World Travel Guide

City Guide  - San Francisco  - Further Distractions
Further Distractions

Mission
The Mission, once linked to Mission Dolores, the city's oldest building that was built by its Franciscan fathers, is a district of San Francisco where Central American's immigrants and bohemians rub up against an ever-flowing overspill of upwardly mobile dotcom workers. Murals adorn the walls of the area that some see as a ghetto and others as a vital hub of creative change. Unfortunately, the influx of dotcom has resulted in many of the original inhabitants being forced out by spiralling rents and property taxes. Valencia Street, a lesbian enclave, is now a very desirable property area, while boutiques and restaurants with Latin flavour vie for cash with the high concentration of drug dealers in neighbouring Dolores Park. The Mission Dolores is at Dolores and 16th Street and was completed in 1791 as Mission San Francisco de Asis. Here better than anywhere can the visitor get a feel of the city's Spanish origins.

Tel: (415) 621 8203. Fax: (415) 621 2294.
E-mail: mdolores@earthlink.net
Website: www.missiondolores.org
Transport: J Bus 14, 22, 26 or 53.
Opening hours: Daily 0800-1200 and 1300-1600.
Admission: US$5 (45-minute audio tour).

Japantown
It may be only a few miles away, but Japantown, bounded by Laguna, Geary, Post and Phillimore Streets, could not be more different from the Mission. The city's growing Japanese population has a home here, but it's also a commercial centre. Walking up Geary or Post from Union Square brings an odd-shaped building into view - the Japan Center (tel: (415) 922 6776) - which is the two-hectare (five-acre) focal point of the community's cultural and business life and the site of several seasonal festivals. Walkers might benefit from a Japanese communal bath or a shiatsu massage centre at the Kabuki Springs and Spa, 1750 Geary Boulevard (tel: (450) 922 6000; fax (415) 922 6005; website: www.kabukisprings.com).

Transport: Market Street; bus 2, 3 or 4 to Buchanan and Sutter Streets, or bus 22 or 28 to Geary Boulevard and Fillmore Street.



Copyright © 2001 Columbus Publishing
    
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