A Love Letter to San Francisco

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Welcome to Special City

This is the Special City Newsletter, a brand new community member project by San Francisco Heritage that we're launching for 2026. If you are receiving this email that means you've successfully signed-up, congrats!

It's Valentine's Day, and whether or not you celebrate we hope that you at least share our love for San Francisco. Moving forward, we'll be helping you learn, engage, and advocate for San Francisco's built environment, legacy businesses, and cultural communities. —Kerri Young and Woody LaBounty

A sweet historic place

A narrow five-story building South of Market at 54 Mint Street is not only a rare example of an industrial design by an accomplished architect but is also a surviving testament to San Francisco’s once-robust candy-making history. 

George Haas & Sons had the building constructed in 1906-1907 for the manufacture of candy, chocolates, and ice cream to supply the company’s retail stores across the city. The Haas factory was one of the first new buildings to be constructed on the block after the 1906 earthquake and fire (which the neighboring monumental Old Mint to the east survived). 

Architect William Curlett designed grand residences (including Charles Crocker’s Nob Hill mansion) as well as some of the most iconic office buildings downtown and around Union Square, including the Shreve and Head buildings on the western corners of Post Street and Grant Avenue. The 22½-foot-wide candy factory is a rare example of an industrial building by the architect.

The George Haas & Sons building was one of 20 candy factories in San Francisco in the 1910s. While two historic Ghirardelli chocolate factory buildings still stand, the Haas building is the best surviving example of a post-quake factory for candies of all types. 

In 2001, because of its high degree of integrity and status as an uncommon work by William Curlett, 54 Mint Street was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, a status which provides some limited protection.

You may no longer be able to get candy at 54 Mint Street, but the former sweets factory has an Italian restaurant on the ground floor with tiramisu on the dessert menu.

a heart-shaped loaf from the mother dough

We express love for legacy businesses a lot at SF Heritage, and today we're throwing it back to one of the OGs. Boudin Bakery is an example of San Francisco's rich immigrant history and traditions enriching—and becoming—the best of our city's unique culture.

Isidore and Louise Boudin immigrated from France to San Francisco in 1849 and started selling bread made with a "mother dough," infused with our unique San Francisco air. After Isidore passed away in 1887, Louise moved the business (then on Dupont Street, Grant Avenue today) to a larger location at 815 Broadway, what is now the border between Chinatown and North Beach. When the big earthquake on April 18, 1906, Louise acted fast when the fires started approaching, grabbing a wooden bucket with the mother dough and saving it from the flames.

To this day, every piece of Boudin bread is made with a portion of that mother dough. Every year around Valentine's Day, the bakery makes a version of their classic loaf into the shape of a heart so you can share it with the special people in your life (call ahead to check for availability). If you're not about this obvious expression of love, there is always a loaf shaped like an alligator or crab.

SF Heritage Happenings

House tours, programs, happy hours

Thank you everyone who came out to our February 12 Heritage Happy Hour at Sabella and La Torre! It was great seeing you there, and cheers to the Sabella family (with Kerri, above) for the excellent hospitality.

We are going beyond bars so far in 2026 to introduce you to the diversity of businesses on the Legacy Business Registry. Join us for the next one!

Heritage Happy Hour at Sai's Vietnamese Restaurant

Save the date for our next Happy Hour at Sai's Vietnamese Restaurant (42 Columbus Street) on March 12, 2026, located in a triangular building connecting Jackson Square, North Beach, and the Financial District (longtime San Franciscans will remember the space as the former Clown Alley). I recently wrote about this beloved spot's history, and can attest to the deliciousness of Sai's clay pot dishes. —Kerri

Haas-Lilienthal House Tours

We've calendared more public house tours through March 2026! Tell your friends to visit our cool historic landmark, every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon.

Something to look out for: this wedding dress sampler, or swatch, is from the wedding dress of Bella Sloss-Lilienthal, mother of Samual Lilienthal (husband of youngest Haas daughter Alice).

Notice that the color of her dress was not white but golden yellow—the trend toward white wedding dresses was further popularized after Great Britain's Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in a white gown on February 10, 1840. Bella was married in 1876, a whole 36 years after this, showing how the trend was only slowly adopted by elites in America well into the 19th century before becoming more widespread after World War II.

One more thing to attend

maps, maps, and more maps

Here at SF Heritage, maps are some of our favorite historic preservation research tools. Sanborn Maps, created to help assess fire risk for buildings, document materials and functions of each building in the city, offering clues about our physical and cultural landscape at a specific moment in history. These windows into the past are part of a new display called You Are Here: San Francisco on the Map on the 6th Floor of the SF Public Library’s Main Branch, just outside the San Francisco History Center. 

Check it out now and take the opportunity to do your own building research with physical Sanborn Maps at the History Center! 

And just like the end of a Giants game when the seagulls start to swarm, we leave you today with the city's arguably most famous love song:

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Sources:  
Wendy Hillis, Architectural Resources Group, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, certified January 8, 2001. 

Legacy Business Registry application for Boudin Bakery, 2017. 

Haas-Lilienthal House docent guide, updated January 2026.