San Francisco Neighborhoods · Mission
Mission
also La MisiónSun zoneSun-soaked and street-art-splashed — the city's warmest, most flavorful neighborhood, where taquerias, galleries, and destination restaurants share every block.
- The city's sunniest microclimate
- Legendary taquerias & dining
- Murals & Valencia St culture
- Two BART stations
On the map
Open Mission on the map →The story
The Mission grew up around Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores), founded in 1776 — the city's oldest building and its namesake. For generations a working-class, heavily Latino neighborhood, it's famous for its murals, its taquerias, and the sunniest weather in San Francisco. A wave of acclaimed restaurants and rising rents has reshaped it in recent decades.
Things most people don’t know
The city's oldest building
Mission Dolores, completed in 1791, is the oldest intact structure in San Francisco and gave both the neighborhood and the city their names.
San Francisco's mural capital
Balmy Alley and Clarion Alley are open-air galleries of Latino and political street art, maintained and renewed by community artists since the 1970s.
Home of the Mission burrito
The oversized, foil-wrapped “Mission-style” burrito — rice and beans included — was born in the neighborhood's taquerias in the late 1960s and exported worldwide.
The sunny side of the fog
Sheltered by Twin Peaks from the ocean fog, the Mission is reliably the warmest, sunniest neighborhood in the city — often 10°F above the foggy west side.
A transit crossroads
Two BART stations at 16th and 24th & Mission, plus the busiest bus lines in the city, make it one of San Francisco's most connected neighborhoods.
Eating and drinking
Restaurants
- Foreign Cinema · 2534 Mission St
- Flour + Water · 2401 Harrison St
- La Taqueria · 2889 Mission St
- Delfina · 3621 18th St
- Beretta · 1199 Valencia St
Bars
- Trick Dog · 3010 20th St
- Zeitgeist · 199 Valencia St
- True Laurel · 753 Alabama St
- ABV · 3174 16th St
Getting around and getting care
Transit. Two BART stations — 16th St and 24th St Mission — plus the 14 Mission and 49 Van Ness/Mission rapid buses make this one of the city's best-connected neighborhoods. The J-Church Muni Metro skirts the western edge.
Nearest hospital. Zuckerberg San Francisco General, 1001 Potrero Ave (about 1 mi)
Thinking about Mission?
Send me an address and I will come back with its sun, wind and fog, what is under it, and what has closed on the block.