Sue Perichon couldn’t find a place for adults to socialize and bring children, so she’s creating her own. | Source: Courtesy Li Daria
Published Aug. 12, 2026at6:00am
Sue Perichon has spent years looking for a place in the city where she can hang out with friends and bring her kids. After having her first baby, the Pac Heights mom worried about her stroller fitting into cramped cafes or the sound of crying bothering people working on laptops.
“It just never felt like I found a cafe that was welcoming for me,” Perichon says.
When she had her second child, going out became even more challenging. “Managing two toddlers while also finishing a conversation with a friend just felt near impossible,” she says.
So Perichon decided to create the space she craved. She’s set to open Little Maison (opens in new tab), San Francisco’s first “play cafe,” this year in Cow Hollow. It will be a unique type of third space: Unlike tot-centric places such as playgrounds and library children’s sections, a play cafe is designed to appeal to kids and adults alike, an indoor version of successful spaces she already loves such as the Presidio’s Tunnel Tops Park.