Downtown San Rafael's Newest Additions Are on Its Walls and in Its Windows. Here's the Walk.

More than a year ago, a group from the Marin History Museum took a walking tour in Petaluma. Near one historic building they found a QR code, and scanning it brought up old photographs and an audio story about the site. "It was an eye-opener for me," research librarian Lori Deibel told the Marin Independent Journal. At the time the technology cost too much. Then the City of San Rafael asked the museum to work together on educational projects, and this September the two launched a self-guided tour of more than 20 downtown locations in English and Spanish.

The tour is one of several additions downtown San Rafael made this year, and almost none of them needed a new storefront. Five public artworks went onto a parking garage, a fountain, a retaining wall and the grounds of City Hall. An artist-curator is turning empty display windows into small galleries. Even the biggest business story on Fourth Street is an old building taking on a new job. This year downtown has been building on what's already there, and a single walk this fall shows how much has changed.

Start With the Building That Keeps Changing Jobs

The clearest example is 1300 Fourth Street. San Rafael's first house, Don Timoteo Murphy's adobe, stood there in 1844. In 1930 the ornate Bank of Italy building replaced it, and the Marin IJ reports the bank will soon reopen as The Twelfth, a women's sports bar. The Downtown San Rafael BID first announced the lease in February with a summer 2026 target. As of this month, the bar's own site says it is in the final stretch of preparation and gives no opening date.

The building is one of the tour's stops. "The Bank of Italy helped finance the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge," Walter Gonzalez Valdez, the city's project lead, told the IJ. "I love that the building has served so many different uses over the years; it reflects how adaptable we are as a city to our community's changing needs."

That idea of adapting runs through the rest of the tour. Gold Rush Jewelers at 831 Fourth St. started out as a Packard dealership, and owner Rick Lewis credits the art deco facade and period details inside with making the store feel welcoming. Some stops mark buildings that are gone entirely, such as the courthouse built in 1872 that stood for about a century. Historic photos show what used to occupy the site.

You can load the tour at cityofsanrafael.stqry.app. It runs on the STQRY app, which opens a site's profile when you scan its QR code or simply stand nearby. Deibel told the IJ the team started on Fourth Street because that's where most people walk, and that they would eventually like to add locations all over the city.

Then Look at the Walls

In the same months the history tour was being put together, San Rafael's public art program added new work to surfaces that had been blank. All five pieces were paid for with a California Arts Council grant, and more than 1,000 community members gave input on them. The installations also arrived with a new name for the downtown cultural district. The former Downtown San Rafael Arts District is now San Rafael Arts.

1. "Handle With Care" by Bryan Valenzuela, C Street Garage at Third Street. This two-panel mural pairs a daytime scene with a mirrored nighttime one. Cupped hands hold a rose above a Bay Area landscape, and handwritten memories and poems are worked into the hands.
2. "Where the Fountain Dreams" by Paz de la Calzada, City Plaza Fountain. A mural and ceramic tile installation that uses water and flow to suggest connection, renewal and reflection.
3. Wyatt Hersey's Second Street mural. It runs about 210 feet along a retaining wall and includes coyotes, wildflowers, bicycles and Mount Tamalpais.
4. "Touch the Sky" by Martin Taylor. A sculpture of stainless steel, patinated steel and gold paint in what the City calls Taylor's "metal origami" style. The City placed it at the Community Center for now and plans to move it to the lane divider of the Second and Fourth Street project.
5. "Talking Heads" by Oleg Lobykin, outside City Hall. A stainless-steel sculpture installed for one year. It plays with positive and negative space and with the reflections of the people looking at it.

"Touch the Sky" is tied to the next change coming to the street. The City Council was scheduled on October 19 to consider a construction contract for the Second and Fourth Street intersection. The redesign would cut five signal approaches down to three, shorten crosswalks, add lighting and a transit stop, and finish a protected bike lane from Shaver Street to West End Avenue. The sculpture's permanent spot is part of that project.

The Empty Windows Are Being Used Too

Murals cover walls that were blank. The BID has also taken on a harder problem, the vacant storefront. It is helping fund a program led by local artist and curator Irene Bee Kain that builds on her existing Window Initiative. The idea is to fill empty storefronts with "Macy's-style" window displays of original art, sculpture, furniture and locally sourced props. The first is at 1212 Fourth Street, a second vacant storefront is planned, and the displays will change with the seasons. The initiative lists Cynthia Tom, Marianne Owens, James Gayles and Chamia LaRae among its current artists, along with Kain.

Some storefronts are changing hands the same way. Chef Alexander Alioto closed The Kitchen Table at 1574 Fourth St. in June, and in August he reopened the space as Alioto's Focacceria, a fast-casual Italian deli. It serves focaccia sandwiches, pinsas, fresh pasta and sauces, plus wine to go, daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to the Marin IJ. It sits close to the west end of the walk, which makes it an easy lunch stop.

Businesses Become Part of the Display This Season

From now into November, the walk includes something that only appears this time of year. Día de los Muertos altars go up inside downtown businesses in October and November, a free community tradition that leads up to San Rafael's main celebration. The organizers' altar page says the 2026 locations will be announced soon. The celebration itself takes place on November 7 from 3 to 9 p.m. at the Albert J. Boro Community Center at Pickleweed Park, with a car procession and live cultural performances.

Art Works Downtown at 1337 Fourth St. is the walk's natural last stop. It's a nonprofit housed in a 40,000-square-foot building with galleries, artist studios, creative businesses and affordable housing. Its Second Friday Art Walk is free, runs 5 to 8 p.m., and connects its galleries and studio tours with other art venues downtown.

One Route That Takes In All of It

Fourth Street ties the stops together. On a weekday afternoon or the evening of an Art Walk, this order works:

1. Start outside City Hall with "Talking Heads," then head down to Third Street to see Valenzuela's two panels on the C Street Garage.
2. Walk to City Plaza for de la Calzada's fountain mural and tile work, then turn onto Fourth Street with the STQRY tour open on your phone.
3. Head west past 1212 Fourth to see what's in the window this season, then on to 1300 Fourth, where the Bank of Italy facade is waiting for The Twelfth.
4. Stop in at 1337 Fourth for Art Works Downtown, then continue to Alioto's Focacceria at 1574 Fourth for a sandwich.
5. Finish on Second Street at Hersey's 210-foot mural, near the intersection where "Touch the Sky" is planned to stand.

Look for altars in shop windows as you go. Gold Rush Jewelers sits further east at 831 Fourth, so you can add it at the start or save it for another trip.

At Katie & Mark Lederer, we spend a lot of time figuring out how an older building can take on its next use, whether that's a home being renovated for sale or a property our investor clients are repositioning. If you own a place in or near downtown San Rafael and are thinking about what comes next for it, get in touch for a tailored home strategy.