by Juana Alicia

The Mission in San Francisco is arguably one of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods, its narrow sidewalks densely populated with taco joints, head shops, dive bars, and street vendors cooking bacon-wrapped hot dogs on makeshift grills propped next to a station wagon. Even the alleyways compete for your attention—and none more so than Balmy, a block-long stretch off 24th Street.Mural painting has a decades-long history in the Mission, and Balmy boasts some of the city’s best urban art, with pieces that range from classical visages of the Virgin Mary to contemporary pieces that address the ‘hood’s struggles to retain its identity in the face of burgeoning gentrification.Heres a preview of just a few of the sightsin Balmy Alley.

Away.coms San Francisco Travel Guide

by Marta Ayaia by Garth Tomkpins

Detail of by Carlos Matriz

by Sirron Norris

Detail from
The dialog balloon reads: Preston, when are we building those condos?”

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