Ask a San Franciscan to name a local dessert and the It's-It comes up fast: a scoop of vanilla ice cream between two oatmeal cookies, dipped in dark chocolate. The company calls it "a legend of San Francisco, created in 1928." For most of its life, the only place you could buy one was a single stand by the ocean.
Born at Playland
George Whitney, one of the original business owners at Playland at the Beach, invented the It's-It in 1928. Playland was an amusement park across the Great Highway from Ocean Beach. There are two stories about the name. In one, Whitney shouted "It's-It!" when he finally hit on the combination. In the other, he overheard someone answering which cow had won that day's cow race, a Playland tradition, and the winning cow's name was It.
For nearly 45 years, until Playland was demolished in 1972, It's-Its were sold only at Whitney's shop. After the park closed, the name passed to George Mavros, who sold the sandwiches at another spot near Ocean Beach.
From the beach to the freezer aisle
In 1974, the Shamieh brothers and their brothers-in-law A.L. McDow and Isa Zaru bought the business and mechanized production. They started on 11th Street in San Francisco and moved to the current factory in Burlingame in 1976. That made it possible to sell It's-Its in supermarkets and convenience stores.
Chocolate, strawberry, mint and cappuccino flavors arrived in the 1980s, green tea in 2016, and a pumpkin version is also sold. The mint, one of the most popular flavors, kept its bright green filling until 2026. That year the company replaced Blue No. 1 dye with spirulina, following FDA guidance to phase out artificial colorings. The company also makes other frozen treats, including the Super Sundae, the Big Daddy, the Super Cone and the Chips It. Its website says it can now ship orders and sells branded merchandise.
Nearly a century after Whitney's stand opened, the Playland site is long gone, but the sandwich is still made in Burlingame and sold all over the Bay Area.