Lost City: San Francisco Edition: A Good Sign: Marquard's Little Cigar Store


"A Good Sign" hardly seems to do justice to the former Marquard's on O'Farrell and Powell Streets in downtown San Francisco. How about "A Really Good Sign," or "A Great Freaking Sign!"?

Marquard's Little Cigar Store certainly didn't have a little sign. The sprawling signage—more of a marquee/awning/canopy than a sign, really—embraces the entire corner. Sadly, the sign is all that remains of Marquard's; there a rinky-dink hat shop in that corner space now. The building was erected in 1907. The cigar shop and newsstand (note the neon New York Times sign) went out of business in 2005, but the City happily declared the sign a landmark worth preserving.

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