Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
178
TAKE A BREAK
has arrived, penniless, in the Mission,
and social services such as this one have
helped many of them pull themselves
up by their bootstraps to chase the
American Dream.
Ebullient and accomplished murals,
interestingly, enjoy strong support in
this part of town. Born out of the seem-
ingly ancient urban practice of graffiti,
which can be seen as a temporary visual
exclamation, the murals around the
Mission usually dwell on the kinds of
subjects important to the often-mar-
ginal populations that live here: diver-
sity, traditions, and the simple pleasures
of life.
The services inside the Women's
Building are designed for locals, not
visitors, so after you've enjoyed the
artwork, just keep walking down 18th
Street until Valencia Street, and turn
left. I have one more thing to show
you before I unleash you to explore
at your own pace. Walk up Valencia
for most of the block. Before you
reach 17th Street, you'll see Clarion
Alley to your right. Enter it.
9
Clarion Alley
Clarion Alley is another one of those
hidden pockets where the public mural
tradition is left alone to thrive. Unlike
the Women's Building, it isn't designed
to last for posterity or even to showcase
a single artist. Instead, it's meant to be
an ever-changing canvas for civic
expression. One artist's work will
inspire the next, older works will be
overpainted in favor of current ones,
and over a few months, the works will
be different. If you come here in a year,
it will be a new Clarion Alley—and
that's just the way the artists want it.
(Another famous mural alley, Balmy
Alley, is located east of Folsom Street at
24th Street—about a 25-minute walk
from here.)
Especially along 18th Street leading
east from Dolores Park, you'll find a few
cafes catering to loafers. But I love
the cramped, deservedly busy
Bi-Rite
Market
(3639 18th St.;
%
415/241
-
9760
),
a grocery that looks from the
outside to be a postwar transplant but in
fact is a gourmand's paradise that sells all
manner of top-quality meats, truly fresh
produce, sauces, wines, and dips. Its
cheeses, sourced from some of the best
Bay Area dairies, are particularly deli-
cious. Assemble a picnic here. Or, across
18th Street and slightly closer to the
park, stop into the ice-cream shop, the
Bi-Rite Creamery (p. 79) operated by the
same owners.
Continue east, away from the park,
down 18th Street.
8
Women's Building
Three short blocks east of the park on
the south side of 18th between Guerrero
and Linda streets, you can't miss the
Women's Building (built in 1910),
which houses about a dozen nonprofit
organizations designed to assist women.
In 1994, a collection of artists got
together to cover two sides of its exterior
with the sometimes historical, some-
times psychedelic
MaestraPeace Mural,
covering themes of female empower-
ment and multiculturalism. The artwork
makes the place a tourist destination
unto itself. Inside, you can pick up a key
to the faces and symbols—or buy
postcards and T-shirts depicting the
building.
This social-services center marks the
beginning of the Mission District,
which contains the city's densest con-
centration of Latino residents. Nearly
half the people living here either were
born in a Latin American country or
can trace their lineage to one within a
generation or two. Many an immigrant
