Permits and alcohol rules
San Francisco splits event permitting by location: Recreation and Parks handles the parks and venues it manages, the Presidio goes through the national recreation area, waterfront areas such as the Embarcadero parks, piers and Ferry Building fall to the Port, and events on a city street outside a park start with an intake form on the city's permit portal.source 1 According to Recreation and Parks, selling food, alcohol or merchandise makes an event a special event needing its own application, and the department asks for applications well ahead of the event date.source 2 Alcohol rules differ park by park: one picnic area's listing allows beer and wine only, with no glass or liquor, at some of its locations and none at another, while another listing says alcohol is not allowed.source 3,4 The state ABC district-office listing assigns San Francisco County to the San Francisco office.source 5 Rules change; confirm current requirements with the city and ABC before planning alcohol service.