San Francisco Heritage

 


2026 Greetings

Happy New Year messagae with view of San francisco Bay in background

San Francisco fog bank seen from Telegraph Hill. Charles Cushman, c. 1953.

IMLS Digital Collections & Content, CC BY 2.0.

 
 

Thank you to all who helped make our year-end appeal such a great success. As we sail into 2026, I want to share three great pieces of news:

 

SF Heritage’s mission to preserve and enhance San Francisco’s special places received a significant boost with recent large donations to the Gee Gee Bland Platt Endowed Fund for San Francisco Heritage and transformative bequests from the estates of Paul Fisher and Alice Ross Carey.

 

In total, these donations will provide almost $3 million to support our advocacy and preservation work in the years ahead. After a difficult 2025, these gifts couldn’t come at a more welcome time for preservation.

 

December brought amazing news for our educational programming. Thanks to a significant individual endowment in memory of Anne Wolff Page, we will launch the Page Memorial Lecture Series in 2026. Talks delving into San Francisco’s unique architectural and social history will offer access to some of the city’s special places and build appreciation for San Francisco’s unique character.

 

Lastly, tying together our advocacy and educational missions, in February we will launch our expanded community membership program, “Special City.”

 

The challenges of recent years have reaffirmed that defending and celebrating San Francisco’s landmarks, cultural districts, and legacy businesses need a broad and deep coalition of people who love this distinctive and beautiful city.

 

Through stories, conversation, and events, Special City will build that coalition. The program kicks off on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2026.

 

More to come on all the great news above. For now, thank you for your dedication and devotion to San Francisco and San Francisco Heritage and happy new year.

 
 
 
 
 
Interior of the Italian American Social Club with photo of outside tricolore awning overlaid in lower left corner
 

January Heritage Happy Hour This Thursday:

Italian-American Social Club

 

We're kicking off 2026 with a visit to the Italian-American Social Club in the Excelsior District on Thursday, January 8 from 5 to 7 pm. Just off of busy Mission Street on Russia Avenue, this institutional building is an example of the Excelsior’s Italian-American heritage.


The club's history dates back to 1928, when it focused on providing social activities for Italian-American men such as cards, pool, and bocce before transitioning to hosting large family functions such as dinner parties and wedding banquets. The IASC moved into its current Art Deco building in August 1940, which features a series of piers inset with floriated molding and decorative green, white, and red ornament along the roofline (the colors of the Italian flag).


Today, the club hosts a variety of events from weddings and birthdays to dance workshops and church groups. Their space also includes a full restaurant, two bars, and catering services. 


The Italian-American Social Club joined the Legacy Business Registry in June 2021.