Travel & Day Trips

Visiting Thrive City at Chase Center

On a recent visit the Mission Bay neighborhood in downtown San Francisco, I stopped by Thrive City. Thrive City is the new name for the area surrounding the Chase Center in San Francisco.

Chase Center is the home of the Golden State Warriors, and they’ve done a great job of creating a vibrant, exciting space for fans to enjoy, both around gametime and on non game days, too.

There’s a huge jumbotron where you can watch parts of the game even if you’re not inside the stadium and plenty of Warriors gear for sale at the nearby stores.

There are also several great restaurants in the area, including Dumpling Time and Gott’s Roadside. I love visiting the Gott’s Roadside in Walnut Creek, and I enjoyed my visit to the one at Thrive City, too.

Gott’s Roadside at Thrive City

During games, the area is a great place to party and celebrate – and with the Warriors as reigning champions, there’s always something to celebrate! Even if there’s no game going on, Thrive City is a great place to hang out and enjoy the atmosphere.

Before, there weren’t too many food options right in Mission Bay. But with UCSF expanding its footprint and Uber moving its headquarters to Mission Bay last year, there’s enough food traffic to keep several quality restaurants afloat.

My biggest gripe with Thrive City is a lack of parking. Street parking can be tough to find, and on game days you’ll have to pay as much as $50 to park at Chase Center.

If the Warriors aren’t playing, Thrive City is pretty calm and crowd-free. But on game days, get ready for tons of lively energy–and much bigger crowds.

Thomas Smith

Thomas Smith is a food and travel photographer and writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His photographic work routinely appears in publications including Food and Wine, Conde Nast Traveler, and the New York Times and his writing appears in IEEE Spectrum, SFGate, the Bold Italic and more. Smith holds a degree in Cognitive Science (Neuroscience) and Anthropology from the Johns Hopkins University.

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