But for Bay Area residents, the development was a bit less shocking. We’ve had a front-row seat to Elon Musk’s antics for almost two decades. And with so many upstart companies being born and bought here, we’re used to aggressive rebrands — and failed attempts — whether it’s the horrible new UC logo, Anchor Brewing Co.’s new labels or beloved Candlestick becoming 3Com Park. (Though no one other than a few national TV announcers ever called it that.)
And just as many of us remember it as Sony Metreon not just the “Metreon,” I will always use the term “tweeted,” and not “made an X” or “Xed” or whatever language Musk prefers.
Below are six X-level Bay Area name changes or reboots that we’ll never quite get over. Did we forget your favorite? E-mail Peter Hartlaub at phartlaub@sfchronicle.com
When Banana Republic sold safari clothing …
Banana Republic has spent the 21st century fighting to corner the market on preppie work clothing. But for more than a decade, the mall stalwart actually matched its name, selling safari apparel that seemed designed alternately for people who wanted to cosplay “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and people who wanted to cosplay “Out of Africa.”
Created by Patricia and Mel Ziegler, Banana Republic was born in Mill Valley in 1978, spread to Union Square and quickly populated malls throughout the Bay Area, with a Disneyland ride’s worth of palm fronds, mosquito netting and crashed jeeps in the stores. You could buy a pith helmet, leather jacket, cargo pants with 700 pockets and T-shirts (my favorite) with giraffes and rhinos on the front.
The rebrand started in 1989, after the owners of The Gap took over the company, selling cashmere clothing, work jeans plus T-shirts and button-down shirts that are always a smidge smaller than a typical small or medium. And while Banana Republic was a huge success that grew to its current 354 stores, nearly all of that clothing is useless for a jungle expedition.
Feb. 1, 1988: Pixar’s Alvy Ray Smith is enthusiastic about the company’s new Pixar II graphic system, which creates computer-generated medical imagery.
Brant Ward/The ChronicleWhen Pixar was a medical supply company …
When The Chronicle published an article in 1987 claiming “Pixar has largely traded its artistic aspirations and Hollywood credentials for a laboratory bench,” it seemed like the days of Hollywood dreams and the 1986 short film “Luxo Jr.” were over.
Pixar was purchased by owner George Lucas in the 1970s as a computer division for Lucasfilm, then sold to Steve Jobs in 1986. Pixar had early success with short films and commercials, but needed other income streams. So Pixar in the late 1980s made a high-profile pivot to science and medical markets, with executive Alvy Ray Smith posing for a Chronicle photo next to a Pixar-branded monitor, showing the technology used as a chest X-ray machine.
Jobs later partnered with Disney and doubled down on a feature animation future, producing the 1995 mega-hit “Toy Story” and changing animation history.
Feb. 13, 1991: The 49ers debut a new helmet, which only lasted one day because of fan protests. Former head coach George Seifert, left, and former team owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. hold the helmet.
Deanne Fitzmaurice/The ChronicleWhen the 49ers went insane …
The Bay Area’s New Coke moment arrived on Feb. 13, 1991, the day the San Francisco 49ers revealed their new helmet design — which looked like it was equally inspired by a New Kids on the Block album cover and a half-off sticker one might place on a bargain grocery store melon.
NFL Properties, not the team, was to blame. While 49ers president Carmen Policy had to announce the helmet at an awkward news conference (he was smiling in exactly zero photos found in The Chronicle archive), it was a national NFL creative director who decided the 49ers needed to embrace the 1990s.
The city revolted, leaving thousands of messages for the 49ers.
“The phone keeps ringing,” 49ers PR assistant Al Barba said wearily, according to a Feb. 15 Chronicle article. “People are saying the old logo was classier, that it meant San Francisco. I guess they basically don’t like it.”
The logo was officially abandoned days later, and was never used in a game.
Guitarist John Roth and singer Mickey Thomas perform with Starship on May 23, 2015, in Bakersfield.
Scott Dudelson/Getty ImagesWhen Starship was Jefferson …
This isn’t Starship bashing. “We Built This City” is kind of a jam. If they’re a free act at our county fair, we’re going.
But the fact that the band — which rocketed to fame with the 1985 album “Knee Deep in the Hoopla” — is descended from Jefferson Starship and Summer of Love house band Jefferson Airplane is frankly jarring. It would be as if Thomas Keller in less than a decade went from owning the French Laundry to owning a Carl’s Jr. in Kettleman City.
Starship began with legal action from Paul Kantner of Jefferson Starship, but even after removing “Jefferson” from the name, it remained linked to the band through the presence of original co-lead singer Grace Slick. (Who has long since disembarked.) Jefferson Airplane is gone, but Jefferson Starship and Starship both tour in 2023. You now have a masters degree in Jefferson/Starship.
When Pac Bell Park was Pac Bell Park …
When it comes to corporate sponsors, the San Francisco Giants could have done a lot worse than Pacific Bell.
One of the most beautiful skyscrapers, the Art Deco masterpiece at 140 New Montgomery St., was once the Pacific Bell Building. Over a century, tens of thousands of San Franciscans worked for the telephone company that was founded in the city in 1906.
But sadly, after the ballpark opened on April 11, 2000, as Pacific Bell Park, what followed was a roller coaster of rebrands. The park switched sponsors to SBC Park in 2004, AT&T Park in 2006 and the current Oracle Park in 2019, with a replacement of the ballpark’s huge neon sign each time.
Like a lot of Giants fans, I’ve never moved on, and will continue to call it Pac Bell Park for the rest of my life.
Longs Drugs store in Mountain View in 2008. That year it would be purchased by CVS.
Paul Sakuma/Associated PressWhen Longs Drugs ruled the landscape …
I remember a magical time in the 1970s and 1980s, when you could enter a drug store and no one would ask if you’re a rewards member. A time when a checker handed you a receipt for your purchase that wasn’t taller than a small human being.
Longs Drugs felt more like a local mom-and-pop store because it was — founded in the 1930s on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland. In 2008, CVS paid $2.9 billion for Longs’ 521 stores and absorbed them all like a Borg queen. If you want to go to a drug store that doesn’t feel like it was created by Artificial Intelligence, you’ll have to go to Hawaii — the only state where Longs continues to exist.
Reach Peter Hartlaub: phartlaub@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @PeterHartlaub
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