Living in Mission, San Francisco

Mission Dolores has stood at 16th and Dolores Streets since 1791, its adobe walls raised by Native laborers under Franciscan direction fifteen years after the mission's 1776 founding, making it the oldest surviving building in San Francisco by more than a century. Dolores Park spreads across the blocks just south, its sloped lawn drawing crowds for skyline views and people-watching most sunny afternoons, while Valencia Street carries the neighborhood's newer restaurant and retail scene through storefronts that turn over more often than the taquerias and panaderias anchoring Mission Street for decades. Balmy Alley and Clarion Alley hold some of the city's densest concentrations of murals, painted and repainted since the 1970s and 80s with political and neighborhood history that still draws visitors down otherwise quiet side streets. BART's 16th Street and 24th Street Mission stations put all four of the system's lines within walking distance of most Mission addresses, though no Muni Metro line runs through the neighborhood itself.

The Mission's safety rating trails much of the city, and conditions vary block by block, with some corridors seeing more visible drug activity and property crime than the quieter residential streets just off Valencia.

Rents here run lower than in most central San Francisco neighborhoods, the trade for a livelier, faster-changing mix of businesses and a safety rating that asks for more block-by-block awareness than its neighbors.