{"id":329513,"date":"2026-05-23T16:01:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T16:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/329513\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T16:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T16:01:20","slug":"this-east-bay-museum-is-turning-its-campus-into-a-giant-weekly-block-party-every-friday-night-through-october-with-after-hours-gallery-access-live-music-and-sunset-views-over-lake-merritt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/329513\/","title":{"rendered":"This East Bay museum is turning its campus into a giant weekly block party every Friday night through October \u2014 with after-hours gallery access, live music, and sunset views over Lake Merritt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/OMCA-1-1024x684.jpg\" class=\"wp-block-post-featured-image\" alt=\"People congregate on the grass at OMCA Friday nights.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAndrew Jorgensen \/ Oakland Museum of California (OMCA)<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a data-force-follow=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/author\/jamie-ferrell\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779552080_808_6556f2b24022c7f3816afcfc93e09b02279d20544bb46c8f4844cbf3bb73632e.png\"  class=\"avatar avatar-40 photo\" height=\"40\" width=\"40\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tSenior Staff Writer\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\u00a0\u00b7\u00a0<br \/>\n\t\t\tMay 22, 2026<\/p>\n<p>We love <a href=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/oakland-first-fridays\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/oakland-first-fridays\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_0\" data-category=\"click_internal\">Oakland First Fridays<\/a> as much as anyone, but did you know there\u2019s another, more low-key experience happening every week right on Lake Merritt? <\/p>\n<p>Every Friday night from April through October, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) hosts OMCA Friday Nights, a lively outdoor block party with great food trucks from Off the Grid, live music, and activities. <\/p>\n<p>All of the festivities are completely free to attend, although guests can also opt for paid, late-night entry to the museum galleries and special <a href=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/current-upcoming-exhibitions-sf\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/current-upcoming-exhibitions-sf\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_1\" data-category=\"click_internal\">exhibitions<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a closer look\u2026<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/OMCA-3.jpg\" alt=\"People congregate on the grass at OMCA Friday nights.\" class=\"wp-image-47288\"  \/>Andrew Jorgensen \/ Oakland Museum of California (OMCA)<\/p>\n<p>Attending OMCA Friday Nights<\/p>\n<p>OMCA\u2019s grounds turn into a big <a href=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/kid-friendly-activities-sf\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/kid-friendly-activities-sf\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_2\" data-category=\"click_internal\">family-friendly<\/a> community gathering spot each Friday starting at 5pm. Most weeks include live music, performances, or a DJ set, as well as interactive activities like dance lessons, craft tables, or kids\u2019 art stations. <\/p>\n<p>Off the Grid food trucks set up along 10th Street in front of the museum, selling rotating cuisines representing the best of the Bay Area food scene. Guests can take their food to picnic in the museum\u2019s tiered gardens overlooking <a href=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/lakes-near-san-francisco\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/lakes-near-san-francisco\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_3\" data-category=\"click_internal\">Lake Merritt<\/a>, and grab drinks for sale near the museum\u2019s koi pond.<\/p>\n<p>The museum itself stays open late on Fridays for visitors to enjoy exclusive late-night gallery access during OMCA Friday Nights.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/OMCA-2.jpg\" alt=\"People congregate outside food trucks at OMCA Friday nights.\" class=\"wp-image-47289\"  \/>Andrew Jorgensen \/ Oakland Museum of California (OMCA)<\/p>\n<p>OMCA Friday Nights at a glance<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udccd Location:\u00a0Oakland Museum of California (OMCA), 1000 Oak St, Oakland, CA 94607<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\uddd3\ufe0f Dates: Every Friday evening from April to October<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udd5c Hours: 5 pm to 9 pm<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udf9f\ufe0f Admission: It\u2019s free to attend OMCA Friday Nights, but you need to purchase a museum ticket ($25 general admission) if you want to enjoy exclusive late-night gallery access.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udd7f\ufe0f Parking: OMCA offers $10 flat-rate parking in the OMCA Garage until 10 pm<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udf10 Website:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/museumca.org\/about-friday-nights-at-omca-with-off-the-grid\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/museumca.org\/about-friday-nights-at-omca-with-off-the-grid\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_4\" data-category=\"click_non_sales\">MuseumCA.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew Jorgensen \/ Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) \u00a0\u2013\u00a0 Senior Staff Writer \u00a0\u00b7\u00a0 May 22, 2026 We love&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":["post-329513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}