A San Francisco retail corridor is losing two long-time businesses ahead of the holidays: Polk Street’s Japanese floral design shop Utsuwa and Lotta’s Bakery and Sweet Antiques.
Utsuwa, at the corner of Polk and Bush streets in Nob Hill, was known for its terrariums, bonsais, air plants and succulents. Entering the shop was like stepping through a portal from the urban jungle into a fantastical greenhouse, often with jazz playing in the background.
The shop’s last day was Sunday, with a sign taped in the window letting patrons know that the owners were moving to New York. Husband-and-wife team Hiro and Misuzu Hayama had previously run a bonsai shop in Tokyo and opened their San Francisco business in 2010.
A few blocks north, the unusual antiques-shop-meets-bakery Lotta’s is shutting down as of Dec. 23. Owner Earl Darny has run the business for more than 15 years, selling pies ranging from lemon meringue to mince meat, pound cakes, pot pies, dinner rolls and more alongside curiosities and oddities like furniture, vintage clothing and bric-a-brac.
Darny could not be reached for comment by phone on Monday, but an answering machine message said the business would stop picking up the phone on Wednesday. A sign in the window says a 40% off sale is in effect until the store closes on Saturday.
“If you forgot to order, and you’re freaking out, come by on the 23rd. We’ll have extra things to help you through your Christmas,” the message said. “Thank you all for supporting our bakery and antique store throughout the years. It’s been a good run—we’re going to have a nice quiet retirement.”
Darny opened the business to keep alive what he saw as a dying San Francisco tradition—the neighborhood bakery. In 2008, he told the San Francisco Examiner that the shop was named after his drag alter-ego, Lotta. The name, he said, was inspired by Lotta Crabtree, a stage performer who cared for and entertained San Franciscans after the 1906 earthquake, and who also gave her name to Lotta's Fountain on Market and Kearny streets.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the owners of popular Bob’s Donuts—located a block south on Polk—purchased the building several years ago. They will be taking over the Lotta’s space and expanding there, but probably not until 2025.