San Francisco recommendation 7: Humphry Slocombe, 24th Street
This is the heart of the Mission, and there is so much to see as you walk down 24th St. Get a ginormous burrito at El Farolito (24th and Florida); tour the murals in Balmy Alley (all the walls in this alley have murals on them-it’s kind of wonderful. www.balmyalley.com), which runs between 24th and 25th, parallel to Treat and Harrison; visit Precita Eyes Mural Arts, which is another terrific community arts organization (2981 24th Street, www.precitaeyes.org); check out the galleries and fruterias and panaderias; and get thee to a curandero! Or at least go to Angela’s Gift House and pick up some potion packets to attract a lover or wreak revenge (or, you know, a tortilla press if you are more that way inclined--between Bryant and York). If you want to hang out in a café hereabouts, I recommend Atlas Café on 20th and Alabama. They have tasty food and a pleasant patio area (which is dog friendly so don’t go if you can’t stand the pooches).
And that’s just a sliver of the Mission side of 24th Street (it has another flavor over in Noe Valley, to the west of the BART stop). Here’s an article about this most excellent street: http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/street_stroll08.asp
And see that brown-topped hill there, in the opposite direction from downtown? That’s Bernal Hill. You can get there by walking along Folsom Street all the way up and around (turn right onto the blocked-off access road just when Folsom starts to veer left around the top of the hill, and keep walking up up up. (Watch out for possible go-kart races.) If it’s a clear day and you would like to see all of downtown SF and a good chunk of the Bay spread out before you, well… you can.