This is one of several profiles of the people who make the Mission District what it is today. They are part of our My Mission Zine. You can buy a copy here. As a child, Jennifer Ng was quiet and unsure of herself, seldom raising her hand in class. But the internet changed all that for her. She started blogging...
This is one of several profiles of the people who make the Mission District what it is today. They are included in the new MyMission Zine, which you can buy here. The contemporary dance class at ODC Theater lets Essi Salonen tap into her many passions. Under the guidance of teacher Christine Cali, Salonen and her classmates spend each session choreographing...
This is one of several profiles of the people who make the Mission District what it is today. They are part of our My Mission Zine. You can buy a copy here. Bhautik Joshi will be the first to tell you that he’s a total dork — for technology, photography, art and even dorkiness itself. That’s why, when he discovered...
This is one of several profiles of the people who make the Mission District what it is today. They are part of our My Mission Zine. You can buy a copy here. If you have trouble, just send us an email at info@missionlocal.com. With his trimmed, biker-style goatee and collection of tattoos, Shea Shawnson, 39, looks like he’d be at...
This is one of several profiles of the people who make the Mission District what it is today. They are part of our My Mission Zine. You can buy a copy here. If you have trouble, just send us an e-mail at info@missionlocal.com. When he turned 20, Roger Marenco discovered a vacant lot near his Mission District home and he...
The artist whose mural on LGBT love that has been vandalized at least four times said on Saturday at a community forum that he failed to foresee the impact and called the vandalism an attempt to “erase” the homosexuality that is a part of Latino and cholo culture. “All of a sudden it got vandalized, and I realized I was...
In my search for long-time Mission residents, I didn’t have to go far. John Nuno, who was born in North Beach in 1943 and moved to the Mission in 1955, has lived behind my house on York Street my entire life. (I’m 25.) He lived temporarily on 18th Street, between Mission & Valencia, but by the age of 25 he...
John, a who has been reading our coverage about the changes in the Mission wrote in and offered some perspective. He also sent a photo of his two aunts in front of the American Can Company and when I asked for others he might have, he sent them on. I’m a lifelong resident of the City, into my eighth decade...
Chances are, you’ve seen Cindy DeLosa’s work in windows around the Mission: small dioramas with “homie” figurines depicting iconic scenes and moments in the neighborhood. The “homie boxes,” as they’re called, can be spotted everywhere, but if you want to see about a dozen of them in one place, head for the window galley at Precita Eyes on 24th Street, where Cindy...
Avi Ehrlich describes the Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club like this: “Mostly a mess, but also a group of buds that makes things and does stuff.” Ehrlich lives and runs his business on Valencia Street, next to Aquarius Records. Silver Sprocket has its home in the basement of The Future, the name of Ehrlich’s house, which follows the punk community’s tradition of naming the house where they host parties or...
Daniel Mondragón is a 25-year-old photographer who was born and raised in the Mission. As part of our series Young Mission Talent, Mondragón takes portraits of his favorite young artists of the Mission District and talks with them about their art. Antonio Washington is a 26-year-old music producer who was born and raised on Bartlett St. in the Mission. He has...
This piece first appeared on Medium as part of a series of personal essays about life in the Mission by Katharine Blake McFarland. Katharine shared her writing with us and we thought it offered an interesting perspective on the neighborhood, so we’ll be republishing a few of her essays here. Daniel C. leans against the stairs leading up to the Castro Country Club,...
Frisco’s Finest lowriders lined up outside St. Peter’s Church Wednesday as friends and family of Sandy Cuadra gathered outside for a mass honoring the one-year anniversary of Cuadra’s death. Two of her sisters, Lisa Contreras and Patti Eng, greeted visitors as they entered the church. Eng sported the signature AquaNet hair-do and red lipstick that Cuadra and her friends wore...
I met Gloria Esteva in the same way others do—going into her store to inquire about a sign outside that shows the face of Cinthia Jocabeth Castañeda Alvarado. The image of the young girl on a white cloth with black ink—a characteristic type of sign searching for missing girls in Juarez—is one of many posted in Mexico. They offer hope...
If San Francisco city planners had known more about the former thriving North Beach Latino neighborhood near Guadalupe Church, they would have done more to minimize the negative impact of the Broadway Tunnel, which ultimately displaced the community in the early 1950s. Now, a team of scholars working with the San Francisco Latino Historical Society and San Francisco Heritage are in the midst...
