Woody LaBounty, CEO of San Francisco Heritage, was our guest speaker at our Spring General Meeting this past May 19th. I had no idea as to the historical significance of the building. There are public tours Thursdays from 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm.
By Keith Menconi | Examiner staff writer
Jun 30, 2025 Updated 16 hrs ago
The Doolan-Larson House at 557 Ashbury Street
How should San Francisco keep its history alive?
It’s a question that one local preservation group wants the public to help answer.
San Francisco Heritage has put out the call for ideas that could help it make better use of a historic property that stands at the northwest corner of the Haight and Ashbury intersection.
The Doolan-Larson House — located at 557 Ashbury Street — is made up of a pair of white buildings and includes both a private residence as well as six ground-floor storefronts. Built just before the 1906 earthquake, the property later became a nexus for the 1960s counter-culture movement centered on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
Inside the Historic Doolan-Larson Residence at 557 Ashbury St. in San Francisco on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.
When the property’s last owner gifted it to SF Heritage in 2017, the group’s president, Woody LaBounty, said that he immediately saw the potential for the site.
“Here is the most famous intersection in the world,” said LaBounty in a recent interview with The Examiner. “How do we use this building, this property, to tell the stories? How do we improve the world using this building somehow?”
SF Heritage asks for help breathing new life into historic Haight building
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