The neighborhood is full of color, scents, too much hip along with a lot of grit. Taquerias sit next to bars blaring mariachi music that sit next to stores filled with cheap items that every household on a nonexistent budget needs. Coffeehouses frequented by the neighborhood’s arty-types dot the many industrial sized blocks that make up one of San Francisco’s liveliest and most colorful neighborhoods, The Mission.
Balmy Alley
Head down 24th Street just below Folsom and Treat Streets where the blocks are shorter, and you’ll find a small one-block alley called Balmy. One of the most concentrated areas for murals in the neighborhood, mainly because this alley is made up of garage doors and backyard fences. This street displays political works by many of the areas best mural artists. The colorful murals do change from time to time, but the themes remain the same. Political and cultural icons from Latin America and homages to particular days in Latin American history.
Clarion Alley
Between Mission and Valencia, near 17th Street there is an alley full of industrial buildings, roll-up doors, and garages with murals of a different sort painted over their exteriors. Inspired by Balmy Alley, these murals are modern, contemporary, experiments in color and statement created by a wide variety of emerging artists from many of San Francisco’s cultural backgrounds. This alley seems to be in constant state of flux, although some murals have stood the test of time, like the Escalator. But the artists are always experimenting, always moving forward.
Other famous murals in the neighborhood would include the Women’s Building on 18th at Dolores, The Mission Cultural Center on Mission near 24th, and the Carnival mural on 24th at South Van Ness.
The Balmy Alley murals are maintained by the Precita Eyes Mural Project
The Clarion Alley murals are created and maintained by CAMP
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Tags: mission district, murals, san francisco
