Mission District love

I arrived in San Francisco yesterday and spent the afternoon with my friend Rachel, who moved here two years ago from New Jersey.  I'll be at her house till Friday morning, when I head for Berkeley.

Today was her turn to gallery sit at CityArt on Valencia St, so this morning we walked over there and along the way, my camera was hard at work.  I told Rachel they could blindfold me and drop me and I would know immediately which city I was in.

=

Rachel  lives in a neighborhood adjacent to the famed Mission District, where we spent the rest of the afternoon.  While she sat in the gallery, I went out for a walk around the neighborhood - a vibrant urban section that is just the kind of place I love.

This gorgeous building was obviously once a movie palace; now a parking lot.  A parking lot??

As I walked, I looked for a place to have lunch -- there were a million choices.  But it wasn't till I saw this sign in an arcade on Mission Street that I knew I had found it. Pupusas!!!  Salvadoran - made to order, and simply fabulous.  Jessica and Tommy introduced me to pupusas, which they discovered in an outdoor foodmarket in Brooklyn some years ago.  There is a Salvadoran restaurant in my town which has good pupusas but I had not had them anywhere else (or in ages).  

It was a lunch counter and I was the only Anglo in the place: a good sign.

San Francisco (or at least this area) is an outdoor visual treat: murals everywhere and plenty of delicious graffiti.  Just seeing it all has made me want to get back to work!  Color!! Bold Graphics

As Rachel and I walked home, these murals below were only a few of the ones that decorated the fences and garage doors in an alley.  My phone was dying from using the camera, so I couldn't take pictures of all of them.  But this will give you an idea of the Mission beautification project.

Enough for today.  Tonight, out for a French dinner with another friend from New Jersey who just flew in to attend a wedding.  Have to go get pretty:-).