Returning bigger than ever for 2023, tour The Fairmont’s gingerbread masterpiece through the New Year

Each October, painter Larry Walton puts down his brush and embraces a new temporary role: gingerbread house animator.

He’s part of the engineering team that spends 520 hours each year building, lighting, and outfitting a life-sized Victorian gingerbread house in the lobby of Fairmont San Francisco. More than 8,000 baked bricks cover the two-story structure, which stands at 25 feet high, 35 feet wide, and nearly 11 feet deep. Pastry then dedicates 450 hours to decorating those bricks with icing and sweets. By the numbers, it’s an astounding feat — and just as impressive to marvel at in real life.

Builders introduce new details each year, and families build holiday traditions around tours of the awe-inspiring display. “This year, I made a model Lombard Street and cable cars that move over the Golden Gate Bridge,” shares Walton. “It’s a whole new structure that took five days to build.”

Visits from Santa and a champagne bar round out Fairmont’ San Francisco’s engaging schedule of seasonal events, and through it all, the gingerbread house remains central to every celebration. Here’s an inside look at how it all comes together.

Fairmont engineering and culinary teams begin planning the gingerbread house in July, which is also when crews begin baking 12- by 4-inch gingerbread bricks to cover the home’s wooden frame.

As the holidays draw near, builders frame the rooms, set the roof, and prepare the structure for decorations. “When it’s complete, each gingerbread brick gets placed by hand, and the pastry people pipe icing along every single grout line,” Walton says (that icing requires more than 1,000 pounds of powdered sugar and around 150 gallons of egg whites).

Teams then tackle the sweet job of outfitting the gingerbread house with candy, from Peeps to gumdrops to strands of Nerds Rope in all colors of the rainbow. There are candy canes, of course, and in past years, designers have attached individual Hershey’s Miniatures bars to the walls with icing. When it’s complete, more than 1,900 pounds of candy adorn the Fairmont’s gingerbread house.

Walton, a self-described tinkerer, also creates magical holiday accents for the house, often from everyday items. He turns industrial air filters into snow-dusted hills, and motors salvaged from office shredders and windshield wipers power reindeer rocking chairs and swirling snowflake mobiles. His hand-cut shadow puppets even

Unfortunately, on Monday, January 1, 2024, BART fares will increase by 5.5%. However, those who qualify for low-income fares will see a benefit in the new year; their discount will increase to 50%.

BART fares are set to increase after ringing in the New Year.

A 50-cent surcharge for paper blue tickets will also begin Jan. 1, in an effort by BART to encourage riders to adopt reusable Clipper Cards. 

The 2.7 percent fare increase is inflation-based and occurs on a biennial basis. The increase was reauthorized by the BART Board of Directors in 2013, and generates funding for what BART called in a statement its “highest priority improvements,” like new train cars.

The fare increase dollar amount varies depending on starting point and destination. On a trip from Powell Station in San Francisco to Ashby Station in Berkeley, for instance, the increase adds up to about 10 cents on a $3.85 trip.

The fare increase was approved by BART’s Board of Directors during the June 8, 2023, budget vote. The Board decided to deviate from its policy of approving a fare increase every two years. BART’s Inflation-Based Fare Increase Program, which has been in place since 2003, would have required an 11% fare increase in January 2024. To cushion the economic impact on riders, the Board directed staff to raise fares 5.5% in January 2024 and again at the same rate in January 2025.

BART’s Trip Planner and online Fare Calculator have been updated with the new fares. Riders can look up their new fare by selecting a date of January 1, 2024, or beyond. New fare chart decals will be posted at vending machines.

Fares Fund Operations

The fare increases are expected to bring in an additional $26 million in operating funds through FY25.

Historically, BART relies on rider fares to fund safe, reliable, and clean service – more so than most other transit systems. This requires small but frequent fare increases to keep up with the cost of inflation.

New Fare Gates Being Deployed

Because our riders are directly responsible for funding our operations, BART is rolling out new fare gates in 2024 to protect against fare evasion and self-enforce fare payments.

Low-Income Riders Will Pay Less in 2024

Even with the fare increase, low-income riders will pay less for BART because the Clipper START discount is being increased