Historic Preservation Commission recommends five businesses for Legacy Business Registry

The San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission on Wednesday recommended that five longstanding local businesses be added to the city’s Legacy Business Registry, voting unanimously 7–0 to forward the nominations with minor edits and corrections.

Planning staff presented the nominations, noting each applicant’s history and community ties. Alessandro Hall described Tia Margarita, a Richmond District Mexican restaurant founded in 1963 and still operated by the family, highlighting its neon marquee, horseshoe bar and Aztec masks. Performing Arts Workshop, founded in 1965, was presented as a nonprofit arts education organization serving thousands of San Francisco youth and now the inaugural tenant at the Geneva Car Barn and Powerhouse in District 11. Elena Moore presented Tuolong (Toulon), a Vietnamese restaurant on Sixth Street founded in 1977, and Dark Garden Unique Corsetry, a Hayes Valley business founded in 1989 that produces ready-to-wear and custom corsetry and trains new makers. Gigi Gunther presented Hyde Street Studios, founded in 1980 and linked to the earlier Wally Heider Recording facility, as a long-running Bay Area recording studio.

Business owners and representatives spoke in support. Jennifer Corwin, who identified herself as the family owner and operator of Tia Margarita, recounted the restaurant’s history, the family’s multi-decade tenure and the restaurant’s unchanged signage and interior features. She said the business has employed long-term staff and celebrated cultural ties to the Richmond District. "I'm really, really proud to be a part of this legacy that my grandparents started," Corwin said. Autumn Adom of Dark Garden described efforts to pass on handcraft skills through monthly workshops and to sustain local manufacturing. Jack Kurtzman, manager of Hyde Street Studios, spoke about the facility’s decades-long role in the Bay Area music scene. Mila Gentile, interim executive director of Performing Arts Workshop, shared quotes from staff and a student on the program’s role in arts education and the organization’s community partnerships.

Commissioners praised the immigrant-founded, neighborhood-rooted character of the nominees, suggested minor edits to nomination materials (including typographical corrections and clarifications to criteria text), and discussed possible template additions such as including sample menus for restaurants. One commissioner moved to recommend legacy-business status for all five applications; another seconded. The motion passed 7–0.

The Commission’s recommendations will be forwarded to Planning Department staff for the next administrative steps in formally adding the businesses to the Legacy Business Registry. The Commission also requested that staff correct typos and consider recommended edits to the nomination documents before finalization.