SF Honors 12 Historic Businesses With Legacy Status

The San Francisco Small Business Commission continues to recognize longstanding, community-serving, and culturally vital businesses, unanimously approving 12 businesses for the Legacy Business Registry. Currently, a total of 388 businesses have been added to the Legacy Business Registry since it started in 2015.

The recent entrants include:

• City Art Gallery 2.0 (aka City Art Cooperative Gallery)
• Earwax Productions
• Elixir
• Firefly Restaurant
• Friends of SCRAP
• Heroes Club
• Il Pollaio
• Lamplighters Music Theatre
• Orale Orale
• Polly Ann Ice Cream
• San Francisco Women Artists
• Thai House Inc. (aka Thai House Express Restaurant)

“Legacy Businesses are examples of San Francisco at its best,” said Cynthia Huie, President of the Small Business Commission. “They are invested in their communities and beloved by their customers. The City is proud to honor these businesses and encourage their continued longevity and success.”

New Legacy Business Spotlight

Polly Ann Ice Cream first opened in the Outer Sunset in 1955, and still serves nearby students and families with their house-made treats. They quickly became known for their unusual flavors, winning ribbons at State Fairs in the late ’50s and ’60s. By 1985 the shop offered 250 ice cream flavors and today it offers a rotation of 500 unique flavors. These include many Asian flavors, including durian, red bean, black sesame, congee milk, lychee, and others.

Polly Ann Ice Cream is owned by Alex Viafara, who acquired the shop in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Viafara is a Colombian immigrant who was living in Brazil when he was transferred to the Bay Area for work. He has a lifelong love of ice cream, so when the prior owners of Polly Ann’s decided to sell the business, he took the chance to live out a long-held dream. Viafara has kept the iconic Asian flavors while expanding to embrace his personal life experience, starting with the addition of the Brigadeiro flavor, inspired by the Brazilian dessert by the same name.

Polly Ann’s is known across the region for its big flavor wheel. Indecisive customers can take a spin at the wheel to choose their flavor.

The full details of the 12 new additions to the Legacy Business Registry are below.

City Art Cooperative Gallery

828 Valencia St., Mission
Nominated by Supervisor Hillary Ronen

City Art Cooperative Gallery supports a community of over 100 local Bay Area artists. They are 100% artist-owned and operated, offering affordable art to local working people. They host an opening reception on the first Friday of every month.

Earwax Productions

916 Kearny St., North Beach
Nominated by Supervisor Aaron Peskin

Earwax Productions is dedicated to creating the most engaging audio experience possible, across all media. They design sound for film, television, the Internet, and radio, as well as audio for tours, installations, toys, and electronics. Their projects range from major Hollywood features to mobile apps and animation to interactive museum installations. Earwax Productions has worked with local playwrights, filmmakers, artists, and inventors.

Elixir

3200 16^th St., Mission
Nominated by Former Supervisor Scott Wiener

Elixir is the second oldest continually operated bar in San Francisco. There has been nothing but a saloon on the northwest corner of 16th and Guerrero streets since 1858. Elixir provides beverages, community, and hospitality in a beautiful Victorian atmosphere of mahogany and redwood. The bar features classic whiskey cocktails, traditional cocktails, beer, wine, Trivia Happy Hour, Industry Night, cocktail classes, tasting events, private group events, a Whiskey Geeks membership group, and a Cocktail Club.

Firefly Restaurant

4288 24^th St., Noe Valley
Nominated by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman

Firefly Restaurant nourishes its community by cooking seasonal homestyle goodness, with the sustainability of body and planet in mind. The food at Firefly is constantly evolving and entirely seasonal and personal.

Friends of SCRAP

2150 Newcomb Ave., Bayview
Nominated by Supervisor Shamann Walton

SCRAP is a creative reuse center and arts education nonprofit that breathes new life into old arts and crafts supplies and reduces over 200 tons of waste every year. Their mission is to inspire creativity and environmental stewardship by promoting the creative reuse of materials that traditionally have been discarded as waste. SCRAP collects and redistributes these materials to underfunded educational programs and organizations, teachers, artists, parents, and students in the community – turning everyday objects into beautiful projects.

Heroes Club

840 Clement St., Richmond
Nominated by Supervisor Connie Chan

Heroes Club is a collectibles shop that boasts a unique selection of classic action figures, toys, model kits, and more. They cater to modelers and collectors of horror, science-fiction, and fantasy-related collectibles. All pieces are unique and handcrafted.

Il Pollaio

555 Columbus Ave., North Beach
Nominated by Supervisor Aaron Peskin

Il Pollaio means “the chicken coop” in Italian, and the restaurant serves some of the best braised, marinated, and grilled chicken in the Bay Area. They specialize in grilled chicken cooked moist inside with the skin crispy. Their menu also features ribeye steaks, lamb and pork chops, rabbits, sausages, and a number of other culinary delights.

Lamplighters Music Theatre

469 Bryant St., South Beach
Nominated by Supervisor Matt Dorsey

Lamplighters Music Theatre is one of the world’s pre-eminent Gilbert & Sullivan companies, having produced the entire Gilbert & Sullivan canon, as well as other light opera and musical theater classics. In addition, Lamplighters has an arts education program that consists of interactive school assemblies and mini residencies focusing on musical theater and opera.

Orale Orale

113 Sacramento St., Financial District
Nominated by Supervisor Aaron Peskin

Orale Orale is an authentic, family-owned restaurant serving traditional Mexican cuisine featuring award-winning salsa and famous margaritas. They prepare meals with the cultural flavors of Mexico to provide customers with an exceptional dining experience. Their salsa won first place in the 1996 California State Fair Regional salsa competition.

Polly Ann Ice Cream

3138 Noriega St., Sunset
Nominated by Supervisor Joel Engardio

Polly Ann Ice Cream has been serving handmade, premium ice cream in a warm, welcoming atmosphere since 1955. They are known for their wide variety of unique flavors including durian, red bean, black sesame, oolong tea, green tea, congee milk, lychee, and others. Anthony Bourdain visited the shop in 2001 and enjoyed several of the “kooky” ice cream flavors. Polly Ann Ice Cream is also known for their big flavor wheel, which is well-known to adventurous ice cream lovers.

San Francisco Women Artists

647 Irving St., Sunset
Nominated by Supervisor Myrna Melgar

San Francisco Women Artists is a historic non-profit arts organization that supports, empowers, and expands representation of women in the arts and encourages a diversity of aspiring artists at all stages of their careers. They maintain a gallery featuring 600 artworks annually that exhibits and sells contemporary art, hand-crafted jewelry, sculpture, and ceramics.

Thai House

599 Castro St., Castro
Nominated by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman

Whether you come for the Pad Thai or stay for the Green Curry, Thai House Express Restaurant has an extensive menu with something to satisfy everyone’s taste buds. Their food is inspired by traditional Thai flavors that keep their customers coming back for more.

About the Legacy Business Registry

A Legacy Business is a for-profit or nonprofit business that has operated in San Francisco for 30 or more years. The business must contribute to the neighborhood’s history and/or the identity of a particular neighborhood or community, and it must commit to maintaining the physical features or traditions that define the business, including craft, culinary or art forms. If a business has operated in San Francisco for more than 20 years but less than 30 years, it may still be included in the Registry if the business otherwise faces a significant risk of displacement.

The registration process for the Legacy Business Program includes nomination by Mayor London N. Breed or a member of the Board of Supervisors, a written application, an advisory recommendation from the Historic Preservation Commission, and approval of the Small Business Commission. Inclusion on the Registry provides Legacy Businesses with recognition and support as an incentive for them to stay in the community. The program also provides educational and promotional assistance to encourage their continued viability and success in San Francisco.

The Legacy Business Program is managed through the Office of Small Business. For more information about the Legacy Business Program, including a list and map of businesses on the Legacy Business Registry, visit www.legacybusiness.org.