Editor’s Note: Most graduate and professional students are on a tight budget. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy all that the Bay Area has to offer. Today the Berkeley Graduate Blog introduces a new feature where we will periodically highlight fun and interesting activities that cost $10 or less. If you’d like to share an inexpensive outing, please contact us.
An aquarium, a tropical rainforest, and a planetarium, topped off with a green roof. Normally taking in the sights at the new California Academy of Sciences will cost you from $20 to $25, but on Thursday nights the doors stay open late and admission is just $10 from 6 pm to 10 pm.
During Thursdays’ NightLife, a night out mixes with museum going. At one end of the building a DJ spins records, people dressed for an evening out pack the place, and beverages are available for purchase, so you can stroll through the exhibits drink in hand.
The California Academy of Sciences offers an eclectic mix of exhibits and science in action. Staff members wheel carts of specimens through the crowds while others work behind glass panels, classifying and illustrating for all to see. A floor below visitors mingle in front of the kelp forest or get acquainted with sea stars and sea urchins in the hands-on discovery tidepool. The planetarium and four-story rainforest accommodate only limited numbers, so arrive and get in line early if these are on your to-do list.
Not the time for quiet contemplation, NightLife is a fun way to see San Francisco’s greenest museum, the recently reopened California Academy of Sciences, for more than half off. (These evenings have been such a hit other museums are following suit. This Chronicle article has a list of other institutions’ nighttime programming.)
What: NightLife at the California Academy of Sciences
Who: Anyone 21 and over
When: Thursdays from 6 pm to 10 pm
Where: 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
How much: $10 per person. (Prices are going up to $12 in September.)