{"id":151572,"date":"2026-03-20T19:08:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T02:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/?p=151572"},"modified":"2026-03-23T10:09:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T17:09:33","slug":"bay-relighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/03\/bay-relighting\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay Lights are Back!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"604\" height=\"340\" data-attachment-id=\"151574\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/03\/bay-relighting\/tbl_longview\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2026\/03\/TBL_Longview.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1280,720\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"TBL_Longview\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2026\/03\/TBL_Longview.jpg?fit=604%2C340&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2026\/03\/TBL_Longview-1024x576.jpg?resize=604%2C340&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-151574\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2026\/03\/TBL_Longview.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2026\/03\/TBL_Longview.jpg?resize=840%2C473&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 840w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2026\/03\/TBL_Longview.jpg?resize=195%2C110&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 195w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2026\/03\/TBL_Longview.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2026\/03\/TBL_Longview.jpg?resize=818%2C460&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 818w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2026\/03\/TBL_Longview.jpg?w=1280&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2026\/03\/TBL_Longview.jpg?w=1208&amp;quality=89 1208w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tonight, a project very near and dear to my heart, the <a href=\"https:\/\/illuminate.org\/projects\/thebaylights\/\">Bay Lights in San Francisco<\/a>, are officially re-lighting after a three-year hiatus. It&#8217;s been an incredible journey getting here. I literally mortgaged my apartment in 2013 to help fund them the first time around, and it&#8217;s such an honor to see them relit now with better technology and new programming from the amazing artist <a href=\"https:\/\/villareal.net\/\">Leo Villareal<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether you&#8217;re looking down at the lights from a penthouse or top office, or up at them from the water along the Embarcadero, this is truly an art project that illuminates the soul of everyone in San Francisco, radically accessible and open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ve heard they&#8217;re still raising around 500k to close out the project. You <a href=\"https:\/\/sif.illuminate.org\/\">can dedicate a light here for someone special<\/a>. I&#8217;m going to do one to <a href=\"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2016\/04\/in-memoriam-chuck-mullenweg\/\">honor my father, who passed in 2016<\/a>. If you&#8217;d like to be part of San Francisco&#8217;s boom loop and have a pleasant twinkle of enlightenment every time you see the bridge, I encourage you to donate as well!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you live somewhere with a view of the bridge, think of it as buying a piece of art you&#8217;ll enjoy every night, and also having that warm feeling of being part of making San Francisco more beautiful for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m on the board of Illuminate, which only has two full-time employees, and I&#8217;ve never seen another non-profit generate so much public joy and benefit with so few people. They&#8217;re also behind <a href=\"https:\/\/illuminate.org\/projects\/golden-mile-project\/\">the Golden Mile<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/illuminate.org\/venues\/golden-gate-bandshell\/\">live music at the Golden Gate Bandshell<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Please consider <a href=\"https:\/\/sif.illuminate.org\/\">making a one-time donation of a light, which is anywhere from $100 to $2,500<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/illuminate.org\/donate\/#donate\">become a recurring member of the Illuminate Tribe<\/a>, or if you are really part of making San Francisco better consider <a href=\"https:\/\/illuminate.org\/donate\/#illuminary\">being an Illuminary at 50k\/yr<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also, thank you to all the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/\">WordPress<\/a> community members who have done so much to support this project and help them fundraise and improve their website. It&#8217;s such a great example of the WordPress open source spirit and ethos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">San Francisco is so back! Let&#8217;s go!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tonight, a project very near and dear to my heart, the Bay Lights in San Francisco, are officially re-lighting after a three-year hiatus. It&#8217;s been an incredible journey getting here. I literally mortgaged my apartment in 2013 to help fund them the first time around, and it&#8217;s such an honor to see them relit now &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/03\/bay-relighting\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Bay Lights are Back!<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"fullscreen","default_image_id":54207,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbWEudHRcL2ZpbGVzXC8yMDI2XC8wM1wvVEJMX0xvbmd2aWV3LTEwMjR4NTc2LmpwZyIsInR4dCI6IkJheSBMaWdodHMgYXJlIEJhY2shIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJmdWxsc2NyZWVuIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjEwNDc4NjV9.0yT34eOs5Yqvf69b8cRlJzbmwo_W8-g47yzNdgCETqUMQ","image_type":"custom","image_id":151574,"custom_text":""},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[2259,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-2","category-personal"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/03\/bay-relighting\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Bay Lights are Back!","url":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/03\/bay-relighting\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/2026\/03\/bay-relighting\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":""},"articleSection":"Art","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt"}],"creator":["Matt"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Matt Mullenweg","logo":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/files\/2021\/05\/Photo-on-2020-10-28-at-2.05-PM-1.jpg"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-03-21T02:08:55Z","datePublished":"2026-03-21T02:08:55Z","dateModified":"2026-03-23T17:09:33Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Bay Lights are Back!\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/ma.tt\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/bay-relighting\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/ma.tt\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/bay-relighting\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"\"},\"articleSection\":\"Art\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Matt\"}],\"creator\":[\"Matt\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Matt Mullenweg\",\"logo\":\"http:\\\/\\\/ma.tt\\\/files\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/Photo-on-2020-10-28-at-2.05-PM-1.jpg\"},\"keywords\":[],\"dateCreated\":\"2026-03-21T02:08:55Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-21T02:08:55Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-23T17:09:33Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/ma.tt\/p.js"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oB3-DqI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":114203,"url":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2024\/05\/bay-lights-are-returning\/","url_meta":{"origin":151572,"position":0},"title":"Bay Lights Are Returning!","author":"Matt","date":"May 9, 2024","format":"aside","excerpt":"Illuminate has crossed the funding threshold it needed to actually kick off the project of bringing the Bay Lights back to San Francisco, as Heather Knight writes for the New York Times. The upgraded lights will be visible not just from San Francisco but also in Oakland, Treasure Island, Berkeley...\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42448,"url":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2013\/06\/bookend-gifts\/","url_meta":{"origin":151572,"position":1},"title":"Bookend Gifts","author":"Matt","date":"June 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The news came out this weekend on Mercury News and the Chronicle, so it's worth addressing here: The Bay Lights, a public art project that uses San Francisco's Bay Bridge as its canvas, is a project I've supported since I first heard of it and the idea captured my imagination.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40580,"url":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2012\/05\/bay-lights-project\/","url_meta":{"origin":151572,"position":2},"title":"Bay Lights Project","author":"Matt","date":"May 22, 2012","format":"aside","excerpt":"Wade Roush writes about the Bay Lights Project, a remarkable endeavor to put 25,000 individually addressable LEDs on the cables of the Bay Bridge. I think it would be cool if they opened up the algorithms to reviewed contributions, especially if they ran at a set time like between 2-4\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Essays&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Essays","link":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/category\/essays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42146,"url":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2013\/02\/bay-bridge-cable-walk\/","url_meta":{"origin":151572,"position":3},"title":"Bay Bridge Cable Walk","author":"Matt","date":"February 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Had a cool opportunity to walk up the cable to the top of the the first tower of the Bay Bridge today with folks from the Bay Lights project. You walk right up the cable\/pipe to the top, it actually wasn't that hard. Once on top the vistas were amazing.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Gallery&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Gallery","link":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/category\/gallery\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2013\/02\/DSC01303-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&quality=89&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2013\/02\/DSC01303-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&quality=89&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2013\/02\/DSC01303-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&quality=89&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2013\/02\/DSC01303-scaled.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&quality=89&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2204,"url":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2005\/05\/geo-targetted-adsense\/","url_meta":{"origin":151572,"position":4},"title":"Geo-targetted Adsense","author":"Matt","date":"May 25, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Has anyone else started seeing Adwords with city names under them? I just saw one like this \"Got a favorite burrito? Vote for your favorite burrito in the San Francisco Bay Area! www.burritobot.com San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA\" when I searched for burrito.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Links&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/category\/links\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":75200,"url":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2023\/01\/thirty-nine\/","url_meta":{"origin":151572,"position":5},"title":"Thirty-Nine","author":"Matt","date":"January 11, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The last year of my thirties! WordPress turns twenty this year. Automattic is now ~2,000 people across 98 countries. There's so much that has happened in the past decade yet it feels very much like we're on the cusp of something even more exciting. This morning started well; I pulled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Automattic&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Automattic","link":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/category\/automattic\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2023\/01\/TheBayLights_LeoVillareal_JamesEwing-8863-ed.webp?resize=350%2C200&quality=80&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2023\/01\/TheBayLights_LeoVillareal_JamesEwing-8863-ed.webp?resize=350%2C200&quality=80&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2023\/01\/TheBayLights_LeoVillareal_JamesEwing-8863-ed.webp?resize=525%2C300&quality=80&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2023\/01\/TheBayLights_LeoVillareal_JamesEwing-8863-ed.webp?resize=700%2C400&quality=80&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2023\/01\/TheBayLights_LeoVillareal_JamesEwing-8863-ed.webp?resize=1050%2C600&quality=80&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ma.tt\/files\/2023\/01\/TheBayLights_LeoVillareal_JamesEwing-8863-ed.webp?resize=1400%2C800&quality=80&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151572"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151608,"href":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151572\/revisions\/151608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}