There’s a lotta history to the 147-year-old Lotta’s Fountain at Market and Geary Streets, though vandals have torn off one of its cast iron florets, but the SF Arts Commission is promising a quick fix.

The downtown San Francisco landmark Lotta’s Fountain, at the intersection of Kearny, Geary, and Market streets, is known primarily for its annual 1906 earthquake anniversary celebrations where people shlep there at 5 a.m. in Edwardian-era foppery to mark the occasion. But another smaller tremor just rocked the landmark, as KTVU reports there is new vandalism damage to Lotta’s Fountain.

KTVU has video of the damage, and it is fairly minor. Basically, a vandal or vandals broke off part of one the structure's cast iron florets. According to KTVU, “officials were informed last week” of the damage.

The SF Arts Commission says they will replace and recast the broken piece, but there is no announced timeline for the repair.

The fountain is named for Gold Rush-era actor and entertainer Lotta Crabtree, who gave the city the fountain as a gift in 1875. That’s not Lotta Crabtree above, it’s opera soprano Luisa Tetrazzini, who performed there for free on Christmas Eve, 1910, a performance that the Chronicle reports drew an estimated “250,000 to 300,000” people.

Why is it called a “fountain” if there’s no running water there? The FoundSF history of Lotta’s Fountain notes that it was once a public water source, which is why it was such an important gathering place in the wake of the 1906 earthquake.

And it was not always universally beloved. FoundSF also notes that author Samuel Dickson wrote in 1947 that Lotta’s Fountain was "not only an unaesthetic monstrosity but the ugliest monument in the city."

Related: Idiot Climbs Lotta's Fountain On Market, Gets Naked, Gets Help Down From Fire Department [SFist]

Image: @SFAC via Twitter