Fortune Cookie Factory

This factory opened in 1962 and remains the only one where cookies are still made by hand. The funny thing is, fortune cookies were actually the invention of a Japanese immigrant named Makoto Hagiwara who designed the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco. He went through a difficult time in his life and in 1914 after things improved, he created a cookie with a “thank you” note inside of it to pass out to all of the people who stood by his side during his trials. In 1915 the fortune cookie was featured at the World Fair in Treasure Island. (The fortune cookie was not introduced to China until 1990 and were amusingly advertised as “Genuine American Fortune Cookies”).