San Francisco’s Mission District Is ‘Mural Central’ Look Up, Down And Around - You Won’t Want To Miss Any Of These Urban Artists’ Works

In theory, walking in San Francisco’s Mission District is just as easy as walking anywhere else. You face forward, put one foot in front of the other and you move your body. But in reality, it’s hard to stay focused on where you’re going because of all the murals.

More than 100 of the beautiful distractions pop up all over 14 blocks of the Mission District, just one of the many neighborhoods that artists have used to establish their urban canvases.

This district is home to Mexicans, Colombians, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans and Salvadorans. The area is crammed full of bodegas, retail stores and taquerias (tacoburrito restaurants). It pulses with the sounds of salsa, house and rap music and smells of corn tortillas, grilled chicken and other appetiteinducing substances.

I was walking along Mission Street, the area’s main artery, on my way to 24th. I turned my head slightly while waiting at a traffic light, and the painted face of a woman, full and brown, looked at me from what I would soon find out was the Edificio de Mujeres, or Women’s Building.

The building is covered by a mural that deals with the accomplishments and struggles of woman and depicts scenes of important women of all nationalities, well known and unknown, in vivid reds, bright greens and earthy browns. A winding ribbon of color meanders throughout the painting with the names of hundreds of women - Gwendolyn Brooks, Martina Navratilova, Anita Hill, Mother Teresa and Lucy the cave woman, among them.

That afternoon, a busload of women on a tour stood in front of the mural not saying much. Their admiring eyes did most of the talking.

One of the great things about trekking through the Mission District to check out the murals is that I got to see a side of San Francisco that not many travelers come in contact with.

Most will come and see the Mission Dolores, the oldest intact building in San Francisco on Dolores Street. They might hang out in Dolores Park, a beautiful green space just up the street. They’ll cross over to check out the numerous bookstores on Valencia Street, a busy thoroughfare that features bars, coffeehouses and excellent taquerias. But that likely is about it.

The Mission District is not the pretty-postcard Fisherman’s Wharf. It is rough around the edges. There are paper-strewn streets. The homeless take naps on the concrete and walk some streets talking to themselves. Graffiti is not an uncommon sight.

But there is beauty here. It lies beyond the gritty surface in the spirited conversations of men and women exchanging greetings in Spanish in their neighborhood, in the beat of hot salsa that wafts from the Latin music record stores along 24th Street, in the painted pictures that shout out ethnic pride, decry injustice or call for unity.

On Saturdays, shoppers crowd the outdoor markets buying fruits and vegetables; cars and drivers vying for attention slowly cruise the streets. Sundays are full of families behind baby strollers, wall-leaners and people-watchers, bottle farmers, well-dressed children and women clicking along in stiletto heels. Fresh slices of mango are sold on street corners.

The mural movement in San Francisco, which took off in the mid ‘70s, is supported these days by the Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center. It has been promoting community mural art since 1977 to encourage people to participate in the beautification of their own neighborhoods and to educate people about murals in San Francisco.

In addition to the Mission District, murals can be found in the HaightAshbury, Hunter’s Point-Bayview, the Western Addition and the Fillmore areas. The paintings reflect the neighborhoods.

Susan Cervantes, a muralist for 25 years and one of the driving forces in the San Francisco mural movement, said an average of 4,000 people come to see the murals of the Mission District each year.

Precita Eyes, which Cervantes founded and directs, conducts an 8- block, 70-mural tour in the Mission every Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The tours have been done for 12 years and the interest has been growing, said Cervantes.

“The murals are the main attraction in the Mission,” she said. “Initially, it’s the colors that attract people, then they start to get interested in the content and then learning about how they got up there and why.”

Every May, there is a celebration of mural art and the artists who keep it alive during Mural Awareness Week, this year May 13-20.

The draw to the murals is that they are right on the street, said Cervantes. “The work is accessible to everyone. I think that’s what attracts so many people because otherwise these kinds of visions wouldn’t be available to many people.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: If you go Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center, located at 348 Precita Ave. in San Francisco, conducts tours of the Mission District murals. Call (415) 285-2287. Also visit the Mission San Francisco de Asis, located at 16th and Delores. Telephone (415) 621-8203. Admission is $1.