There is something for everyone on Treasure Island, whether you are a history buff, managing little ones, or seeking craft cocktails and live music. Cityside Park beckons like a siren, offering sweeping oceanside views of the San Francisco skyline. Nestled among a maritime museum, restaurants, bars, modern residences, and the graceful glide of pelicans, it has become one of the bay’s most enchanting gathering places.
Before this past weekend, I was a Treasure Island newcomer. Like many San Franciscans, I knew little of its hidden neighborhoods or quiet daily rhythm. The journey there often felt like a disproportionate expedition, though it lies just a short ferry ride away.
Start your Treasure Island adventure by catching the eight-minute ferry from San Francisco’s Ferry Building. Once you’ve arrived, take a moment and enter the historic Treasure Island Administration Building, which houses a massive mural, curated artifacts, and the Gold Bar Whiskey Distillery, a striking 1930s Art Deco piano lounge bar renowned for its grilled cheese sandwiches and exceptional whiskeys. It offers weekly Saturday cocktail classes, Friday jazz nights, and Sunday D.J. performances.
From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday and next, there will be 15 Off the Grid food trucks, including live music, and free ferry service — part of Treasure Island’s spring programming, which concludes on May 16, 2026. Dogs (Pet Day is May 9), dancing, kids, and kites are highly recommended. An Off The Grid autumn series is expected in the fall.
Explore Treasure Island – Past and Present
Thereafter, make your way to Mersea, which provides an open-air, laid-back dining experience featuring tables crafted from historic bowling lanes, plus bocce ball and miniature golf. Mersea is ingeniously crafted from 13 repurposed shipping containers. Spearheaded by its cofounder, MeeSun Boice, the visionary build took nearly two years to complete and boasts impeccable views of the San Francisco skyline. It earned TripAdvisor’s Best of the Best awards from 2020 to 2025.
Treasure Island backstory
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began its remarkable 22-month construction of Treasure Island in 1936 to host the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition and an international airport. The exposition was the most-attended world’s fair of its time, drawing 17 million visitors. It showcased Art in Action, where renowned artists like Diego Rivera painted a live mural in an airplane hangar, steps from borrowed art pieces like Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. The fair was so successful that it was extended for two years.
Though the majority of fairgoers were from the United States, Pan Am offered luxury flights from Hong Kong and the Philippines to Treasure Island for $2,000, equivalent to $48,000 in today’s dollars.
The U.S. Navy seized Treasure Island in 1942 for war efforts, which preempted plans for a commercial airport. The island was finally returned to the City of San Francisco in 2009 for $105 million.
After the Navy base closed in 1997, the city approved the island’s long-term redevelopment plan in 2011, and major construction activity accelerated in the late 2010s and early 2020s. Nearly 1,000 new homes have been completed or are now under construction, with a long-term plan for up to 8,000 homes in a waterfront community designed around parks, open space, and bay views.
