Thrive City becomes one of San Francisco’s full-time entertainment zones

When the Golden State Valkyries host their first playoff game at Chase Center on Sunday evening, after playing their postseason in San Jose last year, the arena will once again become a sea of purple with Valk-gear-clad fans, drinks in hand, spilling out of the bars and restaurants ringing the plaza.

But while the Valkyries fans will eventually disperse until the next home contest, the game marks the start of a permanent change at Thrive City: the plaza’s designation as full-time “entertainment zone” that allows customers at the bars and restaurants to take alcoholic beverages out into the 11-acre piazza outside of the arena.

For the past two years, Thrive City has become a city-designated entertainment zone during certain special events, allowing bars and restaurants to serve to-go adult beverages. But on other nights and during many events, the plaza’s status as an entertainment zone has not been in effect. On those nights patrons of Thrive City establishments could not wander around the plaza with their IPAs or Chardonnays.

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Now it will be permanent: Every day from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Thrive City establishments, which include the 30,000-square-foot sports bar Splash and Harmonic Brewing, will be able to serve drinks to go.

Splash co-owner Andy Chun said it’s been confusing having a part-time entertainment zone, where the rules change from night to night.

“It’s been green light, red light,” Chun said. “We had an entertainment zone for some watch parties, but not all watch parties. From a customer perspective, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

While Chase Center was originally built as a home for the Golden State Warriors, it has become much more than that since opening in 2019. Thrive City now has upward of 200 free community events a year. There are pickleball tournaments, farmers markets, music classes and watch parties for everything from Lucha Libre Wrestling Night to World Cup soccer to 49ers games. Upcoming concerts include Earth Wind & Fire, Journey and Young Miko.

In addition to Harmonic Brewing and Splash, Thrive City’s collection of restaurants and bars include Burma Love, Che Fico Pizzeria and Dumpling Time.

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Still, business has been brisk on game and concert days — and last summer’s World Cup watch parties were packed with 25,000 people attending 50 soccer viewings — but foot traffic can be slow on nights without a game or concert, Chun said.

The designation as a full-time entertainment zone should help change that, Chun said.

“It’s about creating more of a European hospitality experience, like the London pub scene or the café culture in Italy,” Chun said. “When you go to Europe, you have people watching games on the big screens in the town center while having a beer outside, and it’s not the end of the world. It’s actually pretty awesome.”

Making Thrive City more of a year-round attraction can also help insulate its businesses from the highs and lows that come naturally with professional sports, he added.

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“We live and die with our teams, and it’s tough because people want to celebrate after a big playoff run like the Warriors had in 2025, but when they are not doing as well because of the injuries or whatever, enthusiasm drops,” Chun said. “You can feel it.”

Thrive City is the second designated entertainment zone, a program created to help revive small businesses recover from the pandemic. The first was Front Street in the financial district.

“Entertainment zones bring energy to our streets,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said. “We’ve already seen what happens when we open up entertainment zones: Foot traffic goes up, local businesses get a boost, and neighbors come out to enjoy themselves.”

Anne Taupier, executive director of the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, said “a year-round Entertainment Zone at Thrive City will turn the energy of games, concerts and community events into more opportunities for restaurants, bars and small businesses to succeed.”

“Great public spaces are also engines for local economic growth,” she said.

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The fact that the extension of the entertainment is coinciding with the Valkyries’ first home playoff run is appropriate, given how much energy the WNBA team has brought to the Chase Center and Thrive City, Chun said. On game days, Splash opens up a special upstairs “Club Valk” section to the first 150 or 200 fans.

“Club Valk has been amazing,” Chun said. “Pregame, postgame. They show up.”