Thank you, Fillmore.
Now let's help Tom.
100 Scoops Day was one of the best days we've had in this neighborhood in a while — and it's not over. Help us keep showing up for Mr. Tom and Miyako.
FLAVORS
ON DECK
One free scoop turned into a whole lot of joy
See it for yourself
Help us keep the scoops coming for Mr. Tom
Miyako has been a Fillmore fixture for over 30 years. Now it's our turn to show up for Tom the way he's shown up for this neighborhood — every dollar helps keep the shop going.
Donate on GoFundMe →Updated by hand as donations come in — GoFundMe doesn't offer a live feed, so this reflects the last time we checked.
A Fillmore fixture, one scoop at a time
Tom Bennett opened Miyako in 1993, in the same Fillmore District storefront the shop still occupies today. He'd come to San Francisco from Philadelphia with a plan to open an ice cream shop, and this was the first space he found. He named it Miyako as an invitation to the neighborhood's Japanese and Asian community, in a district that had once been a thriving Japantown.
More than three decades later, it's still family run — Tom's daughter Teresa now co-owns the shop, with her sister Bonita pitching in when things get busy. Regulars come back for the same reasons they always have: a huge wall of flavors, generous scoops, low prices, and an owner who remembers your name.
- FlavorsOver 100, from classic vanilla to ube and lucuma
- Est.1993, same Fillmore storefront
- Address1470 Fillmore St, San Francisco
- PaymentCash only in-store
Scooping ice cream in a neighborhood built on reinvention
Long before Miyako opened its doors, the Fillmore was known as the "Harlem of the West" — blocks of jazz clubs, theaters, and Black-owned businesses that made it one of the country's great mid-century music corridors, with legends like Billie Holiday and John Coltrane playing its stages.
The same streets were also home to a thriving Japantown, until World War II incarceration forcibly emptied it of Japanese American families and businesses in the 1940s. When Tom Bennett opened his ice cream shop in 1993, he named it Miyako — Japanese for "beautiful capital" — as a deliberate invitation back to that history.
Miyako has served the Fillmore from the same address since 1993 — through the neighborhood's ups, downs, and everything since.
A neighborhood shop, a community sponsor
100 Scoops Day is a community event connecting a beloved small business with the neighbors who keep it going.
Miyako Old Fashioned Ice Cream
An independent, family-run ice cream shop in the Fillmore District, serving the neighborhood since 1993 with over 100 flavors and a lot of history.
Visit Miyako on Yelp ↗A Thing To Talk About
A Bay Area creative production company that builds awareness for local businesses and community events by pairing them with people who want to show up for their neighborhood.
Visit athingtotalkabout.com ↗Thank you for showing up for the Fillmore
100 Scoops Day happened because this neighborhood came out for it. If you can, one more show of support goes a long way for Mr. Tom.
Donate to Mr. Tom →