Valencia Street Vintage
A Mission vintage shop with both clothing and home goods: mid-century decor, vintage kitchenware, and wearable vintage clothing.
Things to Do
No Shop
A vintage and designer shop on Valencia Street in the Mission with clothing across genders and decades, plus shoes. Open daily.
Dog Eared Books
An independent bookstore on Valencia Street in the Mission, with new and used books across literary fiction, art, politics, and graphic novels. Open until 10pm daily.
Afterlife Collective
A vintage vendor collective on Valencia Street in the Mission with 20+ booths. Inventory spans the 1940s through the 2000s: clothing, jewelry, jackets, sunglasses, and bags.
Balmy Alley
A one-block residential alley in the Mission covered with murals since 1972. Themes include immigration, Central American politics, and neighborhood history. Free to visit, daylight is best.
Clarion Alley
A one-block alley in the Mission with rotating murals managed by the Clarion Alley Mural Project, founded 1992. Themes include housing, identity, and political resistance. Free to visit.
Peephole Cinema
Peephole in a wall at 280 Orange Alley, off 26th Street in the Mission, that screens curated short films on a 24/7 loop. One viewer at a time. Free.
Institute of Illegal Images
Mark McCloud’s private collection of LSD blotter art, housed in his Mission District home. Generally considered the largest collection of its kind. Visits by appointment only.
Mission Dolores Cemetery
San Francisco’s oldest cemetery, dating to 1776, adjacent to Mission Dolores at 3321 16th Street. About 100 graves from early settlers, Ohlone peoples, and Gold Rush pioneers. Featured in Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
Golden Fire Hydrant
A gold-painted fire hydrant at 20th and Church that reportedly saved the Mission District during the 1906 earthquake fires. Repainted every April 18th at 5:12 AM.
Dolores Park
A 13.7-acre park in the Mission District with a sloped lawn facing the downtown skyline, tennis and basketball courts, two off-leash dog areas, and the Helen Diller Playground with its 45-foot hillside slide.
Mission Community Market
A Thursday afternoon farmers market on Bartlett Street in the Mission. 3pm to 7pm, March through November, run by Foodwise.
Rite Spot Cafe
A small Mission District bar at Folsom and 17th with live music most nights. Jazz, blues, folk, and singer-songwriters. No cover.
Public Works SF
An electronic music venue on Erie Street off Mission since 2010. House, techno, and bass music with a side patio. Cover $10 to $30.
Gray Area Foundation for the Arts
Nonprofit art and technology center in the historic Grand Theater at 2665 Mission Street, with immersive exhibitions and creative coding workshops. Free to $20.
Eclectic Box SF
Multipurpose art and event space at 446 Valencia Street in the Mission, with rotating programming including theater, dance, and pop-ups. Near 16th Street BART.
Dance Mission Theater
Dance school and performance venue on 24th Street in the Mission, with programming from folk to contemporary. $10 to $25. One block from 24th Street BART.
Brick and Mortar Music Hall
A 200-capacity room on Mission Street for indie rock, garage, punk, and electronic since 2011. Stage near floor level. Tickets $10 to $20. 16th Street BART.
Brava Theater
A 300-seat theater on 24th Street in the Mission presenting work by women, LGBTQ artists, and artists of color. Founded 1986. Tickets $15 to $40.
Mission Dolores
San Francisco’s oldest building, an adobe chapel completed in 1791 that survived the 1906 earthquake. Founded as the sixth Spanish mission in California.
Best of San Francisco
All lists →20 picksBest Things to Do in San FranciscoThe short list. If you only have two or three days, this is what they should be spent on.See and Do19 picksBest Neighborhoods to Explore in San FranciscoChinatown is the oldest in North America. Japantown is one of only three left in the country.See and Do8 picksBest Views in San FranciscoThe de Young's observation tower is free to walk into. Battery Spencer puts the whole bridge below you.See and Do15 picksBest Museums in San FranciscoFrom the two institutions that swallow an entire day to the free oddity on Polk Street that takes about fifteen minutes.See and Do12 picksBest Self-Guided Walks in San FranciscoRoutes with directions, timings and somewhere to eat at the end. Ninety minutes to three hours each.See and Do12 picksBest Things to Do with Kids in San FranciscoPlaces that hold a child's attention for longer than ten minutes, with the free and indoor ones flagged in each write-up.See and Do10 picksFoggy Day San Francisco: Best Indoor Things to DoIndoor plans for when the fog refuses to lift, including which museums are free and on which day.See and Do12 picksWeird & Offbeat San FranciscoA pipe organ played by the tide, tombstones built into a seawall, and gold circles marking cisterns buried under the street.See and Do
