Last fall, ML’s Jude Joffe-Block reported on a mural at 24th and Hampshire. Swoon, the artist behind the mural, had asked a store owner permission to use his wall to install a paper cut-out of a woman surrounded by skulls. Swoon had shown a very similar piece at Yerba Buena before installing it on the street. Joffe-Block wrote that the piece was called “Portrait of Silvia Elena,” and “was a memorial to a teenage victim killed in a wave of unsolved murders of women in Juarez, the Mexican border town. The exhibit’s materials explained that the young woman, Silvia Elena Rivera Morales, is portrayed in her quinceañera dress and crown.” The store owner was worried that the mural would disappear as the rainy season came so we were happy to read Burrito Justice this morning and find out that the mural is still there. Sadly, someone spray-painted over the woman’s face.
If you’re looking for something to do today, check out the grand opening party of Esperanza Sustainability Center at 685 Florida Street between 18th and 19th streets. It’s starting right now and goes until 6:00 p.m. The celebration will include a bicycle-powered sound system from ROCK THE BIKE, workshops and demonstrations in urban gardening, composting, greywater systems, Mycorhyzal life, natural building and more.
Hungry? There’s a new deli in the neighborhood, Schmidt’s Deli is at 2400 Folsom Street (at 20th).

