Castro Street's Holiday Season Happens on Two Blocks. Here's How to Plan Around Them.

From mid-November to late December, most of downtown Mountain View's holiday calendar happens on two blocks of Castro Street that run on different schedules. The 300 block has the Friday-evening market. The 500 block has the ticketed stage and one free Monday night with Santa. Plan an evening around one block or the other, and Castro's new restaurants tend to land in the right place on the walk between them.

The 300 block keeps Friday hours

The 300 block belongs to the pedestrian mall, which covers Castro's 100, 200 and 300 blocks from California Street to West Evelyn Avenue. A March 2026 City Council report describes those blocks as permanently closed to vehicles and used for outdoor dining. Because there are no cars, the city can fill the street with booths without closing anything.

That's where the City of Mountain View holds its Makers Market. The fall series started on September 18, returned October 23, and has two dates left: Friday, November 20, and Friday, December 18, both from 3 to 8 p.m. on the 300 block. The city's listing promises more than fifty vendors and says more than half of them are new to the market scene. The city's own pitch suggests following the booths with a glass of wine or dinner at a downtown restaurant.

One of the newest places for that is on the same block. Ry's Poke Shack made its Bay Area debut inside Ava's Downtown Market at 340 Castro St. on September 3. Ryan and Khannie Ching started it as a food truck on Oahu's North Shore in 2020, and the Mountain View location is its sixth. The Mountain View Voice reported that Ryan Ching learned to make pupu, the Hawaiian appetizers that include poke, from his grandfather, and he told the paper, "Poke is not rocket science – it's more the consistency and doing it over and over, and then the ingredients."

At this location the poke is pre-batched, not tossed to order. There are nine varieties, served over furikake rice, sushi rice or spring mix. Ryan Ching's favorite is the Lao Style, a sweet, savory and spicy ahi poke inspired by his wife, who is from Laos. Bowls cost $17.95 for one choice or $23.95 for two, and the Tsunami Nachos are $25. Ry's took over the former Poke Bar space and shares Ava's with Simply Sabor. It's one of two poke counters on Castro, along with Pokeworks, which opened in 2016.

The hours are what matter on a market night. Ry's is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., the same closing time as the Makers Market. If you want dinner from that counter, eat before the last round of browsing.

The 500 block runs the stage calendar

Two blocks past the end of the pedestrian mall, Civic Center Plaza and the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts share the address 500 Castro St. The 300 block hosts a single afternoon-to-evening event each month. The 500 block books a run of holiday shows, most with tickets and most clustered on weekends from Thanksgiving to mid-December.

You can find the schedule and tickets on the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts site. The Thanksgiving weekend Nutcracker comes first. The city closes its offices on Thanksgiving and the day after, and Pacific Ballet Academy opens with the sensory-friendly matinee that Friday afternoon.

Weekends in early December are the busiest. Smuin and Western Ballet take consecutive weekends, and on Saturday, December 12, The Night Before Christmas plays in the morning, at 11:30, before Western Ballet's performances that day. Families who want a holiday show without an evening outing can look at that morning slot and the Pacific Ballet matinees.

December 7 is the one free night at the 500 block

The Community Tree Lighting Celebration takes over Civic Center Plaza on Monday, December 7, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. The city's listing includes local performances, multicultural traditions, refreshments, train rides, games, crafts, the lighting itself and a visit from Santa. It's free and open to the public.

It falls on a Monday between the Smuin weekend and the Western Ballet weekend, so the plaza gets its free evening when no shows are scheduled. The tree lighting ends at 8 p.m., the same time the Makers Market ends on its Fridays. For a Monday dinner afterward, the closest options are in either direction on Castro.

The walk between the blocks

From the Civic Center, the other new Castro restaurants are a short walk in either direction. Yakiniku Ginza, owned by Qi Dong and Shuni Pang, is at 475 Castro St. and serves tabletop barbecue using Japanese and Australian wagyu. The Mountain View Voice covered its opening in August. It's on the same stretch as the performing arts center, so it's the closest of the new restaurants for a sit-down dinner before or after a show at 500 Castro.

A few blocks past it, at 790 Castro St., TleafGreen is moving into the former Amici's space. The Voice reported in October that the fast-casual Burmese restaurant was expected to open in December or January, with a menu of salads and hot dishes. Yong Ming Yang and John Luo are two of its five partners.

The crossings on this walk are also due for changes. The March 2026 council report describes a design concept for the Castro intersections at Villa and Dana. It keeps crossings aligned with the sidewalks, adds a 21-foot central crossing, and includes accessible signals, shorter crossing distances, removable bollards and refreshed crosswalk markings. The city treats Villa and Dana as the first phase, with California Street as a later phase.

December 18 brings both blocks together

On only one date this season, both blocks have something scheduled for the same evening. On Friday, December 18, the last Makers Market of the fall series runs on the 300 block from 3 to 8 p.m., and the OIGC South Bay Holiday Gospel Concert starts at 7:30 p.m. at 500 Castro. An evening covering both could go like this:

1. Arrive at the 300 block in the late afternoon, while the market has its longest hours ahead.
2. Eat before 8 p.m., when both the market and Ry's Poke Shack close.
3. Walk two blocks to 500 Castro for the 7:30 p.m. concert, leaving enough time to get through the crossings at Villa and Dana.

The timing is tight, since the concert starts half an hour before the market ends.

Off Castro, and Monday mornings on it

Two other dates fit the same weeks without competing with either block. The Mountain View Senior Center's Holiday Bazaar runs Saturday, November 21, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 266 Escuela Ave. It's a handmade craft fair with vendors age 55 and older, local entertainment, crafts and a free raffle, and it's open to all ages. Coming the day after the November Makers Market, it gives you two different craft fairs on back-to-back days.

On Sundays, the Mountain View Farmers' Market runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with more than 80 farmers and vendors. The city says the market will need a new permanent location as development of the downtown Caltrain site moves ahead.

Weekday mornings have their own schedule. The Mountain View Fire Department's training drills in the downtown pedestrian mall are tentatively set for every Monday in November, from about 9 to 10:30 a.m. in the 100 and 200 blocks of Castro. After November 9, the remaining dates are November 16, 23 and 30. The drills themselves take about 45 to 60 minutes, with the rest of the window used for setup and debrief, and the city notes that streets and alleys may close temporarily during parts of the drills. If you go for coffee at the north end of Castro on those Mondays, expect fire crews working in the street until mid-morning.

If you're planning a holiday evening on Castro and also wondering how downtown's direction affects the homes nearby, Chris A. Sabido is happy to walk through it with you, whether you're on the 300 block or near the 500. Book an appointment and we'll plan around your calendar.