The
Mission District, also commonly called
"The Mission", is a neighborhood in San Francisco,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
, USA, named after the sixth
Alta California missionThe Spanish missions in California comprise a series of religious outposts established by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order between 1769 and 1823 to spread the Christian faith among the local Native Americans. The missions represented the first major effort by Europeans to colonize the...
,
Mission San Francisco de AsisMission San Francisco de Asís is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco and the sixth religious settlement established as part of the California chain of missions...
. The area occupies land previously divided into
ranchosThe Spanish, and later the Mexican, government encouraged settlement of Alta California by the establishment of large land grants, which were turned into ranchos, devoted to the raising of cattle and sheep. The owners of these ranchos patterned themselves after the landed gentry in Spain. Their...
owned by
Spanish-MexicanCalifornio is a term used to identify a Californian of Hispanic—and in some rare cases, of Portuguese, Brazilian, or other non-Hispanic Latin American—descent, regardless of race, during the period that California was part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and Mexico...
families such as the Valencianos, Guerreros, Dolores, Bernals, Noes and De Haros.
The neighborhood is ethnically and economically diverse, with a population that is half
LatinoThe demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American or Spanish-speaking descent."* "A Latin American."...
, a third
WhiteWhite American is an umbrella term officially employed by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget and other U.S...
, and 11 percent
Asian{Infobox Ethnic group|group = Asian American|image =Graduation Rate! align="CENTER" | Bachelor's Degree
or More|-| align="LEFT" | Asian Indians| align="RIGHT" | 90.2%| align="RIGHT" | 67.9%|-| align="LEFT" | Filipinos| align="RIGHT" | 90.8%...
.
The Mission District is part of San Francisco's supervisorial districts 5, 9 and 10.
Geography
The principal thoroughfare of the Mission District of San Francisco is
Mission StreetMission Street is San Francisco's longest street and is one of its oldest. The street and the Mission District which it runs were named for the Spanish Mission Dolores, several blocks away from the modern route, which runs from the city's southern border to its northeast corner...
. Its borders are
U.S. Route 101U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101, is a north-south U.S. highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as El Camino Real where its route along the southern and central California coast approximates the old...
to the east which forms the boundary between the eastern portion of the district, known as "Inner Mission" and its eastern neighbor,
Potrero HillPotrero Hill is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, USA, located on the east side of the city, east of the Mission District and south of the South of Market area. It is roughly bordered by 16th Street to the north, Potrero Avenue or U.S. Route 101 to the west and Cesar Chavez Street to the...
, while Dolores Street separates the neighborhoods from Eureka Valley (also known as "The Castro") and Noe Valley to the west. The part of the neighborhood from Valencia Street to Dolores Street, north of 20th, is known as Mission Dolores. Cesar Chavez Street (formerly Army Street) is the southern border which lies next to
Bernal HeightsThe Bernal Heights neighborhood, familiarly called Bernal, lies to the south of San Francisco's Mission District. Its most prominent feature is the open parkland and microwave tower on its large rocky hill, Bernal Heights Summit...
, while to the north the neighborhood is separated from South of Market roughly by Duboce Avenue and the elevated highway of the Central Freeway which runs above 13th Street. Also along Mission Street, further south-central are the Excelsior and Crocker-Amazon neighborhoods, sometimes referred to as the "Outer Mission" (not to be confused with the actual
Outer Mission neighborhoodOuter Mission is a small residential neighborhood on the south edge of San Francisco, bounded by Geneva Avenue, Alemany Boulevard, Mission Street, and the city border to Daly City. The name Outer Mission often causes confusion, leading some to believe that Outer Mission is immediately south of...
).
Climate
The
microclimateA microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet or as large as many square miles...
s of San Francisco create a system by which each neighborhood can have radically different weather at any given time. The Mission's geographical location insulates it from the fog and wind from the west. As a result, the Mission has a tendency to be warmer and sunnier than the rest of the city. This climatic phenomenon becomes apparent to visitors who walk downhill from 24
th Street in the west from Noe Valley (where clouds from
Twin PeaksThe Twin Peaks are two hills with an elevation of about situated at the geographic center of San Francisco, California. They form the second highest point in San Francisco, after Mount Davidson....
in the west tend to accumulate on foggy days) towards Mission Street in the east, partly because Noe Valley is on higher ground whereas the Inner Mission is at a lower elevation.
History
The
YelamuThe Yelamu were a tribe of Native Americans of Northern California in the Ohlone language group. The Yelamu lived on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in the region comprising the City and County of San Francisco before the arrival of Spanish missionaries in 1769...
Indians inhabited the region what is now known as the Mission District for over 2,000 years. Spanish missionaries arrived in the area during the late 18th century. They found these people living in two villages on
Mission CreekMission Creek is a river in San Francisco, California that has been largely culverted. The only remaining portion above ground is in the Mission Creek Channel that drains into China Basin.-External links:*...
. It was here that a Spanish priest named Father
Francisco PalóuFrancisco Palou was a Franciscan missionary, administrator, and historian on the Baja California peninsula and in Alta California. Father Palou's contributions to the Californian and Mexican monastery movement are vast. Along with his mentor, Junipero Serra, Palou worked to build numerous missions...
founded
Mission San Francisco de AsisMission San Francisco de Asís is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco and the sixth religious settlement established as part of the California chain of missions...
on June 29 1776. This period marked the beginning of the end of the Yelamu culture. The Mission was moved from the shore of Laguna Dolores to its current location in 1783. Franciscan friars are reported to have used Ohlone slave labor to complete the Mission in 1791. The Indian population at Mission Dolores dropped from 400 to 50 between 1833 and 1841. Mexican and Spanish ranches continued in the area until 1849 after the Mexican Cession of 1848. It is the historical name for the region of the present day southwestern United States that was ceded to the U.S. by Mexico in 1848 under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican-American War, thus accounting for the Spanish-language derived names of San Francisco and other West Coast areas.
Mexican Cession.png
During European settlement of the City in the 19th and 20th century, large numbers of Irish and German immigrant workers moved into the area. Development and settlement intensified after the
1906 earthquakeThe San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, CA and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 A.M. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.8; however, other values have...
, as many displaced businesses and residents moved into the area, making Mission Street a major commercial thoroughfare. In 1926, the Polish Community of San Francisco converted a church on 22nd Street and Shotwell Street and opened its doors as the Polish Club of San Francisco, referred to today as the "Dom Polski", or Polish Home. The
Irish AmericanIrish Americans are citizens of the United States who trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,495,800 Americans reported Irish ancestry in the 2006 American Community Survey. The only self-reported ancestral group larger than Irish Americans are German Americans...
community made their mark during this time, with notable people like etymologist
Peter TamonyPeter Tamony was an Irish American folk-etymologist who is noted for his research on American colloquial speech, Jazz music and sports....
calling the Mission home. During the 1940-1960s, large numbers of Mexicans moved into the area as whites moved out, giving the Mission the Latin character it is known for today. During the 1980s and 1990s, the Mexican population was joined by large numbers of immigrants and refugees fleeing civil wars from
CentralManagua
Guatemala City
San Salvador
San Pedro Sula
Panama City
San José, Costa Rica
Santa Ana, El Salvador
León
San Miguel|-|}...
and
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
.
Despite rising rent and housing prices, many Mexican and Central American immigrants continue to move into the Mission district. The neighborhood has high crime areas. 13 of the city's 98 homicides in 2007 occurred in the Mission District.
Culture of the Inner Mission
The Inner Mission was viewed as a
LatinoThe demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American or Spanish-speaking descent."* "A Latin American."...
neighborhood through much of the 1960s and 1970s. However, the Mission today is both the nexus of the Chicano and Latino community and a neighborhood of artists and
hipsterHipster is a slang term that first appeared in the 1940s, and was revived in the 1990s and 2000s often to describe types of young, recently-settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers with interests in non-mainstream fashion and culture, particularly alternative music, independent rock,...
s. While Mexican, Peruvian, Salvadorian, and other Latin American restaurants are pervasive throughout the neighborhood, residences are not evenly distributed. Most of the neighborhood's Latino/a residents live on the eastern side. A fusion of the conceivably disparate cultures is evidenced by the many colorful Latin American themed murals throughout the neighborhood.
Numerous Latino/a artistic and cultural institutions are based in the Mission. The Mission Cultural Center for the Latino Arts, established by Latino artists and activists, is an art space. The local bilingual newspaper, El Tecolote, was founded in 1970. The Mission's
Galería de la RazaGalería de la Raza is a non-profit art gallery and artist collective that serves the heavily-Latino population of San Francisco's Mission District. GDLR mounts exhibitions, hosts poetry readings, workshops, and celebrations, sells works of art, and sponsors youth and artist-in-residence programs...
, founded by local artists active in el Movimiento (the Chicano civil rights moment), is a nationally recognized arts organization. Late May, the city's annual
CarnavalCarnaval San Francisco is an annual street parade and festival in San Francisco, California.It was founded by a large group of visionary artists brought together by percussionist Marcus Gordon, dancer Adela Chu, and costume designer Pam Minor in 1979 who came together in Precita Park to celebrate...
festival and parade marches down Mission Street. Meant to mimic the festival in
Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1822 during the Portuguese colonial era, and...
, it is held in late May instead of the traditional late February to take advantage of better weather.
Beginning in the 1980s many Central American banks and companies set up branches, offices, and regional headquarters on Mission Street.
Due to the existing cultural attractions, relatively less expensive housing and commercial space, and the high density of restaurants and drinking establishments, the Mission is a magnet for young people. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the Valencia Street corridor had a lively punk night life with several clubs including
The Deaf ClubThe Deaf Club was a notable music venue located on Valencia Street in San Francisco which remained open for an 18 month period. Its main attraction was punk music...
and
Valencia Tool & DieValencia Tool & Die, abbreviated as VT&D, was a 1980s San Francisco music venue and art gallery that presented punk, new wave, and new music performances, as well as performance art, film, and visual art shows from 1980 through 1983....
and the former fire station on 16th Street, called the Compound, sported what was commonly referred to as "the punk mall" an establishment that catered to punk style and culture. On South Van Ness
Target VideoTarget Video is a San Francisco-based studio, run by Joe Rees, that archived early punk and hardcore bands such as Black Flag, Flipper, and Crucifix in the late 1970's to the early 1980's. Using multiple VHS cameras, they produced some of the highest quality footage available of these bands...
and Damage Magazine were located in a three story warehouse. An independent arts community also arose and since the 1990s, the area has been home to the
Mission SchoolThe Mission School is an art movement of the 1990s and 2000s, centered in the Mission District of San Francisco, California.-History and characteristics:...
art movement. Many studios, galleries, performance spaces, and public art projects are located in the Mission, including the Clarion Alley Mural Project, Project Artaud,
Southern Exposure-About:Southern Exposure is a not-for-profit arts organization and alternative art space founded in 1974 in the Mission District of San Francisco, California....
, Art Explosion Studios, Artist Xchange,
Theatre RhinocerosTheatre Rhinoceros or Theatre Rhino was founded in the spring of 1977 by Lanny Baugniet and his partner Allan B. Estes, Jr...
,
Artists' Television AccessArtists' Television Access is a non-profit art gallery and screening venue in San Francisco's Mission District in the United States of America. ATA exhibits work by emerging, independent and experimental artists in its theatre and gallery space as well as on its weekly cable access show and webzine...
, and the oldest, alternative, not-for profit art space in the city of San Francisco,
Intersection for the ArtsIntersection for the Arts, established in 1965, is the oldest alternative non-profit art space in San Francisco, California. Intersection's reading series is the longest continuous reading series outside of an academic institution in the state of California....
.
The RoxieThe Roxie Theater is a movie theater in the Mission District of San Francisco built in 1909. It is also known as the Roxie Cinema or just The Roxie.-History:...
Theater, the oldest continuously operating movie theater in San Francisco, is host to repertory and independent films as well as local film festivals. The neighborhood was dubbed "the New Bohemia" by the
San Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireSan Francisco Chronicle is Northern California's largest newspaper, and one of the largest in the United States, serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area, but distributed throughout...
in 1995 (see link below). The cultural shift, often referred to as
gentrificationGentrification and urban gentrification denote the socio-economic, commercial, and demographic change in an urban area resulting from wealthier people buying housing property in a poor community...
, led to tension and the founding of the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition by local Supervisor
Chris DalyChris Daly is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He represents District 6, encompassing the Civic Center, Tenderloin and South of Market districts, as well as Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island and the northern half of the Mission District . At age 28, he was elected to the...
.
Artists
Some well-known artists associated with the Mission District include:
- Ricardo Gouveia (a.k.a. "Rigo 23", painter, sculptor, and muralist)
- Chris Johanson
Chris Johanson is an American painter and street artist. He is a member of San Francisco's Mission School art movement.- Biography :Johanson was born in suburban San Jose, California in 1968. He has no formal training in art, learning some technique by painting skateboards and houses...
(painter and street artist)
- Xiani Yngojo-Wang (painter, sculptor, and visionary)
- Margaret Kilgallen
Margaret Leisha Kilgallen was a San Francisco Bay Area artist. Though a contemporary artist, her work showed a strong influence from folk art. She was considered a central figure in the Bay Area Mission School art movement....
(painter, printmaker, and graffitiGraffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
artist)
- Barry McGee
Barry McGee is a painter and graffiti artist. He is also known by monikers such as Ray Fong, Twist and further variations of Twist, such as Twister, Twisty, Twisto and others....
(a.k.a. "Twist", painter and graffitiGraffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
artist)
- Ruby Neri (painter, sculptor, and graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
artist)
- Michael V. Rios (painter, designer, and muralist)
- Xavier Viramontes (printmaker)
- Scott Williams
Scott Williams may refer to:*Scott Williams , American comic book artist and inker*Scott Williams , American basketball player*Scott Williams , first head coach of the Illinois college football program...
http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles2005/Articles1105/ScWilliamsA.html
- Craig Baldwin
Craig Baldwin is an American experimental filmmaker. He uses “found” footage from the fringes of popular consciousness as well as images from the mass media to undermine and transform the traditional documentary, infusing it with the energy of high-speed montage and a provocative commentary that...
(filmmaker, archivist, curator)
- Dori Seda
Dori Seda was an artist best known for her underground comix work of the 1980s. Her comics combined exaggerated fantasy and ribald humor with documentation of her life in the Mission District of San Francisco, California....
(cartoonist, painter)
- Laurie Toby Edison
Laurie Toby Edison is an internationally exhibited portrait photographer. Her three suites of photographs include a series of nudes of fat women, a series of nudes of a very diverse cross-section of men, and a series of clothed portraits of women living in Japan...
(photographer)
Music
The Mission is rich in musical groups and performances.
MariachiMariachi, in relation to the music of Mexico, may also be defined in relation to the conditions associated with its historical development. A mariachi ensemble is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the colonial era. Throughout the history of...
bands play in restaurants on 24th Street, and many musical traditions are represented each
Memorial DayMemorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May . Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service...
weekend during the Mission's
CarnavalCarnaval San Francisco is an annual street parade and festival in San Francisco, California.It was founded by a large group of visionary artists brought together by percussionist Marcus Gordon, dancer Adela Chu, and costume designer Pam Minor in 1979 who came together in Precita Park to celebrate...
celebration.
Classical musicClassical music is the mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times...
is heard in the concert hall of the Community Music Center on Capp Street.
Carlos SantanaCarlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican-born American Grammy Award-winning rock musician and guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered a blend of rock, salsa and jazz fusion. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based...
spent his teenage years in the Mission, graduating from
Mission High SchoolMission High School is an American public high school located in San Francisco, California. It serves grades 9-12 as part of the San Francisco Unified School District ....
in 1965. He has often returned to the neighborhood, including for a live concert with his band
SantanaSantana is a band consisting of a flexible number of musicians accompanying Carlos Santana since the late 1960s. The range of these artists has varied greatly. Just like Santana himself, the band is known for helping make Latin rock famous in the rest of the world.-Overview:The band was formed in...
that was recorded in 1969, and for the KQED documentary "The Mission" filmed in 1994.
The locally-inspired song "Mission in the Rain" by
Robert HunterRobert C. Hunter is an American lyricist, singer-songwriter, translator, and poet, best known for his association with Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead.-Biography:He was born Robert Burns in San Luis Obispo, California...
and
Jerry GarciaJerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his work with the band the Grateful Dead...
appeared on Garcia's solo album
"Reflections"Reflections is Jerry Garcia's third solo album, released in 1976. It includes five songs that were performed by the Grateful Dead. All of the then-members of the Grateful Dead contribute to the music on this album.-Track listing:...
, and was played by the
Grateful DeadThe Grateful Dead were an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, jazz, psychedelia, and space rock—and for live performances of long musical...
five times in concert in 1976.
Elbo Room, a bar/live music venue on Valencia Street, is home to
Dub MissionDub Mission is a dub, dubstep, roots, and dancehall party which occurs weekly on Sunday nights at San Francisco's Elbo Room club in the Mission district. Started by DJ Sep in 1996 as a monthly venue to fill a void in the Bay Area's dub scene, Dub Mission has grown into a weekly event with a loyal...
, a weekly
reggaeReggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady. Reggae is based...
/
dubDub is an instrumental subgenre of reggae music, that involves revisions of existing songs. The dub sound consists predominantly of instrumental remixes of existing recordings and is achieved by significantly manipulating and reshaping the recordings, usually by removing the vocals from an existing...
party started in 1996 by
DJ SepSep Ghadishah, better known as DJ Sep, has been the host of "Off The Beaten Path" on KPFA since 1995, and is the founder and head DJ of Dub Mission, a weekly San Francisco dub party. She started DJing on KUSF in 1988....
and over the years has brought many luminaries of reggae and dub music to perform there.
The Mission District is also very popular for its influencing Hip-Hop/
RapRapping is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes, wordplay, and poetry. Rapping is a primary ingredient in hip hop music, but the phenomenon predates hip hop culture by centuries. Rapping can be delivered over a beat or without accompaniment...
music scene. Record labels like Black N Brown/ Thizz Latin and Hometeam Ent. help put Mission District rappers, like Goldtoes, Gangsta Flea, Mr. Kee, Friscasso, 10sion, The Goodfelonz, and Don Louis & Colicious, get exposure through various compilations such as
17 Reasons, 18 Wit A Bullet, Organized Crime, Filthy Livin' In The Mission, The Daily Grind 'Fillmoe 2 Da Mission, and many others. There is a new generation of young and upcoming rappers who are emerging from this neighborhood such as G-One (R.I.P.), Young Mix, Los Da Rockstar, DJ Blaze, Loco C, and Yung Dunn to name a few. The Mission District Hip Hop/Rap scene is heavily influenced by the illegal drug trafficking, gang activity, and other organized crime that occurs in the Mission District. Although many people ignore the negative aspects of this neighborhood, these artists and labels show another harsh reality that goes on in the Mission, not to glorify it but to show how many lives are affected because of these issues.
Transportation
The neighborhood is served by the
BARTBay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 43 stations in four counties...
rail system with stations on Mission Street at
16th Street16th Street Mission Station is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in the Mission District of San Francisco, California. It is used by the Richmond-Millbrae line, the Pittsburg/Bay Point-SFO line, the Fremont-Daly City line, and the Dublin/Pleasanton-Millbrae line...
and
24th Street24th Street Mission Station is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in the Mission District of San Francisco, California. It is an underground station with an island platform located below the intersection of Mission Street and 24th Street....
, by
MuniThe San Francisco Municipal Railway is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2006, it served with an operating budget of about $700 million...
bus numbers 9, 12, 14, 14L, 22, 26, 27, 33, 48, 49, 67, and along the western edge by the
J ChurchThe J Church is a Muni Metro line in San Francisco, California mainly serving the Noe Valley and Balboa Park neighborhoods, connecting them to downtown. It began as one of San Francisco's streetcar lines in the early 20th century, and was converted to modern light rail operation with the creation...
Muni MetroMuni Metro is a light rail system serving San Francisco, California, operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway , a division of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency...
line, which runs down Church Street and San Jose Avenue.
Highlights of the Inner Mission
- Mission Dolores
Mission San Francisco de Asís is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco and the sixth religious settlement established as part of the California chain of missions...
, the eponymous former mission on Dolores Street.
- Mission High School
Mission High School is an American public high school located in San Francisco, California. It serves grades 9-12 as part of the San Francisco Unified School District ....
built 1927, 18th Street between Church and Dolores
- Carnaval San Francisco
Carnaval San Francisco is an annual street parade and festival in San Francisco, California.It was founded by a large group of visionary artists brought together by percussionist Marcus Gordon, dancer Adela Chu, and costume designer Pam Minor in 1979 who came together in Precita Park to celebrate...
held on the 4th Sunday in May on Memorial Day Weekend is considered the top ethnic event on the West Coast with over eighty parade groups and 7-stage 2-day music festival on Harrison Street.
- Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted directly on a wall, ceiling, or other large permanent surface.-History:Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France...
s initiated by the Chicano Art Mural Movement of the 1970s and inspired by the traditional Mexican paintings made famous by Diego RiveraDiego Rivera was born Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez in Guanajuato, Gto. He was a world-famous Mexican painter, an active Communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo, 1929–1939 and 1940–1954...
can be found on 24th Street, Balmy AlleyBalmy Alley is the location of the most concentrated collection of murals in the city of San Francisco. Located in the south central portion of the Inner Mission District between 24th Street and Garfield Square...
, and Clarion Alley.
- Dolores Park
Mission Dolores Park - commonly called Dolores Park - and formerly known as Mission Park is a San Francisco, California, city park located in the neighborhood of Mission Dolores, at the western edge of the Mission District, which lies to the east of the park. To the west of the park is a hillside...
, officially Mission Dolores Park, bounded by Dolores Street, Church Street, 18th Street, and 20th Street.
- Nightlife, including a concentration at the intersection of 16th Street and Valencia Street.
- Every Thursday night, poets, musicians, emcees, and other artists gather on the southwest corner of the 16th & Mission intersection to perform.
- The Roxie Cinema
The Roxie Theater is a movie theater in the Mission District of San Francisco built in 1909. It is also known as the Roxie Cinema or just The Roxie.-History:...
and the Victoria TheatreThe Victoria Theatre originally built in 1908 as the Brown's Opera House, showcasing vaudeville and motion pictures. Owned by ancestors of the Brown family. In the 1950's it was El Teatro Victoria showing Spanish language movies. In the 1960's it became a burlesque house called the New Follies...
on 16th Street are the only remaining neighborhood movie theatres in the Mission. The Roxie has struggled for years financially and was purchased by New College of CaliforniaNew College of California was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1971 by former Gonzaga University President, Father John Leary. After 37 years, it ceased operations in early 2008,...
in January 2006. The college runs its film studies program out of the Roxie during the day and shows independent films in the evening.
- Intersection for the Arts
Intersection for the Arts, established in 1965, is the oldest alternative non-profit art space in San Francisco, California. Intersection's reading series is the longest continuous reading series outside of an academic institution in the state of California....
, the oldest alternative non-profit art space in San Francisco. Longtime artistic and community hub for residents of the Mission. Intersection's theater and gallary are located on Valencia between 15th and 16th streets.
- The Marsh
The Marsh is an American theater company that specializes in developing new performance. It is located in the Mission District of San Francisco, California.-History:...
, a small performance venue that specializes in new solo performance. The theater features several shows per week, and San Francisco celebrities such as Robin WilliamsRobin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian.Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
, Marga GomezMarga Gomez is a Puerto Rican/Cuban-American comedian, playwright, and humorist. She is openly lesbian....
, and Josh KornbluthJosh Kornbluth is an American comedic autobiographical monologuist based in San Francisco Bay Area who has toured internationally, written and starred in several feature films, and starred in a television interview show.- Biography :...
all developed at there. The Marsh's theater space and cafe are located on Valencia between 21st and 22nd streets.
- Mexican food, especially burrito
A burrito , or taco de harina, is a type of food found in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine. It consists of a flour tortilla wrapped or folded around a filling. The flour tortilla is usually lightly grilled or steamed, to soften it and make it more pliable...
s; the Mission district is the original home of the San Francisco burritoThe San Francisco burrito refers to a burrito from San Francisco, California, in which the Mexican-American burrito has become a city specialty, as the New York-based writer Calvin Trillin describes in his essay "Grandfather Knows Best": "In San Francisco, the burrito has been refined and...
style.
- Restaurants serving the cuisines of Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Japan, Italy, China, Peru, Cambodia, Honduras, Vietnam, Ethiopia, France, Morocco, Germany, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and Turkey, among others.
Movies filmed in the Mission District
The following films feature scenes shot in the Mission District:
- Vertigo
Vertigo is a American psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes. The film was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor and based on a novel by Boileau-Narcejac...
- La Mission
- Crackers
Crackers is a 1984 American film directed by Louis Malle.Written by Jeffrey Fiskin, the film is about a group of small-time out-of-luck thieves, led by the unemployed Weslake , who attempt to rob the neighborhood pawn shop owned by the greedy Garvey...
- High Crimes
High Crimes is a 2002 American drama film directed by Carl Franklin. The screenplay by Yuri Zeltser and Grace Cary Bickley is based on a novel by Joseph Finder.-Plot:...
- 48 Hrs.
48 Hrs. is a 1982 action comedy film directed by Walter Hill, starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy as a cop and convict, respectively, who team up to catch a cop-killer. The title refers to the amount of time they have to solve the crime. This was Eddie Murphy's film debut, and Joel Silver's first...
- Sucker Free City
Sucker Free City is a 2004 film directed by Spike Lee. The film takes a look at white, black, and Asian gangs in the city of San Francisco and the conflicts they encounter with each other. The film was first released in 2004 at the Toronto Film Festival and subsequently was released on television...
- Tales of the City
This article is about the novel series; see also Tales of the City and Tales of the City Tales of the City is a series of seven novels written by San Francisco author Armistead Maupin. Tales of the City is also the name of the first book in the series...
- Take the Money and Run
Take the Money and Run is a 1969 comedy film co-written by, directed by, and starring Woody Allen. It is a mockumentary, chronicling the life of Virgil Starkwell, a bungling petty thief...
- Quality of Life
Quality of Life is a 2004 drama film, telling the fictional story of two graffiti writers in the Mission District of San Francisco.Directed by Benjamin Morgan, Quality of Life stars Lane Garrison, Brian Burnam, Luis Saguar and Mackenzie Firgens. Morgan co-wrote the screenplay with Burnam, who is a...
- Pursuit of Happyness
- The Enforcer
The Enforcer could refer to:* The Enforcer - a 1976 film starring Clint Eastwood, the third film in the Dirty Harry series.* The Enforcer - a 1951 film starring Humphrey Bogart...
- Bullitt
Bullitt is a 1968 American thriller film starring Steve McQueen. It was directed by Peter Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. The story was adapted for the screen by Alan Trustman and Harry Kleiner, based on the novel titled Mute Witness by Robert L. Fish...
- Fearless
Fearless is a 1993 film directed by Peter Weir and written by Rafael Yglesias from his novel of the same name. It was shot entirely in California....
- Haiku Tunnel
Haiku Tunnel is an office comedy about the struggle between tempness and permness made by Sony Pictures Classics.-Plot:...
- Milk
Milk is a 2008 American biographical film on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black, the film stars Sean Penn as Milk and Josh Brolin as Dan White. The film was...
- Mission Movie (Una Pelicula de la Mision)
See also
- Precita Eyes
Precita Eyes Muralists Association is a community-based non-profit muralist and arts education group located in the the Mission District of San Francisco, California, founded in 1977 by Susan and Luis Cervantes.-History:...
- Mission Mural Project
- Garfield Square - Popular soccer field, swimming pool, playground and annual Day of the Dead shrines.
- Adobe Books - local independent bookstore which supports local artists, writers, and musicians.
- Tartine
Tartine is a bakery in San Francisco, California, located in the Mission District, at 600 Guerrero Street. Writing in the New York Times, food columnist Mark Bittman called it his favorite bakery in the U.S...
- local bakery
- The Deaf Club
The Deaf Club was a notable music venue located on Valencia Street in San Francisco which remained open for an 18 month period. Its main attraction was punk music...
- The Redstone Building
- Dolores Park
Mission Dolores Park - commonly called Dolores Park - and formerly known as Mission Park is a San Francisco, California, city park located in the neighborhood of Mission Dolores, at the western edge of the Mission District, which lies to the east of the park. To the west of the park is a hillside...
(includes list of neighborhood associations)
Further reading
Hooper, Bernadette (2006). San Francisco's Mission District. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-4657-7.
External links