Day for Night

Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa


If there was a time that Salesforce employees could have a night on the town without thinking about work, that time is over. The top nine stories of the Salesforce Tower (which at 1030ft is already the tallest building west of the Mississippi) are now festooned in 11,000 LED lights creating a giant, circular screen. Each night, as part of the highest altitude public art installation in the world, it broadcasts images captured by cameras around the city.

These include things like waves crashing, birds flying and women dancing, and according to the artist Jim Campbell, they are visible from as far away as Sonoma County, and also outer space. So this is one attraction that, like it or not, every visitor will see.

There is talk of an observation deck near the top of the tower opening to visitors in the near future.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa attractions

4. One Montgomery Terrace

0.3 MILES

For great Market St views of old and new SF, enter through Crocker Galleria, take the elevator to the top and then ascend the stairs, or enter Wells Fargo…

5. Palace Hotel

0.3 MILES

A true SF survivor, the Palace opened in 1875 but was gutted during the 1906 earthquake. Opera star Enrico Caruso was jolted from his Palace bed by the…

6. SPUR Urban Center Gallery

0.3 MILES

Cities are what you make of them, and urban-planning nonprofit SPUR invites you to reimagine San Francisco (and your own hometown) with gallery shows that…

7. California Historical Society

0.32 MILES

Enter a Golden State of enlightenment at this Californiana treasure trove, featuring themed exhibitions drawn from the museum's million-plus California…

8. Crown Point Press

0.32 MILES

Bet you didn't think anyone could capture Chuck Close's giant portraits, Robert Bechtle's hyper-realistic street scenes or Kiki Smith's painstaking wall…