Balmy Alley, between 24th and 25th off Harrison Street, holds the highest concentration of murals in the Mission. The first ones went up in the early 1970s, and a 1984 project called PLACA filled the alley with murals protesting US intervention in Central America. Many of the artists were Central American immigrants.
The murals have been repainted and added to over four decades, covering garage doors and fences down the length of the block. Themes range from Central American solidarity to neighborhood displacement. It is the oldest mural alley in the Mission and a reason the neighborhood became known for the form.
