Historic Preservation Commission approves four legacy businesses for city registry

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission on Jan. 15 voted unanimously to adopt staff recommendations to add four long‑running local businesses to the city’s Legacy Business Registry.

The commission voted 6‑0 to recommend ChaChaCha (Haight/Mission), the Golden Gate Park Band, CityOptics (Marina/Cow Hollow) and the San Francisco Flower Market (now at 901 Sixteenth Street in Potrero Hill) for registry listing, after presentations from Planning Department staff and public testimony from business representatives and preservation advocates.

The Legacy Business Registry recognizes small businesses that contribute to San Francisco’s history, culture or identity. Planning staff presented each application and recommended a resolution to add the four businesses. Heather Samuels of planning staff introduced ChaChaCha and the Golden Gate Park Band; Kalani Alkala and other planning staff presented CityOptics; Honora Montano presented the San Francisco Flower Market’s application. Samuels told commissioners the department supported adoption of resolutions recommending all four businesses for the registry.

ChaChaCha, founded in 1984 with locations on Haight Street and in the Mission, was described by staff and public speakers as one of the city’s early Caribbean‑influenced restaurants and a longtime neighborhood gathering spot. Woody Labounty, president and CEO of San Francisco Heritage, urged the commission to support the nomination and called the legacy business program an economic engine for the city. A family member who worked at ChaChaCha recounted decades of staff continuity and regular customers across generations. Onur Ozkaynak, the restaurant’s current owner, spoke in favor of the listing and said ChaChaCha has been “a beloved part of San Francisco’s cultural fabric for over four decades.”

Staff presented the Golden Gate Park Band as a nonprofit ensemble dating to 1882 that offers free concerts at the Spreckels Temple of Music in Golden Gate Park and serves a broad public audience; Doc (Dr.) Herman Gonzalez was identified as the band’s director in staff materials. CityOptics, an optometry practice founded in 1988 in the Marina and Cow Hollow by Dr. Jeffrey Rich, was presented as a neighborhood mainstay noted for its signage and interior. The San Francisco Flower Market was presented as Northern California’s largest wholesale flower market; staff noted the market moved to 901 Sixteenth Street recently and that a new nonprofit, SF Flower Market Incorporated (a 501(c)(3)), will manage the site.

During public comment, preservation advocates including Labounty and others voiced support for all four nominations. There were no objections recorded in the public comment period. After discussion, commissioners moved and seconded a motion to adopt staff recommendations and forward the resolutions supporting each listing. On the roll call, commissioners recorded a unanimous vote of 6 to 0 to approve the recommendations.

The commission’s action forwards the staff resolutions recommending each business for the Legacy Business Registry; the administrative and follow‑up steps to finalize each listing remain with the Planning Department and any implementing administrative process for the registry.

The commission will continue to consider legacy business nominations at future meetings as applications are completed and staff prepares the records for the public archive.