This Week's Top Stories

restaurants

Otra, the Lower Haight's Cult-Favorite Mexican Restaurant, Will Close in December

Owners Nick and Anna Cobarruvias say the closure of their five-year-old Haight Street spot is a deliberate pivot toward family and their growing salsa business — not a sign of crisis.

Lower Haight is losing one of its most celebrated dining rooms. Otra, the upscale Mexican restaurant that has anchored the corner of Haight Street since 2021, will close its dining room in early December 2026, owners Nick Cobarruvias and Anna Sager Cobarruvias confirmed to the SF Standard this week. The husband-and-wife team says the decision comes down to timing rather than crisis, with plans already in motion to redirect their energy toward family and their growing salsa business.

HANC

HANC Brings November Ballot to Its September Meeting as Historic District Campaign Advances

The Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council's September 10 meeting focused on four November ballot measures while the group's push for a formally expanded historic district — a direct response to upzoning — continues to develop.

The Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council held its September general membership meeting on Thursday, September 10, centering the agenda on four measures headed to voters in November: local propositions C, I, and J, and State Proposition 1. Former District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston spoke about his four-year fight to fund affordable housing with a transfer tax similar to Proposition I. Quintin Mecke, Executive Director of the Council of Community Housing Organizations, explained why the four measures are critical in determining who lives in San Francisco.

street fair

The 47th Haight-Ashbury Street Fair Arrives September 20 — With a New Poetry and Photography Space

The free, all-day street fair returns to six blocks of Haight Street on Sunday, September 20, with three stages of live music, more than 200 vendors, and a newly added creative showcase for local poets and photographers.

The 47th Haight-Ashbury Street Fair takes over Haight Street from Masonic Avenue to Stanyan Street on Sunday, September 20, running 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The fair is free and brings together more than 200 vendors — food, green businesses, local artists, clothing, crafts, and nonprofits — alongside multiple stages of live music spanning rock, folk, soul, and psychedelic sounds rooted in the neighborhood's counterculture history.

Upcoming Events

Sunday, September 13

Golden Gate Park Band: ¡Viva México! Bailamos con la Música

📍 Spreckels Temple of Music, Music Concourse, Golden Gate Park · 1:00 PM–2:30 PM

Sunday, September 13

Crucial Reggae Sunday at the Golden Gate Bandshell

📍 Golden Gate Bandshell, 75 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr., Golden Gate Park · 4:30 PM–7:30 PM

Sunday, September 20

47th Annual Haight-Ashbury Street Fair

📍 Haight Street, Masonic Avenue to Stanyan Street, Haight-Ashbury · 11:00 AM–5:30 PM

Sunday, September 20

Comedy Day in the Park — 45th Anniversary

📍 Robin Williams Meadow (Sharon Meadow), Golden Gate Park · 12:00 PM–5:00 PM

Sunday, September 27

Cole Valley Fair — 23rd Annual

📍 Cole St. between Frederick & Grattan and Parnassus Ave. between Shrader & Belvedere, Cole Valley · 10:00 AM–5:00 PM

More from the Neighborhood

SF Botanical Garden's Flower Piano Adds a Fashion Show on September 19

As part of Flower Piano 2026 — running through September 20 in Golden Gate Park — the San Francisco Botanical Garden is hosting the third annual Flower Piano Fashion Show on Saturday…