SoWa First Friday: Paintings, Prints, Then Tapas at Toro
Each month, painters, printmakers and porcelain makers open their doors at 450 Harrison Ave, and tapas 15 minutes west ends the night.
450 Harrison Ave to Toro
🎨 Where the paint is drying
On the first Friday of every month, the Guild's open-studio night runs 5 PM to 9 PM and costs nothing. 450 Harrison Ave stacks studios on the second, third and fourth floors, with more than 80 artists working in painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, porcelain and jewelry. Most stand beside their own tables and easels. Ask what they are making and you get the story of the piece, in a room that doubles as a small shop. Each artist keeps their own hours. Not every door on every floor opens on a given Friday.
🍽️ Walk west for small plates
Toro serves Barcelona-style small plates on Washington St from 5 PM to 11 PM on Fridays. The dining room is compact, and Friday fills it. Book a table instead of counting on a walk-in. Octopus and sherry draw the most mentions, and plates are built for sharing. Bar seats go first come, and the kitchen runs later on Friday and Saturday than the rest of the week.
🗺️ One evening, one walk
The order that works: studios first, dinner after. From 450 Harrison Ave the Washington St restaurant row is a few blocks on foot, and food trucks park at 500 Harrison until 9 PM if hunger comes first. Free studios, then tapas a 15-minute walk west, is the whole evening. Galleries and shops at 450 and 460 Harrison keep the same hours, and the Guild opens the same studios every Sunday year-round. Street parking and paid lots sit around Harrison Ave.
