” comes on, are you really from the Bay?

Same-Sex Weddings Take Over City Hall (2004)
Gavin Newsom gets his first taste of the national stage by saying, “The hell with it — let’s start doing the right thing.” Same-sex marriage would eventually become legal in all 50 states.

Yelp Launches (2004)
Almost immediately, restaurant owners everywhere decry the outsize influence the San Francisco–based review platform — which turns every keyboard warrior into a critic — has on their bottom line.

The Prelinger Library Opens (2004)
Megan and Rick unpack their quirky collection of decommissioned texts and print ephemera in SoMa, opening the stacks to all for free.

Green Day Releases American Idiot (2004)
Who’da thunk a Bush-era protest rock opera about alienation in the West Contra Costa County suburbs would become a smash on Broadway?

The Trans March Becomes an San Francisco Pride Staple (2004)
Activists circulate an anonymous email inviting gender nonconforming people to march on the Friday that kicks off Pride weekend. Eventually, the Trans March becomes an annual staple, with a youth and elder brunch, resource fair and more.

Metallica Does Group Therapy, Releases Some Kind of Monster (2004)
Lars Ulrich screaming “fuck” in James Hetfield’s face, Kirk Hammett looking bored, Dave Mustaine bawling — the entire two and a half hours are pure comedy gold.

Pandora Streams Online Radio Out of Oakland (2005)
Eons before Spotify Wrapped, a small Oakland start-up begins streaming personalized internet radio algorithmically tailored to listeners’ tastes.

Piece by Piece Documentary Explains the Writing on the Wall (2005)
Nic Hill’s definitive history of the San Francisco graffiti scene remains essential viewing.

The Museum of the African Diaspora Opens (2005)
The long, destructive tail of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency leads to the very excellent creation of the non-collecting arts institution MoAD, just around the corner from SFMOMA.

The de Young Museum Reopens After Major Renovation (2005)
The new copper-clad building reopens in Golden Gate Park after a $208 million fundraising campaign led by notorious doyenne Dede Wilsey.

E-40’s “Tell Me When to Go” Video Brings Hyphy to the World (2005)
Operating a vehicle on Bay Area streets will never be the same.

First Fridays in Oakland (2006)
A gallery crawl turns into the place to be each month.

Alternative Exposure Grants (2007)
Southern Exposure starts doling out grants to spaces and projects that are too small for larger awards and too big to run without help, funding a new generation of artist-run endeavors across the Bay.

Treasure Island Music Festival Starts (2007)
Beating Outside Lands’ start by one year, the scenic festival run by Noise Pop would eventually boast headliners like OutKast, LCD Soundsystem and Sigur Ros to the island — with fans taking mandatory (and sometimes wild) shuttle rides to and from the island.

San Jose’s Joey Chestnut Wins His First Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest (2007)
With a final tally of 66 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut dethrones longtime rival Takeru Kobayashi for the first time, inheriting his mantle as the world’s top-ranked competitive eater.

Outside Lands Music Festival Launches (2008)
Radiohead, Tom Petty and Jack Johnson headline the first year; Bay Area trust funds take a subsequent annual hit to buy tickets, cutoffs, flower crowns and blankets.

Pop-Up Magazine Pops Up (2009)
The multimedia live storytelling series launches, envisioned as a magazine-on-stage. At the Brava Theater in San Francisco, the inaugural event features Michael Pollan, the Kitchen Sisters, Roman Mars, Peggy Orenstein and others.

The “Figs on a Plate” Moment (2009)
Noted New York City restaurateur David Chang (of Momofuku fame) starts a bicoastal feud after making an off-the-cuff comment about how Bay Area chefs don’t really cook — they “just put figs on a plate.” A whole generation of Chez Panisse–pedigreed chefs gasps in horror.

Oscar Grant Protests (2009)
Protests erupt after BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle shoots and kills Oscar Grant, a young father, on the Fruitvale BART platform on New Year’s Day. Artists such as Mistah F.A.B. and Boots Riley join the frontlines of the movement.

Turf Feinz Go Viral In the Rain (2009)
Turf dancers No Noize, Man, BJ and Dreal give an improvised, poetic performance in heavy rain, honoring Dreal’s late brother Richard Davis, who was killed at the intersection the night before in a car accident. A YAK Films video of their dynamic, graceful moves goes viral on a relatively new platform called YouTube and introduces turfing to the world.

The Fox Theater Reopens (2009)
Long dormant, this theater built in 1908 undergoes a $75 million renovation to become the crown jewel of downtown Oakland.

Oakland’s Food Scene Gets National Recognition (2009)
Several classic restaurants (Commis, Pican, Chop Bar) open during this golden age for Oakland’s food scene. When Commis wins the city’s very first Michelin star that same year, The New York Times parachutes in to offer its two cents, famously describing Piedmont Avenue as “gritty.”

Ashkon’s “Don’t Stop Believing” Becomes the Giants 2010 World Series Anthem (2010)
Featuring lyrics like “Buster Posey — hands down, rookie of the year!”

Off the Grid hosts its First Mega Food Truck Party at Fort Mason (2010)
The event’s popularity helps kickstart the Bay Area’s burgeoning gourmet mobile food movement.

A Renovated Uptown Theatre in Napa Reopens (2010)
After a decade-long closure, the 1937 movie theater opens its doors as a live music venue.

Instagram Launches in San Francisco (2010)
Starting with its first photo, of South Beach Harbor near Pier 38, the app forever changes how people present their lives (#nofilter) and gives artists a direct platform for sharing their work with audiences.

Mission Chinese Food Opens Inside Lung Shan (2010)
To this day, one of the most divisive Bay Area Chinese restaurants of all time (people either love it or hate it). Mission Chinese was also one of the first pop-ups to go big, and it was on the vanguard of a new era of experimental Asian American cooking in the Bay.

Pier 24 Opens (2010)
Andy Pilara opens a free exhibition space on the San Francisco waterfront to showcase his massive photography collection.

Tartine Bread Publishes (2010)
The phenomenon of the modern-day “sourdough bro” can largely be traced back to the publication of Chad Robertson’s hugely influential bread Bible.

EMPIRE Launches (2010)
Not since the 1980s (Huey Lewis! Journey! “We Built This City on Rock ‘n’ Roll!”) has there been such a prominent music industry presence in the Bay Area as this powerhouse hip-hop label and distributor.

Aaron Harbour and Jackie Im Begin Their Curatorial Reign (2010)
It all starts in the Oakland apartment gallery MacArthur B Arthur. The duo opens Et al. with Facundo Argañaraz in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 2013, expands to the Mission in 2017, and adds a bookstore in 2021.

The Occupy Movement (2011)
Shouts of “We! Are! The 99%!” echo throughout Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco as protesters set up encampments and artist coalesce to draw attention to income inequality and corporate greed.

The Green Music Center Opens at Sonoma State University (2012)
Jerry Brown and Nancy Pelosi show up for the grand opening of the opulent $145 million hall, while former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill buys the naming rights for himself, which everyone subsequently ignores.

Bay Area Bagels Get a NYT Mention (2012)
The headline promised bagels that are “as good as Brooklyn’s” — could such a thing be possible given the NorCal bagel scene’s deplorable reputation at the time? (Editor’s note: Yes, it was!) East Coast and West Coast bagel snobs have been rehashing the same argument ever since.

The Vinyl Revival Inspires a Spate of New Record Stores (2012-now)
Stranded, Hercules, Needle to the Groove, Rain Dog, Econo Jam, Tunnel, Dave’s, Originals Vinyl, Noise, Contact, Discodelic, etc. etc. etc.

SFJAZZ Center Opens (2013)
The jazz festival once held at various venues, halls and theaters throughout the city gets a home base.

Fruitvale Station Offers an Intimate Portrait Beyond the Headlines (2013)
Ryan Coogler, raised in the East Bay, makes the definitive film about Oscar Grant.

The Bay Lights Blink On (2013)
Leo Villareal’s massive public artwork, inspired by his time at Burning Man, animates the western span of the Bay Bridge.

Persia & Daddies Plastik Release “Google Google Apps Apps” (2013)
The anti-gentrification banger of the decade is catchy, discourse-provoking, hilarious and from the mind of one of our best drag queens, as it should be.

San Francisco Bay Guardian Folds (2014)
Founded in 1966 by Bruce Brugmann, the progressive alt-weekly is unceremoniously shut down and kicked out of its offices; it is later reborn online as 48 Hills.

924 Gilman Becomes a Registered Nonprofit (2014)
A slipshod crew of punk volunteers finally gets their papers in order to preserve the legendary club’s future. The bathrooms still smell just as bad.

Paul McCartney Closes Down Candlestick (2014)
The Beatles’ final official concert? At Candlestick. Candlestick’s final concert? A Beatle. (Condolences if you were stuck in the traffic jam from hell trying to get in.)

Alamo Drafthouse Opens (2015)
The Austin movie chain moves into the former New Mission Theater, tells you and your friend to shut your mouth while the movie’s playing (unless it’s to eat and drink the food delivered to you by a hunched-over employee).

The Warriors Finally Win the NBA Championship (2015)
Let’s not forget that Berkeley rapper and internet provocateur Lil B the Based God put hilarious curses on James Harden and Kevin Durant.

The Last Video Rental Store in San Francisco Closes, Solidifying the Streaming Era (2015)
It is unfathomable that Blockbuster nostalgia continues to surge while an actually good video rental store like Le Video had to close its doors. Kudos for being the last one standing, Le Video.

Daveed Diggs Plays Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton (2015)
The former Youth Speaks kid in a rap group with his friends Rafael Casal and Chinaka Hodge suddenly finds himself starring in the biggest Broadway smash of the century.

Oasis Becomes a Drag Destination (2015)
Two queens with raunchy humor and big hair, Heklina and D’Arcy Drollinger, open a new venue that becomes the premier destination for local and touring drag artists.

BAMPFA Relocates (2016)
This one’s easier to get to on public transit, but we still kinda miss Mario Ciampi’s brutalist concrete cavern TBH.

Pokémon GO Launches, Turns Public Space Into Bizarre Zombie Alterworld (2016)
Developed by SF-based Niantic, the augmented reality game had hoards of would-be Pokémon trainers of all ages wandering the streets with their cellphones six inches away from their face, in an endless quest to “catch ‘em all.”

Frisco 5 Hunger Strike (2016)
Hip-hop artists Equipto and Sellassie join activists Edwin Lindo, Ike Pinkston and Maria Guttierez, Equipto’s mother, in a hunger strike against police brutality. They galvanize major protests, and the police chief resigns at Mayor Ed Lee’s request.

The Ghost Ship Fire Irreversibly Changes the Underground Landscape (2016)
Thirty-six artists die in a fire at an underground electronic music party at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland. Afterwards, the city cracks down on unpermitted live-work spaces artists had flocked to due to the Bay Area’s unaffordable housing market, and underground shows go even further underground.

Minnesota Street Project Opens (2016)
A privately owned complex of warehouses in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood turns into a hub of galleries and studios, just in time for many of the galleries priced out of their Geary Street buildings.

Light Field Film Festival Premieres (2016)
Film is dead! Long live film!

SFMOMA Reopens (2016)
After a three-year closure, SFMOMA reopens with a Snøhetta-designed expansion rising like a cruise ship over the 1995 Mario Botta building. Now we have to look at art collected by the Gap founders until 2116.

SF Art Book Fair Launches (2016)
The first annual event draws huge crowds of zine-makers, publishers and their enthusiastic collectors.

SoMa Pilipinas Officially Recognized as a Filipino Cultural District (2016)
Still home to thousands of Filipino Americans, SoMa continues to be a nexus for Fil-Am cultural expression in the Bay, including periodic night markets and block parties and the country’s only dedicated Filipino American performance art venue.

First Dog World Dog Surfing Championships Contest in Pacifica (2017)
Five dogs compete. A rescued Australian Kelpie named Abbie Girl wins. She won the 2018 competition, too.

Jawbreaker Plays Their First Show in 21 Years (2017)
The Mission District heroes return with a five-song set at the Ivy Room in Albany; Blake recites “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats before starting the set that fans had dreamed about.

Ear Hustle Launches, Bringing Prison Stories to the World (2017)
For its wide listenership, the San Quentin podcast humanizes incarcerated people and leads to real-world reforms.

San Francisco Opens the World’s First-Ever Transgender District (2017)
It’s anchored by the former site of Compton’s Cafeteria, where trans women rioted against police brutality, three years before Stonewall, in 1966.

San Francisco Symphony Snags Esa-Pekka Salonen (2018)
The classical superstar initially says he doesn’t want to lead another major orchestra, but San Francisco convinces him otherwise.

Oaklash Launches (2018)
The experimental platform for drag puts racial and disability justice at the forefront.

Tommy Orange’s There, There Becomes a Bestseller (2018)
The Oakland author’s debut novel builds out a world of complicated Indigenous characters and sparks conversation about the legacy of colonialism.

Black Panther, Blindspotting, Sorry to Bother You Put Oakland Filmmaking Back on the Map (2018)
All three had the misfortune of being released the same year as The Green Book, which, as everyone knows, solved racism (and won Best Picture).

Salesforce Tower Turns On (2018)
The top of SF’s tallest building lights up with Jim Campbell’s hi-tech lo-res Day for Night.

Quesabirria Blows Up in the Bay Area (2019)
A movement fueled by social media turns these cheesy, red-tinged tacos from Tijuana into a new Bay Area staple.

Comedians Rally to Save The Punch Line (2019)
Dave Chappelle, Nato Green, W. Kamau Bell all speak on the steps of City Hall in support of the venerable comedy club.

A Global Pandemic Shuts Down the Arts Completely (2020)
(Please, let’s never do this again.)

Muralists Pay Tribute to Kehlani in West Oakland (2020)
New York City subway riders have the Brooklyn Bridge. Paris has the Eiffel Tower. And BART riders passing through West Oakland can bask in the stunning view of the San Francisco skyline on one side and a tribute to the Grammy-nominated musician by Timothy B and Steven Anderson on the other.

SF Conservatory of Music Opens New Bowes Center (2021)
Yo-Yo Ma kicks off the grand opening in a performance with City Hall as the backdrop.

Oakland Gets Its First Poet Laureate (2021)
Activist, educator and Lower Bottom Playaz theater company founder Ayodele Nzinga becomes the first person to hold the title in Oakland’s 169-year history.

Frost Amphitheater Reopens After Four-Year Renovation (2021)
This Stanford venue that had hosted a whopping 14 Grateful Dead shows reopens after being closed for renovations before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Slim’s, a San Francisco Live Music Institution, Is Replaced by YOLO (2021)
In a sign of the “new San Francisco,” the beloved venue reopens under new ownership with $800 VIP areas, bottle service, velvet-rope treatment and a huge “disco jellyfish.” Ugh.

SFAI Closes Its Doors for Good (2022)
After 151 years, the storied and unruly art school graduates its last class.

Anti-Cruising Ordinances are Banned, Lowriders Celebrate (2023)
Gov. Newsom signs a bill recognizing cruising and lowriders as freedom of expression after decades of selectively enforced anti-cruising laws.

Castro Theater Begins Renovations (2024)
Film buffs lose their fight to keep the Castro’s seats as live music promoter Another Planet Entertainment begins renovations to turn the movie palace into a multi-use venue.

Keith Lee visits the Bay Area (2024)
The popular TikTok food reviewer’s lukewarm experience and early departure causes an existential crisis among the Bay Area food-influencer class.

The A’s Officially Leave Oakland (2024)
At the team’s last game, Rickey Henderson throws out the first pitch, Barry Zito sings the national anthem, and the P.A. plays Tower of Power’s “So Very Hard to Go.”