Things to Do in Orinda This Fall: Dining, Films and Music
The most active evening calendar Orinda has had in years runs through three addresses, and none of them is new construction. A former Starbucks unit in Theatre Square now serves crudo and cocktails until midnight on weekends. The hillside amphitheater off Gateway Boulevard, home to Cal Shakes for decades, has a full October of concerts under a new name. The old Bank of America on Orinda Way has been stripped to the studs to become a coffee, beer and pizza hub, and it is the only one of the three still behind construction fencing.
How far each project had to change its building tracks closely with whether it is open today.
Sorso Bar & Bites took the former Starbucks space at 2 Orinda Theatre Square, Suite 106. A Bay Area Telegraph report on September 20 gave September 23 as the planned opening, and by September 25 The Orinda News was describing Sorso as "already open."
Owner Daniele Carsano describes it as an Italian tapas bar with cocktails, wine, seafood crudos, pressed sandwiches and small plates. When he first talked about the project in March, he said he hoped to "give residents an excuse to stay in Orinda."
The hours tell you who it's for. Sorso's own site lists a 4 p.m. opening, with Mondays and Tuesdays closed. Service runs until 9 p.m. on Sundays and 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and the bar stays open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. For now it is first come, first served, with no reservations. The space used to close in the early evening as a coffee counter. Now it can open before a movie next door and keep going well after the credits.
That timing lines up with the building Sorso shares a square with.
The Orinda Theatre has kept a schedule that runs into the night all along, and October is one of its busiest months. The 2026–27 Live At the Orinda season opens Sunday, October 4, at 5 p.m. with Marilyn Maye, and the theatre's series page shows that show as sold out. Beth Leavel is the next Live At the Orinda date, on November 8 at 5 p.m.
A 5 p.m. curtain on a Sunday lets you out around dinnertime, and since the last week of September there has been a bar a few doors down that is open then.
Several of the theatre's recurring series cost nothing or very little, which makes a weeknight easy:
The October special events go more theatrical. Lord Blood-Rah's Halloween party starts at 6:30 p.m. on October 17, followed at 8 p.m. by a double feature of Bride of the Monster and Plan 9 from Outer Space. On October 24 at 7 p.m., The Little Shop of Horrors screens with live musicians playing the score. Cast Aside the Clouds premieres October 23 at 7 p.m. with a filmmaker Q&A after the screening, and more showings run through October 29. Bea Arthur: The Documentary has screenings on October 10 at 6:30 p.m. and October 11 at 1:15 p.m.
The concert side adds Chicago The Tribute on October 2 at 7:30 p.m., Matt Stone as Elvis on October 10 at 7:30 p.m., Stroll Down Penny Lane on November 14 at 7 p.m., and James Garner's Tribute to Johnny Cash on November 20 at 7:30 p.m.
The second reused venue kept its hillside setting and its view of the woods and hills, and the Mercury News reports a new sound system and a deliberately bare-bones stage design. Siesta Valley Bowl, at 100 Gateway Blvd., is the space that was Cal Shakespeare Theatre's Bruns Amphitheater for decades. After Cal Shakes ended operations in 2025, the nonprofit Siesta Valley Foundation signed a 15-year lease with the landowner, East Bay Municipal Utility District, to run it.
The venue holds 1,000 people. It had a soft launch on May 30 and an official opening night on June 5 with Jonathan Richman and drummer Tommy Larkins, when the Mercury News counted roughly 500 fans in a grove of eucalyptus and redwoods. The programming is the big change. David Lefkowitz of Blue Note Entertainment Group books the Bowl, and he told the Mercury News it offers "an intimate venue with festival-quality production in one of the most beautiful natural settings you'll find anywhere."
This is the Bowl's first fall. Shows are booked one at a time rather than as a weekly series, and they fall mostly on Fridays and Saturdays:
Compare the two calendars and some weekends get crowded. On Saturday, October 10, JGB plays the Bowl while the theatre runs Bea Arthur at 6:30, Elvis at 7:30 and The Old Dark House at 9. On October 17, the Sam Grisman Project overlaps Lord Blood-Rah. On October 24, Super Diamond and the live-score Little Shop of Horrors are on the same night.
The third reuse project required the most rebuilding, and it's the one still closed. CreekHaus is the conversion of the former Bank of America at 31 Orinda Way, next to the closed Rite Aid. The Orinda-based Paymun group is turning it into a multi-level hospitality and office building that looks out over San Pablo Creek. Paymun founder and CEO Ben Zarrin, an Orinda resident, has built high-end homes in Wilder. The Orinda News points out that this is his first commercial retail project.
The plan opens in phases. The first phase is Equator Coffees, the CreekHaus Beer Garden with PizzaHacker making the pizza, Paymun's offices, and Launchpad Learning, an after-school math program started by two Orinda moms that will take an upstairs space. A bistro and a craft cocktail lounge come later, and neither has a named operator yet.
The timeline has slipped once already. The Orinda News said in April that the project was expected "this summer." By late August the midsummer target had passed with no new date, and the paper reported growing speculation that the opening might come closer to the holidays. "Our team is currently focused on getting the building across the finish line," Paymun spokesperson Alex Arnoff said, adding that the company would share a date once it could confirm one. As of September 25, the paper still listed CreekHaus as coming later this year.
The creek-facing public space will take longer. In June, Patch reported that construction fencing blocked access to the creek and that the city had not yet adopted the policies needed to build the creekside trail in the downtown plan. Expect the patio to open well before any creek trail.
These three addresses are now a regular topic in local politics. In The Orinda News' September 25 interviews with City Council candidates, Councilmember Brandyn Iverson pointed to CreekHaus, Sorso and live music at Siesta Valley Bowl as real progress and said, "We want to build on that momentum." In the same piece, Councilmember Latika Malkani said that because Orinda was "anti-growth" for so long, many residents got used to going elsewhere for restaurants and a night out. She called for a mix of businesses that includes anchors like a deli.
The city's main tool for this also works on existing buildings. Orinda has adopted a façade improvement program, which July reporting said offers grants of up to $30,000, and The Orinda News reported in September that the program is "generating significant interest around town." Councilmember Janet Riley told the paper the city has been working behind the scenes with key property owners to see how it can help make their buildings more attractive for development. No recipient or finished project has been announced yet. The deli idea is also still in early stages. In August, The Orinda News reported that Morucci's Deli was considering an Orinda location, with the former Atithi space at 70 Moraga Way mentioned as one option and nothing confirmed.
For October, the open options are the theatre, Sorso and the Bowl. Event listings change, so check each venue's calendar before you head out.
If you've walked past the fencing at 31 Orinda Way and wondered what it takes to turn a bank branch into a beer garden, Scott Sans brings a background in construction management and commercial acquisitions, and he's happy to talk through what's going on inside. Black Rose Real Estate follows Orinda's downtown storefront by storefront. Let's Talk.
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