Where Union Street meets Hyde, along the cable car tracks, sits an ice cream shop with an outsized history. It's the original Swensen's, and it's now the last Swensen's in the United States.
A Navy-trained ice cream maker
Earle Swensen learned to make ice cream while serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. In 1948 he opened his first shop at Union and Hyde on Russian Hill, in the space of a failed ice cream parlor. Vanilla was his lifelong favorite, but he developed more than 150 flavors and sold them under the motto "Good as Father Used to Make."
From one shop to a global chain
In the 1970s, Swensen sold the franchise rights to William Meyer and other investors. He kept exclusive rights in San Francisco and ran his original store until 1994, a year before his death at 83. Under new management the chain grew to about 400 stores by the 1980s, shrank by half in the 1990s, then expanded again, mostly in Asia.
The brand's website now says Swensen's is served in more than 350 locations in nine countries. The company is owned by International Franchise Inc. of Markham, Ontario.
The last one standing
By early 2020, only three U.S. locations remained: the San Francisco original and restaurants in Midland, Texas, and Coral Gables, Florida. The Texas location rebranded in October 2020, and the Coral Gables franchise closed in April 2021 after 44 years. That left the Russian Hill shop as the last Swensen's in the country.
Know before you go
When it opened, the original store sold ice cream, sundaes and banana splits, mostly for takeout. A cone and a stroll around Russian Hill is still the classic move.