Thursday, March 1, 2007

A Neighborhood Awash in Color

One of the highlights of our wonderfully colorful trip to San Fran was the early Saturday morning tour of the Mission neighborhood's many amazing murals we took with our resident guide and BFF, MagikaDisFUNKchanel.

The photo on the left is of the inside of the Precita Eyes's storefront where one can buy art supplies, postcards, drawings and sketches of murals around the city and where the tour begins with a very long slide show. These are times that it's helpful to get there late...)

We joined the Precita Eyes tour (non-profit community arts organization founded in 1977 that plays an integral role in the city's cultural heritage and arts education community). Patricia, our head-to-toe corduroy bedazzled guide took us through the streets of Balmy Alley where the largest collection of murals live and breathe.

It was like walking into a magical alternate universe where color and beauty was part of the landscape. Where people in the community actually took an active role in painting their neighborhood, keeping the art on the walls free of vandalism and taking pride in their diverse cultures, histories and ethnicities. It was amazing to see these murals, many painted by well known muralists and many others painted by the youth of the Mission through the Precita Eyes program.

Towards the end of the 2.5 hour tour, we were joined by Eduardo, a 'man of the streets', so to speak. He was following us through the last few murals, alternating swigs from the bottle in the brown paper bag with nods of agreement at the tragic history of civil wars in Latin America.
Patricia was telling us that the community came together to renovate and rehabilitate a small green space on 24th St. at the heart of the neighborhood. People came to lay tiles, paint walls, install the hi-tech bouncy ground covering made of old tires. Eduardo took a few jumps on the padded, bouncy surface and exclaimed "this is very nice! Old tires, you say?"

We rewarded our patience and satiated our sugar craving by visiting La Victoria Mexican panaderias where we had a very tough time choosing our Pan dulce (sweet pastries). Imagine a whole store of freshly baked goodies - floor to ceiling.

Armed with tongs and a tray, I went straight to work. An almond pastry, a sweet custard flaky sugary delight and a baked ricotta cake. A food loving girl's dream come true. A perfectly delicious ending to a brilliantly colorful afternoon...




A fabulous restaurant sign... I couldn't help but include it in this post all about color!

mission mural


mission mural, originally uploaded by miyarotstein.

One of my favorite musals on the tour... there were 3 owls hidden in this brilliantly colored forest scene.

mission mural


mission mural, originally uploaded by miyarotstein.

mission mural


mission mural, originally uploaded by miyarotstein.