San Francisco Mission District Murals
San Francisco is a city that is in love with murals. With over 600 murals, San Francisco's mural tradition is rich and diverse with murals painted on building walls and facades, fences, garage doors and more. The colorful Mission District is the capital of San Francisco murals with the greatest concentration of murals in San Francisco. The San Francisco Mission neighborhood's love affair with murals stems from the Mexican roots of the Mission District community. The Latino community took up residence in the Mission neighborhood in the early 1970s and they brought their muralist traditions with them. A walk along 24th Street between Valencia and York illustrates the vibrant mural traditions of the San Francisco Mission neighborhood.
Precita Eyes Mural Arts and Visitors Center
The Precita Eyes Mural Arts and Visitors Center is a great place to begin your exploration of the murals in the San Francisco Mission neighborhood. Precita Eyes is located at 2981 24th Street in San Francisco, just a half a block from Balmy Alley, which contains a concentration of over 30 murals itself. The Precita Eyes visitors center offers three different guided mural tours on Saturday and Sunday for between $10 and $12 for an adult. You can also arrange private group mural tours in advance. In addition, the Precita Eyes Visitors Center has a Mission mural map of nearly 90 murals that you can use to explore on your own. You can also purchase mural-themed items, such as post cards, candles, posters and books. The Precita Eyes Visitors Center also sells mural arts supplies in case your are inspired to paint your own personal mural on your living room wall.
You can reach the Precita Eyes Mural Arts and Visitors Center on the Muni bus #48 (which runs along 24th Street) or the Muni bus #12 (which runs down Folsom Street). In addition the 24th Street BART station is six blocks from the Precita Eyes Center.
San Francisco Mission District's Balmy Alley
Located a block from the Precita Eyes Mural Arts and Visitors Center in the San Francisco Mission neighborhood between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street, Balmy Alley has a concentration of more than 30 vibrant and colorful murals painted on fences, building walls and garage doors. In the Mission neighborhood densely packed with murals, Balmy Alley is at the center of it all. Muralists began working in San Francisco's Balmy Alley as early as 1971. Many of the original murals are still there as well as many murals that have been painted over the intervening years.
The Balmy Alley murals are very diverse both stylistically and in the subject matter. Some of the murals feature cartoon-like illustrations that playful and juvenile. Other murals along Balmy Alley grapple with difficult subjects, such as a memorial to people who have died from AIDS or depictions of political strife and war in Latin America. Another mural honors the great muralist Diego Rivera and his wife, the painter Frida Kahlo. And another is a tribute to women muralists of the Mission District. One colorless mural, depicts two men and a woman jumping through a barbed-wire fence lined with keys. The woman has her hand held high, making the peace sign.
One of the best parts of about San Francisco's Balmy Alley and the Mission District murals in general is that the murals are part of a thriving vibrant community that is as colorful and diverse as the murals themselves. On Balmy Alley, take a peak through the knot-hole of a mural-painted fence and you'll see and old car supported on blocks or a latino washing his truck or a patio table and chairs. Along the alley, you'll see signs that warn you to beware of dogs as well as a lettering for the Taqueria Vallarta, which is on 24th Street.
San Francisco's Mission District Carnaval Mural
Mixed among blocks of warehouses and running along a wall for nearly a block in San Francisco's Mission neighborhood is a mural titled "Carnaval." The Carnaval mural is located on Harrison at 19th Street. As the name implies, the Carnaval mural is a representation of the Carnaval celebration. Carnival is a multicultural dance and music festival that has its roots in Latin America and the Caribbean. The San Francisco Mission District has been hosting a Carnaval Festival since 1978. The venues stretch along Harrison Street from 16th Street to 24th Street. In 1994, the Carnaval mural was created by Joshua Sarantitis, Emmanuel Montoya, Carlos Loarca and others. The radiant Carnaval mural is as dynamic and colorful as the festival that it portrays.
San Francisco 24th Street Mini-Park
Located in the Mission District on 24th Street between York and Bryant is the Maradiaga Mini-Park that is a mural environment. The park is enclosed on three sides by walls of murals that were painted between 1974 and 1990. The murals were designed to teach children about their rich Latin-American cultural heritage. Some of the murals were restored in 1990.
San Francisco 24th Street BART Station
At the Mission and 24th Street BART Station is another concentration of murals in the Mission District. There is a mural entitled "BART" by M.Rios, A Machado and R. Montez and was painted in 1975. Accross the street, in what is a strange confluence of cultures, the McDonald's building's walls are covered with murals. The aptly named "Culture of the Crossroads" was a Precita Eyes mural project that was completed in 1998 and was completed by the Mission neighborhood children of San Francisco.
San Francisco Women's Building
The San Francisco Women's Building (located at 3543 18th Street at Lapidge Street) boasts two walls of a dramatic mural that pays homage to women. Created by a team of seven San Francisco women muralists, the "Maestrapeace" mural portrays women and feminine archetypes of multiple world origins. The Goddess of Light and Creativity adorns the top of the 18th Street facade with the waters of life flowing beneath her and transforming into fabric designs from around the world. The Mission District mural features such notable women as Georgia O'Keefe (an innovative American artist) and Rigoberta Menchu (a Guatemalan of Mayan decent and Nobel prize-winning activist). The names of many more famous women are inscribed in the mural's colorful patterns. The mural is meant to be inspiration and educational, illustrating the contributions women have made to human history and society.
The Women's Building provides resources and services to organizations that support women and girls from multi-ethnic and multi-cultural backgrounds. For an informational key to the mural, step inside the Women's Building or contact them at their website.
You can reach the San Francisco Women's Building via the Muni #33 bus. Additionally, the following Muni bus lines come within two blocks of the Women's Building: 14, 14L, 22 and 49.
