Jojoy

When I moved to the Mission in 1994, it was on the edge of great and lasting change. While Mission Street and eastwards has managed to maintain its longstanding Latino, family-oriented ambiance from before 2000, once-working-class Valencia Street transformed itself during the dot-com boom and hasn't looked back since. From a quiet, dimly lit street with just a few night-time bars and restaurants (it was actually even a little spooky, I remember), the Valencia "corridor" is now one of the city's centers of nightlife, with something for everyone -- not to mention modern condos replacing much of the old Victorian architecture. Upscale, downscale, and funky are the choices for eating, drinking, and shopping; good coffee and good Mexican food abound. The delicious part of living here is that the Mission has many flavors, all mixed in close together. One of my single favorite blocks, the 16th-to-17th stretch of Valencia, starts with a check-cashing place and Latino market, ends with two taquerias, and boasts in between an Indian market, We Be Sushi, two Vietnamese places, a couple of bars, a Mexican party place, a used/new bookstore, Arinelli pizza, and gourmet retail therapy. Tired of the Valencia scene? Hang out at fabulously diverse (and somewhat overused) Dolores Park, the kind of place you can throw your bike down, eat your gourmet picnic food and ice cream from Bi-Rite, view-gawk, and people watch (the park's social scenes extend from the gay "beach" above the kiddie playground, downhill to the doglovers, outdoor birthday parties, occasional hula-hoopers and tight-rope walkers, and stalwart hipsters, and down further to the occasional pick-up soccer game and the homeless who camp out by the tennis and b-ball courts). Stay in the park after dark to make out with your honey or shiver through a free movie night (two guys in my building are involved in the latter). But not lastly, take a long stroll east of Mission to see the following: run-down yet still pretty Victorians, housing working-class families, Folsom Street lined with lovely willow trees all the way up to Bernal Heights (they were planted by a single inspired resident years ago), Mexican panaderias (bakeries) wafting fresh baked goodness along 24th, murals tucked away in unlikely corners, the imposing red brick of SFGH's buildings along Potrero, at least two very quiet small parks, two rec centers (including pool) frequented by kids and adults, the lively Dance Mission, artists' studios (Open Studios will get you a glimpse), and the hidden pulse of Burning Man in the city. The weather will never disappoint you, and your feet or bike will take you, in four directions and fifteen minutes, to Noe Valley, the Castro, Hayes Valley, Civic Center, Bernal Heights, Potrero Hill, and beyond. To the Mission: you will always be the heart of the City for me. I love you.