Macy’s Union Square was born of a chance encounter. Here’s how it became a S.F. icon

Macy’s arrived in San Francisco in 1947 with the marketing blitz of a summer movie blockbuster, political campaign kickoff and new product launch rolled into one. “M … S … F … is coming!” full-page ads in the Chronicle teased months before opening. Finally on Oct. 16, 1947, the news arrived: Macy’s department store, already a huge presence in New York, opened its first West Coast store in Union Square. The company also unveiled plans to double the existing building’s size and add luxuries including a helicopter pad on the roof and a first-floor marble facade that ringed most of a square block.  Read more at San Francisco Chronicle.