The Mission

The New York Times did a travel piece on my 'hood! (The very same "slum neighborhood" featured in Woody Allen's hilarious 1969 film, Take the Money and Run, might I add.) I lived and worked in The Mission for most of my life. The memories of my youth include the occasional drive-by, the midnight howlings of drunken hobos, emaciated hookers, steely-eyed surenos, drug dealers and somnambulent crack heads, but there was also a melange of cultural traditions, art, community, baseball in the summer and arguably, the best Mexican food you'll find in San Francisco.


New York Times
36 Hours in San Francisco
By Chris Colin
September 14, 2008

FOR much of the 1990s, San Francisco’s Mission District maintained a precarious balance between its colorful Latino roots and a gritty bohemian subculture. Then came the overfed dot-com years. Rising real estate prices not only threatened the Mission’s working-class enclave, but also its status as the city’s center of all things edgy and artsy. Sleek bars moved next door to divey taquerias. Boutiquey knick-knack shops came in alongside fusty dollar stores. But prosperity did not sap the district of its cultural eclecticism. With a population that is about half Latino, a third white and an estimated 11 percent Asian, the Mission still remains a wonderful mishmash. Where else can you find epicurean vegan cafes, feisty nonprofits and a Central American butcher shop that, for a memorable time, anyway, had women’s undergarments in the window? Read more...

Take the Money and Run (opening scenes)