The Best Building is a significant example of commercial architecture in San Leandro and the only San Leandro Plaza building remaining from the early decades of the 20th century. Daniel Best, a manufacturer and inventor who had already contributed much to San Leandro’s growth, retired from Daniel Best Agricultural Works and began a banking career in this building. Constructed in 1910 and opened in 1911 to house the San Leandro State Bank, it featured classical Beaux Arts detail and ornamentation, with white terracotta tiles on the exterior and imported marble for the interior wainscoting and stair entrances. The Best Building Partnership restored the building in 1973-1974. Best also constructed a theater next door to the bank, which opened showing silent films, and on July 19, 1913, the Best Theater showed Thomas Edison’s first moving and talking picture.