In the late 1800s, San Francisco’s merchant princes built grand stores for a booming city, each with its own niche. Join author Anne Hitz as she looks back at the colorful personalities that created six of the major stores —I. Magnin, White House, Gump’s, City of Paris, Emporium and Joseph Magnin. 

Proud to be a fifth-generation San Franciscan, author Anne Evers Hitz is the author of Lost Department Stores of San Francisco (2020), San Francisco’s Ferry Building (2017), and Emporium Department Store (2014).