Last week, Mission Local columnist Joe Eskenazi and reporter Julian Mark discussed San Francisco’s oldest house and its hidden story of “eviction, displacement and misery.” Earlier that week, Eskenazi reported that the city’s “oldest house” was on the market. On further inspection, however, it was revealed that a long-time Mission family had been Ellis Acted out of that very house. In Eskenazi’s...
Last week, the Board of Supervisors declined to vote on an appeal of an eight-story, 75-unit project that is to replace a laundromat at 2918 Mission St. Instead, the vote will take place once a study answers the question of whether the building is a historic resource. It will take at least four months. District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen, in...
Neighbors of the old Southern Pacific right-of-way between Harrison Street and Treat Avenue have formed the Mission Greenway group to preserve the parcel’s history as a railroad right-of-way and transform the vacant lot into a green space. “We chose the name Mission Greenway because this was formerly a railway and because there are so many other greenways in the city,”...
Parcel 36 is a vacant lot occupied by a colony of feral cats, redolent with the scent of wild fennel and other, less pleasing odors. Two distinctive buildings stand on either side of the 22nd Street entrance: The wedge-shaped Western Plywood building and the Atlas Stair Company, a quaintly turreted building that wouldn’t look out of place in Disneyland. Just...
When Deb Welch first stepped into The Homestead, a bar at the corner 19th and Folsom, it was love at first sight. It was 1996, and a Japanese blues band was playing a tune in the corner. “There was hay all over the floor, and the band didn’t speak a word of English,” she said. “It was so bizarre.” Welch...
Legend has it that Pop’s Bar has been peddling booze on 24th Street since the dark days of prohibition, so it should come as no surprise that the neighborhood institution is turning 80. On Tuesday morning, a few patrons were scattered around the bar, and one of the bartenders was whipping up a special cure — a dash of...
A writing project that set out to tell stories about the Mission’s past is now becoming a published series — and it’s excavating previously untouched historical ground. Adriana Camarena, a writer and activist living in the Mission who grew up in Mexico, is interested in what she calls people’s “personal truths about themselves” — how people define themselves and their...
The historic Discolandia sign at 2964 24th Street will remain its original orange, black and white colors, according to Jon Jacobo, Calle 24 co-president. There was some controversy earlier today when people saw workers painting over the sign. Although it is currently painted white, contractors working at the site this afternoon said they would restore it to its original colors...
A group of artists, musicians and activists will mark May 5 by exploring the history of the battle that made the day famous, in which a Mexican militia defeated the French army in Puebla, Mexico. The San Francisco Living Wage Coalition will host an art and literature gala with work exploring the meaning of the holiday, and its modern significance, on May...
When Tom Madonna left the San Francisco finance world to start a bar in 2006, he needed a change. “It didn’t fit my values. When you watch people in a high stress sales environment talking about selling risky annuities to retired ladies, you can’t feel good about that,” he says. Friday, April 1 marks his 10th anniversary running Shotwell’s on...
When you grab a drink at Elixir on 16th and Guerrero streets, you might not know you’re inside the city’s second-oldest saloon, running since 1858. On Saturday, boozehound historians of the E Clampus Vitus association will reveal a historic plaque at Elixir denoting its venerated status. Mission Local talked with owner H. Joseph Ehrmann, the 11th (or perhaps 12th, given...
For all the talk about journalism being in a death spiral, Mission Local staff has some highlights of what we think are our best stories of the year. Here’s what we liked: Lydia Chávez, Executive Editor Now more than ever – thanks to the Trump election – journalists are asking questions about impact. Does good reporting actually matter? How could...
The Community Music Center celebrated its 95th anniversary on Sunday with a “Field Day at CMC,” reference to its founder, Gertrude Field. Hundreds of performers, students, and listeners crowded its auditorium to enjoy a five-hour marathon of back-to-back performances from musicians of all ages. Guests also enjoyed refreshments, an “instrument petting zoo,” and a room filled with documents, photos and films from...
Think you know the Mission and its history? You might discover something new at the Brava Center for Theater and the Arts when El Son de la Misión re-opens for a two-night on Friday, Nov. 11. The show is a musical and theatrical exploration and expression of the history of the Mission, with a particular focus on activism through the...
The historical “myths” of the Spanish missions in California were heavily critiqued at a presentation on Thursday evening, as the organizer Lisa Ruth Elliot from Shaping SF framed the evening as a way to “open the conversations that are not happening” around the histories of Native Americans in California. A crowd of about 50 people at the Eric Quezada Center...
