San Francisco Architectural Heritage held their annual Holiday Open House at the Haas-Lilienthal House on December 3, 2006. The $10 admission price included access to entire house museum (no guided tours that day, but docents were around to answer questions); refreshments; live holiday music; a visit by Santa at 2 p.m.; and a deeply discounted 1-year membership to Heritage, with all basic benefits (free House and walking tours, Newsletter, bookstore discounts, etc.). There were two gift boutiques.

The Ballroom Boutique & Bookstore was open to the general public, without paying admission to the Open House. In addition to the bookstore items Heritage typically carries, there were lots of books, note cards, games, and wrapping papers with architectural and/or historic themes (including lots of San Francisco and Victoriana specifically), and Christmas and Hanukkah gift items and stocking stuffers for all ages. Handmade craft items included: wine bags (made by my mother), soaps (made by my sister’s neighbor), sachets (filled with rose petals from flowers given to one of our volunteers, weekly, by her very romantic husband), hand-crafted note cards (also made by my mother), etc. Children’s gifts included Traditional Toys and Games such as: marbles, jacks, playing cards, pick up sticks, dominos, chalk, whirligigs, and soft wool balls (the precursor to the Nerf ball). Refer to January 7, 2007 Scrapbook for more information about toys and games. For those with a sweet tooth, there were Classic American Snack Packs (candies your mother or grandmother will remember from childhood) in decorative, reusable bags; and, of course, our huge candy bars that many also enjoyed last year.

In the Upstairs Boutique were craft items that reflected the preservation aspect of Heritage. There was a large assortment of adaptive re-use jewelry, using previously loved buttons and beads with new findings, in updated ways. The most popular items were button bracelets inspired by friendship bracelets of the Victorian era. Early in the 19th century buttons became much smaller, about half the size of just one-century prior. The invention of the four-hole button, as an alternative to shank buttons, minimized the decorative possibilities of buttons. New button materials began to appear; with the invention of synthetic substitutes for natural materials, buttons became cheap. Ironically, while buttons used on clothing were becoming less and less decorative, a new fad began which required unusual buttons. By the 1860’s until around 1900 young women collected buttons (customarily exchanged with friends) and stitched them onto wide, black elastic bands called “charm strings.” An extravagant “friendship bracelet” indicated a well-loved woman. For single women, these bracelets took on another role. There had to be a thousand buttons on the string before Prince Charming would come and claim his lady love. There were very few completed strings (and maybe even fewer Prince Charmings). The friendship bracelets sold in the Upstairs Boutique, hand-made by volunteers at San Francisco Architectural Heritage, exemplify adaptive re-use of buttons from previously loved clothing. Though constructed using a modern technique, these bracelets are inspired by the friendship bracelets of the Victorian era.