The Mission is mainly composed of latinos families (about 75% of the people living in this neighborhood) whose origins are from Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador and other countries in Central and South America. This caracteristic is quite obvious, especially if you get off at the 24th Bart Station: you'll hear people speaking Spanish all over the place, and you'll see dozens of restaurants offering the best tacos and burritos in town. The other 25% of the people who have chosen The Mission to live in are young folks that are mostly known to be "hipsters".
There are many ways to discover The Mission. My two favorites are to walk its streets , and to let yourself be marveled by some of the 500 astonishing artistic murales you'll encounter on the way.
The Mission regroups over 500 outdoor murales that have been created by local artists and citizens. There are located everywhere in the neighborhood, which makes it look like an open-air museum : a good thing if you travel on a low budget (it's free!) and you can take as many photos as you want... even with your flash on!
Each murale is a long-term project: many months are required for a group of people to show their interest in painting a wall. They must submit their drawing and its meaning to a committee, budget the project (around $8.500 per painting), get the approval from the owner of the building (whether it's a public place or a personal home) to paint a certain wall, regroup the volunteer and/or hire some artists, and engage in painting for many hours, days or even months sometimes.
Each murale is a piece of art that tells a story. They tell about a civil war some people have gone through when they were living in their native country and the happiness that comes with political peace. They tell about the concerns of the citizens who see realestates people destroy some of the old time buildings of the area to build new and expansive condos. They tell about the people's religious beliefs. They tell how important is the role of women in the community. They tell this, and much more. And since there's no explanation along the murales, it's all yours to discover...
The best way is to join a group and be toured by a guide from Precitia Eyes Muralist (2981, 24th Street): you'll get to hear one of their artists about the history of the muralism movement in The Mission and discover many stories behind some of the murales. I highly recomment it! And if you happen to be toured by Patricia, you'll love it even more! ;-) INFO @ http://www.precitaeyes.org/
But if you do the tour by yourself, my suggestion is to reach the Bart station located at the corner of 24th St. and Mission St.: from there, walk on 24th St. towards east. You'll see many murales on both sides of the street.
- Make sure to reach the Balmy Alley (9 blocks later) to see the compelling murales that adorns the garage doors and brick walls of private houses. There are about 30 of them at the moment.
- At the end of the Balmy Alley, turn left and walk (east) on 25th Street
- About 2 or 3 blocs later, at the corner you'll see a childish murale (look on your left): I was told that the flowers are inspired by real species of wild flowers one could see up in the mountains of California, though the trees are a product of the artist's inspiration!
- Turn left on this street to reach 24th St. again, then turn right to keep walking east.
- Very soon you will reach (on the north side of the street, which will be on your left) a children park that is astonishing. It's very colorful, you can't miss it. Take a moment to be a kid again, play... and take memorable photos!
- From there, my experience was to walk back on 24th St. but you can take any street between 24th and 16th (a main street for the nightlife) and discover many more murales.
- If you reach the corner of Valencia St. and 18th St., it's worth walking west on 18th (towards the Dolores Park): not even one block west of Valencia St. is the Women's Building. Take a look at the wonderful peace of art some local artists have made on the eastern facade of the building: this is one of may favorite murales in The Mission!
And now... Indulge San Francisco! ;-)
