This week: Where to find ladybugs in Oakland, Oakland’s “Old Survivor” redwood, Napa Valley holiday wine train, tea round-up, holiday architecture book sale, award-winning molé sauce, ancestral quilts, and Bruce Lee’s time on Bay Area streets.
A home’s layered past
SF Heritage is bringing together its annual Holiday Open House and big book sale at the Haas-Lilienthal House, where visitors can step into decorated parlors, sip something warm, and pose beside the family’s well-worn Christmas tree. Downstairs, the ballroom becomes a trove of architecture titles, city histories, and rare San Francisco directories — hundreds of books that reflect the house’s own layered past.
The event is free, with an accessible entrance in the north alleyway and easy transit access from Van Ness. Everything takes place December 7 from noon to 3 p.m., with an RSVP to help plan for the crowd. — SF Heritage
Seasonal traditions
From Filoli’s sunlit terraces to Noe Valley’s whimsical Lovejoy’s Tea Room, each space offering its own rhythm. At the Japanese Tea Garden, a green tea in Golden Gate Park carries decades of history, while Lovey’s Tea Shoppe offers classic service.
Big hotels like the Palace and Fairmont continue century-old traditions, pairing chandeliers and live music with refined sweets and sandwiches. Most venues require reservations for full service, with seasonal teas running through December and January. — 7x7
Rails of winter light
The Napa Valley Wine Train shifts into holiday mode this season, trading its usual slow roll through the vines for a parade of cocoa, carols, and window-glow scenery. Families can catch Santa at the station before choosing their own pace on board — from the cookie-and-hot-chocolate ride to a full three-course dinner under the glass of the Vista Dome.
Grownups get their own indulgence with the Peppermint Tea journey, a three-hour drift through the valley with sparkling wine and small bites. The holiday trips begin right after Thanksgiving and run through New Year’s Eve, capped with a “Midnight in Paris” celebration that sees the new year arrive early, at 3 pm local time. — Secret San Francisco, Journey with Lina
Steps of color
In the Excelsior, neighbors transformed a narrow, once-neglected stairway into the Kenny Alley Stairs, a connective path linking London Street to Mission Street. The 47-step passage now features a mosaic tile installation, murals, landscaping, new banisters, and subtle lighting that brighten the route while making it safer to traverse.
The project grew from a 2014 community initiative, led by the Excelsior Action Group and Friends of Kenny Alley, with funding from grants and donor contributions. The alley received the San Francisco Beautiful Neighborhood Beautification Award in 2017 and remains a public, maintained walkway. — Excelsior Action Group, The Broken Compass
Stitched memories
In Redwood City, mother-son duo Mik and May Gaspay are weaving loss and remembrance into fabric. Their quilted installation, Ancestral Home, reconstructs the family house in Enrile, Philippines, wiped out by a typhoon, layering personal history with broader reflections on home and displacement.
May, a longtime quilter and retired Stanford nurse, and Mik, a San Francisco-based artist, have been collaborating for five years, blending technique with story. Visitors can see the work at the Redwood City Art Kiosk through January 4. — Bay Area News Group
Mole and memory
Earlier this month, another mother-and-son duo, Delfina and Jose Villegas of Cocina Mamá Cholita, won top honors at this year’s Mole to Die For, celebrated for their rich Michoacán-style mole. Delfina learned to cook alongside her mother in Mexico, bringing decades of family tradition to the Mission District kitchen, while Jose honed his skills caring for his grandmother before opening the restaurant three years ago.
Their dishes are made entirely from scratch, each bite carrying the flavors of home and heritage. — Mission Local
Mirrors and echoes
Bruce Lee’s story begins in a San Francisco hospital but arcs across continents, war, and cinema screens. Jeff Chang’s new book, Water, Mirror, Echo, traces Lee from Chinatown to Hong Kong, through wartime scarcity and street-fighting youth, into the global icon whose philosophy still ripples today.
Drawing from diaries, letters, and rare documents, Chang frames Lee as both a fighter and a mirror for Asian American identity, showing how his life and work reflected broader currents of migration, resilience, and cultural creativity. The book illuminates the man behind the myths, from early kung fu battles to his enduring influence on film and community. — KQED
Last sentinel
Old Survivor is the last old-growth redwood left in the Oakland Hills, a reminder of the giants that once towered over the city. Its leaves capture fog and feed the roots below, a rare adaptation to a drier climate shaped by logging and Gold Rush development.
Many original trees never regrew, and some species were likely lost before they could be studied. Rings of younger redwoods now mark where the originals fell. Bay Nature’s feature explores both the history and the survival of this solitary tree. — Oakland Bio
Winter wings
Ladybugs are returning to Oakland’s hills, settling into the nooks and hollows of the Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve. Walkers along Pinehurst Trail can spot clusters of the tiny red beetles from November through February, their shells catching the low winter sun.
Stream Trail in Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park remains a classic viewing spot, but Huckleberry is drawing its own crowd of hikers and kids. The preserve is open daily from 5 am to 10 pm, letting visitors wander among the fog-dappled trees while the insects gather overhead. — Visit Oakland
Top Image: Friends of Kenny Alley
Previously: Field Notes: Levi’s Vault Exhibit, Coastal Tide Pools, and an Historic Haight-Ashbury Home
