First, the city “owns” all the land everything is built on. If the city doesn’t like something, they just eminent domain your shit and change it. Second, a lot of old buildings in SF are “historic” buildings, which is a legal classification that means either the building itself or an event in the buildings past has enough historic value to preserve for future generations. This means the building is protected from change in a whole bunch of very complicated and specific ways. Replacing a sink faucet or light fixture generally takes months of inspections, board review, and other bureaucratic nonsense. I can’t imagine the amount of work that was supposed to have been done before either the old sign was taken down or the new one was put up, but I’m pretty sure muskymoo didn’t bother.