The hook
The oldest puppet theater in the country still puts on marionette shows where the puppeteers walk the characters right up into your lap, and afterward everyone gets ice cream.
01Why it's worth it
Bob Baker started it in 1963, and it has run continuously ever since, longer than any other puppet theater in America. The format hasn't changed much, and that's the charm: you sit on the floor or low benches around an open stage, the black-clad puppeteers move among the audience working the marionettes inches from your face, and it ends with ice cream in the party room. Baker made thousands of the puppets by hand. After decades near downtown the theater moved in 2019 into a 1925 silent-movie house in Highland Park, kept its nonprofit going, and in 2026 staged its first brand-new show in forty-five years. It's aimed at kids and completely disarms the adults who come with them.
02How to experience it
It's on York Boulevard in Highland Park, about six hours from the Bay. Shows run on weekends plus some Friday evenings, by ticket, so book ahead. It's about an hour, ice cream included, and it pairs with Galco's soda shop and the rest of the Highland Park strip nearby.