After a year of travelling between San Francisco and Amsterdam...I fiiiiinally received my greencard in March. It feels so good that I'm here to stay and that I can finally settle in my new hometown, without having to worry about my expiring tourist visa. Now my guitars are hanging on the wall, keepsakes are neatly stored on my desk and it feels like home here in San Francisco. If you look at my insta, you can tell I'm a little obsessed with this city - Ocean Beach, murals, hipster cafe's, even the SUN...I try to stop at every corner and capture everything, to my hubs annoyance.
(@angelamoyra > follow along though...)
I'm slowly discovering all the neighbourhoods. They all have their own colors and characteristics and I wanna know ALL ABOUT THEM. My friend Titia, from Dingen Over Dingen is in town for a couple of months and we visited the Mission District a few of times already. Last week I dragged my heavy Canon 70D with me and we snapped some cute pics. So here's a little SF expeditty Mission District Guide for you with some tips on stores to visit, and places to eat, if you are up for a bohohemian/sunny/vintage/wanna-spend-some-money-but-not-too-much afternoon.
So...the Mission District - home to the hipsters, concept stores galore, funky bars, murals in every color and lots of Mexican influences. On my first Mission visit I travelled solo. I didn't know where to go at all. But last time with Titia, the sun was shining, back alleys didn't look scary, instead colorful and fun, and one amazing store after another kept popping up on our route...
I had to Google "Valencia St Mission plant store." Last week we walked into this place and we didn't even bother to find out what the name of the store was, having been so distracted by all the displayed treasures...wow. "Paxton Gate". I loved this hanging plant (the thing I'm holding in the picture above) I just have to come back when my "home decor" piggy bank is full...
Dog Eared Books - Titia's favorite store. I copy-cat'd her and also got one of those note books ($6.95), she got hers a couple weeks ago and is already half way filled with crea notes and night time dreams. Mine will be used for stories about whatever. I need to write more in English and become a better writer. By the way..I have to go back asap and get that "Songwriters Journal" before it's sold out. Cool stuff.
NO - yes please. I think this is my all time fav vintage store. Every time I meet Titia in the Mission I tell her to meet me at this place. And usually before she walks in, I'm about $24 lighter. Their clothes and shoes are awesome and nicely priced. And just when I was getting sick and tired of seeing plant hangers on insta/pinterest, I saw these and I was hooked again.
Mission Murals - you don't need my advice or tips on this one. You can find them everywhere. Just find your favourite colors and "photoshoot" away...between murals we popped our green-tea-matcha cherry at Samovar Tea. Yums.
You gotta eat tacos if you're in the Mission. We Googled "best tacos mission district" and we ended up going to Taqueria Vallarta. I enjoyed my bbq pork taco for $2. Going to a taqueria in SF is a must because of all the authentic flavours and atmosphere.
My fav female artist is without a doubt, Frida. We found a store totally inspired by her, called Luz de Luna - the sweet señora that worked there helped me find a milagros mundo which I wanted to give to a friend for good fortune. Also best mission-district-kodak-moment - in front of the store, with Frida.
We split ways at the farmers market where I listened to a couple of guitar players while waiting for my UberPool. Right now you can travel anywhere in SF with UberPool for $7. That means someone will most likely ride with you, but sometimes it has just been me in the backseat. UberPool is a really good deal if you feel like skipping public transportation and also save a few bucks on a cab. Fyi, BART services the Mission District, and it's pretty well connected to Berkeley, where Titia is staying at the moment.
I hope you liked reading about my take on the Mission District. Here's an overview of the places we visited. Feel free to share your favourite places or neighbourhoods!
S H O P S
Paxton Gate / 824 Valencia St. / Beautiful plants, gems & minerals
Dog Eared Books / 900 Valencia St. / Tita's fav bookstore
NO / 389 Valencia St. / Vintage etc.
Luz de Luna / 3182 24th St / Frida stuff
Explorist International / 3174 24th St. / New and used records (pic above)
E A T / D R I N K
Samovor Tea / 411 Valencia St / Green tea matcha in trendy, rustic, simplistic place.
Craftman & Wolves / 746 Valencia St. / Green curry scone was tasty & interesting.
Taqueria Vallarta / 3033 34th St. / $2 taco's
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