aTRAVELdirectory| CONTACT |

San Francisco/Mission District

        

< San Francisco

The Mission District of San Francisco -- often just called "The Mission" -- is the oldest part of that City, and a center of its counterculture.

Table of contents

Understand

The Mission District surrounds the oldest building in San Francisco, Mission Dolores. The area was the site of the Spanish mission that was the kernel of the city San Francisco is today. The mission itself was secularized in the 1820s, and the lands were given to the Native Americans who lived there. Many sold or lost the land in later years.

During the 19th century, the Mission was physically separate from San Francisco proper, which mostly clustered around the seaport on the San Francisco Bay. The Mission area was a pleasant country day trip for San Franciscans, and soon grew into a small village. By the end of the 1800s, the area had been assimilated into the rest of the City.

In the early 20th century, the Mission District was a mostly Irish neighborhood, but gradually became more populated with Mexican and Latin-American immigrants. Although much of the culture of the Mission remains strongly Latino, an influx of artists, musicians, and other counterculture types began in the 1980s and early 1990s, driven by the relatively cheap rents in the neighborhood.

The Mission saw increased gentrification during the late 1990s, as more expensive restaurants and "live-work" spaces moved in to the area. Post-Internet-boom, the wave of affluence is partly receding, but yuppies, hipsters, and Latino residents continue to live side-by-side.

Get in

From other parts of San Francisco and the Bay Area, the BART stations at 24th Street and 16th Street are the easiest entry points.

The 14 Mission bus runs right down Mission Street from the east and west, the 49 Van Ness comes down to Mission Street from Van Ness near Fisherman's Wharf, the 26 Valencia eases down Valencia Avenue from downtown, the 22 Fillmore comes in from the north and runs east-west across 16th Street, and the 48 runs east west along 24th Street.

The J Church Muni trolley runs from downtown through the nearby Castro, Dolores Park, and Noe Valley neighborhoods, and passes block or two from the Mission Dolores that gives the neighborhood its name, and puts you within walking distance or easy transfer to the 22 or 48 bus lines.

For cars, the Cesar Chavez Street exit from highway 101 comes right into the Mission, and the San Jose Avenue exit from Highway 280 North brings you past Bernal Heights and onto Guerrero Avenue.

Get around

The Mission is only about 20 blocks by 10 blocks, and should be easily navigable on foot.

By car you will find that people really do park down the center lane of Valencia, but this native doesn't. A popular dinner destination neighborhood, parking is difficult to find in the early evenings; there is a cheap parking garage at 21st Street and Bartlett between Valencia and Mission.

See

Theatres

Eat

Drink


Home
Partners
Network


List of Countries

World Factbook (Travel & Tourism)



Partner Sites:

American Travel Sites

The Big Travel Guide

Travel Sites of Europe

UK Travel Planner