San Francisco's Exploratorium offers free admission to the public on the first Wednesday of every month.

Housed within the walls of the Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District, the Exploratorium boasts more than 400 interactive science, art, and human perception exhibits for kids of all ages.

Also offering public presentations such as hands-on workshops, lectures, performances, films, and other special events, the museum aims to create a culture of learning through innovative environments, programs, and tools that help people nurture their curiosity about the world around them.

San Francisco's most visited museums offer FREE admission on the first Tuesday of every month. Take advantage of Free Museum Tuesdays at:

Cartoon Art Museum
The Cartoon Art Museum is the only museum in the western United States dedicated to preserving and exhibiting cartoon art in all its forms. In addition to housing approximately 6,000 pieces of original art, the museum also has an extensive research library and a classroom for cartoon art classes and workshops. As a bonus, the museum has one of the best bookstores in the city with a vast collection of interesting and eclectic coffee table books.

Conservatory of Flowers
Located in Golden Gate Park, the Conservatory of Flowers boasts almost 2,000 plant species in five immersive galleries. From tropical flowers to giant water lilies, the conservatory is a lush and diverse living museum for all ages.

de Young Museum
Founded in 1895 in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the de Young boasts a state-of-the-art new facility that integrates art, architecture, and the natural landscape in one multi-faceted destination. The museum showcases collections of American art from the 17th through the 20th centuries, and art of the native Americas, Africa, and the Pacific. Admission fees to special exhibits still apply.

Museum of Craft and Folk Art
As the only folk art museum in Northern California, the museum is known for a rich offering of focused and unique exhibitions of traditional and contemporary folk art and craft from around the world, demonstrating how folk art, contemporary craft, and fine art are all part of the same continuum.

Palace of the Legion of Honor
Built to commemorate Californian soldiers who died in World War I, the Legion of Honor is a beautiful Beaux-arts building located in San Francisco's Lincoln Park. Displaying an impressive collection of 4,000 years worth of ancient and European art in an unforgettable setting overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, the Legion is also home to an early cast of Rodin's famous "Thinker" sculpture. Admission fees to special exhibits still apply.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Located in downtown San Francisco, SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art. Opened in 1935 to "explore compelling expressions of visual culture," the permanent collection comprises more than 25,000 works of modern and contemporary art, including photography, painting, sculpture, media arts, architecture, and design. Admission fees to special exhibits still apply.

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
YBCA presents contemporary art from the Bay Area and around the world that reflects the profound issues and ideas of our time, expands the boundaries of artistic practice, and celebrates the diversity of human experience and expression.

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco offers free admission to all visitors on the first Sunday of every month.

One of the largest museums in the Western world devoted exclusively to Asian art, the Asian Art Museum collection spans 6,000 years of history and includes 17,000 objects, from tiny jades to monumental sculptures, paintings, porcelains and ceramics, lacquers, textiles, furniture, arms and armor, puppets, and basketry.

The only children's museum in the U.S. to be located in a national park, the Bay Area Discovery Museum is a one-of-a-kind indoor and outdoor children's museum nestled at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The first Wednesday of the month, admission is free to the museum. Bring the family down to explore the 7.5-acre, indoor-outdoor environment that harmonizes nature and nurture.

Check out permanent exhibits such as Lookout Cove, which includes a shipwreck with clues to dig up and discover, and the San Francisco Bay Hall, a playful simulation of the Bay Area with an "underwater" tunnel, 300-gallon sea star tank, a fishing boat, a model of Fisherman's Wharf, and a play shipping port.

The 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge will be a public celebration, culminating in a spectacular event on May 27 that will span the San Francisco waterfront from Fort Point to Pier 39. This two-day festival will feature many events and activities, including an amazing display of fireworks on the evening of the 27^th.  

Major program venues include Crissy Field and the Marina Green; additional activities and events will be held at the Presidio, Fort Mason Center, Ghiraradelli Square, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, Fisherman's Wharf, and Pier 39.

Please Note: At the time of this writing, the hours, performers, transit information and other details surrounding this event are still being developed and will be posted here in the coming weeks.   

Head to the Bay Area Discovery Museum for their family Cinco de Mayo celebration.

Gain a greater understanding and appreciation for the culture and folklore of Mexico through music, dance and traditional crafts. Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Carlos Moreno, established in 1967, will perform a free outdoor dance performance at 11 a.m., followed at noon by the music of Mariachi Los Cachorros.

Stop by Studio 10 and make a paper flower or a "tin" ornament as a 'recurerdo' or remembrance of the day.

All festivities are free with paid museum admission.

Once a stop on the First Transcontinental Railroad, Sacramento’s history with locomotives, train tracks, and engineers dates back nearly 150 years.

The California State Railroad Museum — one of Sacramento’s most popular tourist attractions — showcases that history, displaying 21 restored cars as well as various exhibits on all things rail-related.
And, since trains are much more fun to ride than look at, they offer seasonal steam train rides on the Sacramento Southern Railroad line on weekends, April through September.

The six-mile, 40-minute trip runs along the levees of the Sacramento River while you take in the sights, sounds, and smells of old-fashioned train travel. Take a seat in either a vintage closed coach, an open-air gondola car, or a restored 1920s first-class observation car.

Trains depart hourly from the Central Pacific Railroad Freight Depot in Old Sacramento from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Depot is seven blocks from the museum itself, and train tickets are separate from the museum admission price ($9 admission for adults / $4 for kids ages 6-17). You don't need to visit the museum to ride the trains!

Coach and gondola seats on the train are $10 for adults and $5 for kids ages 6-17 (kids under 5 are free). First-class seats on the El Dorado car cost $15 per person. Train tickets are sold at the Depot, or online.

Families throughout Northern California are invited to experience one of the most festive family cultural events in California. In honor of it's 21st year, this multi-ethnic event will celebrate more than 21 Latino cultures all in one place, at one time, for one fun-filled day.  Featured countries include Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Festival attendees can tempt their taste buds with more than 21 food vendors featuring Latin flavors and savory dishes; enjoy 21 performing arts group; meet 21 artists and artisans and shop more than 21 merchants offering authentic Latin-American merchandise.

In addition, festival-goers can preview gallery style art exhibits, check out colorful crafts or create their own crafts; shop at the open-air Mercado; tap their toes and sway to the beats of genuine Latin music; learn certain types of dance; peruse educational exhibits where they'll learn about Latin heritage; and visit a number of community outreach booths. If it's Latino, it's here.

Come show your support for Community Walls this spring and see the wonderful outcome of our partnership with the San Francisco Boys and Girls Club (Excelsior District) and the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy. We have two art receptions planned in May to showcase the amazing work of our young artists, and to celebrate the themes they chose to explore. 

As artistic programs become more and more scarce, Community Walls provides an opportunity for youth to expand their knowledge about their communities and gain new artistic skills through specialized projects that culminate with a final mural project.

The 4th and 5th grade students from the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy have gone on a field trip to Corona Heights Park to gather ideas for their painting. Their mural is a large-scale mixed-media collage, and their reception will be held on Wednesday, May 16, at 4:00 p.m. at the San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf Hostel.

The children of the Excelsior Boys and Girls Club also went on a field trip to McLaren Park where they did a nature scavenger hunt and collected natural materials (twigs, bark, leaves, etc.) to make collage self-portraits. The themes in these paintings revolve around nature in the urban environment and city parks. Their reception will be held on Thursday, May 17, at 4:00 p.m. at the Fisherman's Wharf Hostel.
 
Snacks will be served at both receptions. Hostellers and members of the community are always invited!