"It's been nuts." That's how Kathryn Grantham, owner of Black Bird Bookstore & Café, described Tuesdays since Sunset Dunes opened. Tuesday used to be her slowest day of the week. In The Standard's March 2026 look at business near the park, she said Tuesday book and coffee sales were up 60%, and sales overall were up 44%.
Her number is about Tuesdays, not weekends, and that detail matters more this fall than it did in the spring. On Nov. 3, San Francisco voters will decide on Proposition G. It would reopen the old Upper Great Highway to cars Monday through Friday and keep it as a park on weekends. Weekend Sunset Dunes would stay as it is. The ballot is about the weekday version of the park, and October's calendar shows that weekday version clearly.
What a Tuesday bump looks like up and down the Outer Sunset
The Standard's reporting covered March 15, 2025, through early 2026. It didn't find one uniform effect. Cafes generally reported more revenue, while restaurants and retailers mostly reported flat or lower sales.
The cafe numbers are clearest when you compare them with each other. Andytown Coffee Roasters CEO Lauren Crabbe said revenue rose 15% to 20% at the company's three Outer Sunset locations. Its Outer Richmond cafe, north of the park on Great Highway near Cabrillo Street, was up 0.03%. Same company, same coffee, same ocean. The only real variable is distance from the two miles of former roadway.
"I do think the park made [the Sunset] more of a destination." Lauren Crabbe, Andytown Coffee Roasters, in The Standard
Sit-down businesses saw much smaller changes. Galinette, the French bistro at 46th and Taraval, reported a 2% year-over-year increase. Owner Julie Fulton said about 80% of her customers are regulars and locals, and she credited the weather, more than the park, with deciding busy nights. Matt Lopez owns Pitt's Pub on Noriega and White Cap on Taraval. Pitt's was up 3.9% and White Cap down 3.9%, about $20,000 each, which roughly cancels out across his two bars. Tunnel Records on Taraval reported a 17% drop from March 15, 2025, through Feb. 28, 2026. Owner Ben Wintroub said his shop draws record collectors on purpose rather than walk-in traffic, and he pointed to parking near Taraval as a factor.
The businesses reporting the biggest gains are the ones you can walk into on the way to the sand and walk out of with something in hand. A weekday park visitor fits that pattern.
Four thousand people on an ordinary weekday
The visitor counts back this up. Rec & Park's Q2 2026 fact sheet, covering April through June 2026, counted roughly 4,000 visits a day on weekdays and 7,000 on weekend days. Cumulative visits passed 2.1 million. In The Standard's March reporting, the averages were 3,700 on weekdays and 7,200 on weekends, with 1.2 million visits since the April 2025 grand opening.
Between those two snapshots, the weekday average rose by about 300 and the weekend average slipped by about 200. Spring weather and the season likely explain part of that, so it's a small shift and not a trend. Still, weekdays now account for more than half the weekend crowd, five days a week. Weekdays carry a lot of the park's total use.
October, sorted by day of the week
Friends of Sunset Dunes lists its October events by date. Sorting them by day of the week shows how much happens Monday through Friday.
On weekdays:
- Every Wednesday, 11 a.m.: Chinese Community Dance, a free traditional dance class taught in Cantonese, at the Irving Activity Studio near the Judah crosswalk. The class is new for 2026.
- Thursday, Oct. 15, 4–6 p.m.: Symphonic Sunset with the SF Philharmonic at the Noriega Sunset Lounge.
- Thursday, Oct. 22, 4–6 p.m.: Acoustic Happy Hour, back at the Noriega Sunset Lounge.
On weekends:
- Saturday, Oct. 10, 10:30–11:15 a.m.: Zumba and Shake the Fog!, a 45-minute class at Irving open to all fitness levels, with kids welcome.
- Sunday, Oct. 11, noon–2 p.m.: 2nd Sunday Serenades, live music at Judah as part of the Sundays at the Beach series.
- Sunday, Oct. 11, 1–3 p.m.: Community Cleanup, also at Judah, overlapping with the music. The meeting spot changes every month, and pickers, bags, gloves and vests are provided. It's run with Refuse Refuse SF and the Civic Joy Fund.
- Sunday, Oct. 25, 1–4 p.m.: The Great Hauntway, a free Halloween afternoon between Judah and Taraval with trick-or-treating, live performers, bounce houses and music.
Both October concerts at the Noriega Sunset Lounge fall on Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m., around the end of a workday and before dark. The dance class meets Wednesday mornings. All three are scheduled on days that Prop G would open to cars.
Rec & Park also brought its Mobile Rec program to the Sloat skate park on Saturday, Oct. 3, with a climbing wall, skate ramps and rails, disc golf, lawn games and sea kayaking.
A pirate ship at Kirkham, on a one-year permit
The biggest new addition this fall is at Kirkham Street. Shipwreck Cove opened on Saturday, Sept. 26, and Streetsblog reported that several hundred kids, parents and neighbors came for the ribbon cutting. The playground covers 6,000 square feet. It was designed and built by Something Labs, an independent collective of engineers and builders, many of whom create exhibits at the Exploratorium. Its $800,000 cost was paid entirely by private donors.
It has a multilevel ship, a crow's nest you can climb, a slide, sand play, a circular xylophone, and seating and tables for grown-ups. Rec & Park's July announcement said the playground would include 10 wheelchair-accessible, ADA-accessible play structures.
The playground came out of planning work. In the park's first planning process, run by Rec & Park and Friends of Sunset Dunes, a majority of survey respondents said they visit with children, and people at the open houses asked for more places for kids to play. Shipwreck Cove runs under a one-year pilot permit, and feedback from families will feed into the park's ongoing community planning.
A school-day afternoon at a playground is also weekday use. Bay City News reported that the playground is one of several amenities that would have to be removed if Prop G passes.
Getting in, and the landmarks to meet at
The park's entrances line up with the avenues' cross streets: Lincoln, Judah, Lawton, Noriega, Pacheco, Rivera, Taraval, Vicente and Sloat. Judah and Taraval have fully ADA-accessible ramps. Public restrooms are at Judah, Taraval and Sloat, with a portable toilet at Noriega. Water fountains sit next to the Judah and Taraval restrooms.
Two pieces of art make easy meeting points. Octavius, Peter Hazel's mosaic octopus, sits near Great Highway and Sloat. Rock Spinner, Zack Coffin's 10-ton interactive stone, is near Lawton. Big Art Loop lists both as on display since April 2025. If you remember murals from the opening weekend, many of those were installed for up to a year, so check before planning a walk around a specific one.
San Francisco Travel lists the park as open dawn to dusk. In late October, the 4–6 p.m. Thursday concerts end near sunset.
What the ballot asks about the weekdays
This is San Francisco's second vote on this stretch of road. The two-mile section between Lake Merced and the Richmond District has been closed to cars since voters passed Proposition K in 2024. Proposition G would reopen it on weekdays, and its campaign says the road would stay a car-free park on weekends. Supporters call that schedule the "compromise." It was the arrangement in place during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The traffic arguments are disputed. KQED reported that the Yes on G campaign cites a rise in nearby traffic injuries. The city's bike and pedestrian safety groups, joined by the CEO of SPUR, call that data "misleading, cherry-picked." KQED also reported that park supporters acknowledge some western Richmond drivers have slower southbound trips.
On the calendar, every event on the Saturday and Sunday lists falls on days the measure would leave as park, either way. The Wednesday 11 a.m. dance class, both Thursday concerts at the Noriega Sunset Lounge, and Tuesday afternoons at Black Bird all fall on days that would change if Prop G passes.
If you live in the Outer Sunset or Outer Richmond and want to talk through how the Great Highway decision could affect getting around near home, whichever way the vote goes, Sandra Darrow is happy to sit down with you for a free, no-pressure conversation. Schedule a free, personalized market consultation whenever it suits you.
