Yone SF was not an everyday bead store.
It was an experience.

It’s been over 60 years since Yone Bead opened its doors in North Beach, San Francisco. Its owners, Yone Arashiro and Hermon Baker lived upstairs above the shop, becoming neighborhood fixtures and befriending the likes of Ruth Asawa, Imogen Cunningham and Janice Joplin. They welcomed anyone that needed a place to feel free to express their creativity, and became known as the “gentlemen bead sellers”.

In the beginning, before the “Summer of Love”.
Yonemitsu Arashiro, or Yone, designed very special clothing for unusual people. Known for adorning his designs with beads and jewelry, his passion for beads soon took over. Yone San Francisco became the first “real” bead store where customers could see, handle and select loose beads from one cent to $125 for an antique Venetian bead more than 100 years old.
Yone Arashiro

The love of beads is very ancient. About the earliest development in the history of mankind was the use of beads to count, identify, to adorn.

Hermon Baker
From the first year the policy at Yone Beads was to make them available for everyone.
Some of the leading people in beads and bead design today came around. Beads were new, but bead lovers knew what to do with them. Yone SF was a gold mine for beads of every size, shape, color and material. An awesome inventory of 8,000 to 10,000 separate types of beads, Yone and Hermon Baker together created a world-class collection of beautiful beads.
Yone Venice San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCOVENICE BEACH

The shop has been packed up and is in storage as the complex process to move the collection into the virtual world continues. Sadly Hermon passed away in 2020 at the grand old age of 97, but his spirit is still deeply felt by his niece and nephew who have taken over day-to-day operations.

Our new name and logo reflect the change in venue and location. The online shop features his antique and vintage collection of beads, jewelry and other treasures, highlighting unique pieces that we have recently rediscovered, and are eager to share with you.

Newly Discovered

Yone Venice Treasure
One of a kind treasures >
Chris and Lisa: Yone Venice Beads
Our Endless Inventory >