SF waterfront reacts to $11M tourist attraction |
When the Bay Bridge lights first lit up the San Francisco waterfront on a drizzly March evening in 2013, diners at Waterbar and Epic Steak were transfixed.
“When they popped on, it was kind of this surprise, like what’s going on here?” recalled the restaurants’ owner Pete Sittnick as we admired the dramatic views of the bridge linking Oakland and San Francisco from Waterbar’s sunny patio. “But it was so magical in terms of the way it lit up the waterfront and the bay.”
Three years after the public art installation created by artist Leo Villareal went dark due to damage from harsh environmental conditions, the lights are finally set to twinkle back to life. Thanks to $11 million in donations raised by nonprofit Illuminate, this Friday, March 20, the Bay Lights 360 is set to be activated with twice as many LED lights as before at a grand lighting ceremony. The city’s waterfront restaurants are heralding the arrival of the 50,000 LEDs as a glowing emblem of San Francisco’s recovery — and potentially even a boon for business.
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Pete Sittnick, owner of Waterbar and Epic Steak, stands inside Waterbar in San Francisco, on March 10, 2026.
In his 18 years of running Waterbar and Epic Steak right at the base of the Bay Bridge, Sittnick has had a front-row seat to the effect an illuminated night sky can have on a neighborhood. When the Bay Lights began dazzling the western span of the Bay Bridge in 2013, Sittnick said diners started making reservations at his restaurants specifically to see them. That year, sales at both restaurants went up by 15%, he said.
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