This post is about a Mission District mural that was originally painted in 1975 and recently updated and renovated (2023). It is located at the 24th Street BART station. In it, many strong and determined (but not very happy) men hold up the tracks that keep the BART trains running. A silver train travels the line. Faceless red figures wait underneath the tracks – the ‘hoards and masses’ who depend on public transit. In the background, the multicolored towers of downtown can be seen.
In the original, these faceless people were brown.
The three original artists were Michael Rios, Richard Montes, and Tony Machado.
In the background, the multicolored towers of downtown San Francisco.
below: One of the sharks wears yellow rimmed glasses and has a lip piercing. It also has a lot of pointy teeth!
below: Most the the Sharks vs Tiger mural at street level along the bottom of a building at 15th and Valencia. It was painted by Dave Persue Ross (creator of Bunny Kitty)
below: A hammerhead shark joins the fray.
below: This is the tiger. He is holding a Bunny Kitty who in turn has a spray paint can in it’s hand. Tiger is wearing a cap with a San Francisco Giants logo. … but oh! … I am not sure he knows there’s an octopus lurking behind him – an octopus with at least one sharp knife!
A previous post, ‘stencils on a blue fence‘ featured art in San Francisco’s Balmy Alley. This post contains a lot more street art from the same location! Although the alley is only one block long, there is a lot to look at! Most of the art depicts Mexican or Hispanic history and culture; there is a strong reoccurring theme of social justice as well.
below: Street art paintings have been a part of Balmy Alley since the early 1970s. it is now home to numerous brightly colored murals.
below: Part of “Five Sacred Colors of Corn” at the entrance to Balmy Alley. Prior to 2021 these panels were at Mercy Housing.
below: A Day of the Dead image – a holiday to remember and honor those who have died.
below: Max from “Where the Wild Things Are”
below: This photo, and the following two, are from an older mural by Hector Escarraman. It was painted on a wood fence in the alley back in 1995. The colours have faded and the vines have started to encroach on the top of some of the heads but enough of the image remains that you can get a good idea of what the original painting looked like. All of the people in the mural are icons of Mexican art.
below: A lonely red heart has been added.
below: One of the figures in blue is Frida Kahlo.
below: Three generations of women working in Nepal are depicted in this mural by Martin Travers. “Naya Bhinana” (A New Dawn) was painted in 2002.
below: These stairs were decorated by Precita Eyes Muralists with a mural titled “Dragon Eyes”. It was painted way back in 1998. For more than forty years Precita Eyes has used murals to enrich communities in San Francisco – murals that focus on positive images about such topics as culture, nature, unity, and history
below: Zigzags and triangles in bright colours with a couple of hummingbirds flying around.
below: There’s a lot of religious and cultural symbolism in this mural and it shows how much the two are entwined.
below: On the left, Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti with a few origami birds added to the scene.
below: Mother and child
below: At 50A
below: Women of the Resistance, 38 women’s portraits in a group, painted in 2018 by Lucía González Ippolito aka Cia Lu Art
below: Ruby throated hummingbird resting on a very blue finger.
below: There is a dragon here too!
below: The other half of the mural… It as painted by Carla Wojczuk in 2011 and is titled “56 Lu the Wanderer”.
below: “The Mission District is for Everyone” is the text on the sign that the little blue bear is holding. The mural is “Victorion” by Sirron Norris
below: A tribute to Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who gave his life fighting for social and economic and ecological justice. He was murdered by the CIA (or at least by CIA-backed assassins) on 24th March 1980, the day after he he urged Salvadoran soldiers to disobey their superiors. A few days later, more than 30 people were killed at his funeral. In all, at least 75,000 people lost their lives during the 12 years that the civil war lasted in El Salvador.
below: Un Pasado Que Aún Vive (A Past That Still Lives Here) by Joel Bergner, from 2004
below: Standing in a barrel is El Chavo from a Mexican television sitcom from the 1970s and 1980s. He is standing beside a mural from 2001 of a butterfly and a palm tree in “Memorias Primas” by Marta Ayala. The butterfly has been covered up for some reason.
below: Happy singing tree? Scared yelling tree? Enchanted and magical forest? Haunted and creepy forest?
below: Another tree/human mix. This time there is a contrast to the hot colours of the desert on one side and the cooler colours of the city on the other. It is titled “Love and Compassion” and it is in memory of Father Richard Purcell (1938-2011), a Franciscan friar who ran a homeless shelter nearby for men with AIDS. The mural was painted by Laura Campos, a Precita Eyes member.
below: Parrots and toucans and other details, mural by Dallas Hyatt
below: “Tu doy una Cancion como un Disparo como un libro, una Palabra, una Guerrilla, Como Doy el Amor. I give you a Song Like a Tribute, like a Book, a Word, a Freedom fighter, like a I give Love.” Silvio Rodriguez.
below: Day and night. The man in the moon reflects on the water below. The sun shines in a blue sky.
In 2012 the father and daughter team Tirso Araiza and Lucia González Ippolito (aka Cia Lu Art) painted this mural in Balmy Alley. It was restored and updated in 2022. The theme of the mural is the (ongoing) gentrification of the Mission District neighbourhood with the consequent displacement of those poorer and less fortunate.
Carlin’s Cafe in the Mission District was closed for about 3 1/2 years during Covid. It re-opened in 2023. The paintings on the exterior wall pre-date the closure.
below: 298 Valencia Street.
below: A closer view
below: A rocket powered BART train? The lights of the Golden Gate bridge shine in the night while a sailing ship lingers outside the harbor. There is also a welder hard at work.
below: She’s dancing in a flowing orange dress but with a partner whose hands are skeletal.
below: Tucked up in the shadows under the awning are a couple of baseball players
below: Playing for the camera?
below: A coffee moment.
below: More coffee, this time from the source.
below: The 49ers of the National Football League, the home team here in San Francisco.
below: A poster in the window
below: Seen outside the restaurant – This graffiti was inspired by Danny DeVito’s character Ongo Gablogian, art collector, critic, and patron, from the movie It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This graffiti was created by Ongosf and apparently, little Ongos can be found in many places!
Edificio de Mujeres, or The Women’s Building, is a woman owned and operated community centre that opened in 1979. The exterior is covered with a painting titled “MaestraPeace” which depicts women of different cultures and ages throughout history, both real and fictional. Six hundred names are written into the mural. A group of seven women artists (and numerous helpers and volunteers) completed the painting in 1994 (it was restored in 2012). What follows here is a selection of images showing parts of the mural.
below: Over the front entrance
According to Wikipedia, the artists involved were: Juana Alicia, Miranda Bergman, Edythe Boone, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Meera Desai, Yvonne Littleton, and Irene Perez
When I walked around the Mission District back in February, I walked Osage Lane and Orange Alley one after the other. Later that day when I was sorting my photos, I messed up where one set of pictures ended and the next set started. It’s possible that the photos that I posted a week or so ago were not just Osage Lane either! (Mission District: Osage Lane) The two laneways run parallel to each other, one on the east side of Bartlett Street and the other on the west side.
below: Someone is a Gladys Knight and the Pips fan with a quote from their song, ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’, “Trying to get back to a more simple place in time….”
below: A Cheech and Chong themed mural celebrating the famous comedy pair. Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong rode the free loving, hippie era to success with stand-up routines, records, and films based largely on drugs/cannabis and other counterculture subjects.
below: “My name is…” a 2022 mural by Precita Eyes Muralists. Directed by Flavia E. Mora. Assisted by Teresa Benson. In collaboration with 6th and 7th grade arts electives students at Synergy School. It’s a mural that touches on most social justice issues of the day – Missing Equity, Land Back, Black and Trans Lives Matter, Equality, and Reproductive Rights.
below: Only some heads remain.
below: Frija, Goddess of Fertility with her antlers and long white hair.
below: Faded.
below: Pablo A. Medina, “There is so much love in this city”.
below: All in green – a large tree…. and a hand on a paint roller… and everything in between.
below: A colourful fellow with whiskers and button-like eyes, in a mural painted by Sune Nesu. It also has a little glowing halo; is this a memorial to a lost friend?
below: San Francisco under the window with the Golden Gate bridge in the background.
In the 1960s, Josefina and Jose Santana migrated from Jalisco Mexico to the San Francisco Bay area. Both of their sons, Carlos and Jorge, became famous musicians. Carlos Santana is world famous for his guitar playing; Jorge played with a Latin-rock bank, Malo.
On Osage Street by the 24th and Mission Street BART Plaza there is now a 60 foot mural celebrating the family’s contribution to the music scene. The mural also shows Carlos’ son Salvador on the keyboard.
“La Familia Santana” was painted in 2021 by San Francisco artists Crayone and Mark Bode. It incorporated sketch designs provided by Randolph Bowes and Jorge Santana.
