Balmy Street probably get 60% of the big media
attention focused on street art in San Francisco, and perhaps justifiably so.
Clarion Alley possibly gets 38%, leaving about 2% to divide among the rest of a
city often described as the Mural capital of the modern world.
These are my own perceptions and not a
scientific study, but so many good locations for street art remain hidden that
I thought I’d reveal an obvious one that even hardcore street art lovers may
not have explored.
Just west of the BART Station on 24th Street and Mission,
you’ll find 3 “art alleys” worth exploring; Poplar, Osage and Orange. While
these small streets are not quite as packed as Balmy or Clarion, what you find
here (between 24th and 26th Street) will surprise you and
may even put a smile on your face.
The handshake between formal mural and legal
graffiti is carefully explored, though less intensely than at Lilac or Clarion…
but pieces like Chris Makanna’s “In Dog We Trust” at Poplar makes this little
walk well worth your time and shoe leather.
Osage features the A.G.Oner classic below, as
well as the sexiest girl with a camera you’ll ever see on an alley.
This triumvirate of public art walls are also
a safe enough walk for the older street art lovers that are concerned with the
many sidewalk cracks and mini-pot-holes that have plagued The City of late.
By comparison to Balmy and Lilac (on the
other side of Mission Street) there isn’t as much work at these locations, but
you’ll also find the great Zio Ziegler piece on Bartlett near 24th
Street, which is required viewing… and a feast.
I’m not suggesting that you skip the obvious
(Balmy & Lilac) but that you also take the road less… well, you know,
traveled by the media.
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