Clarion Alley is a small street in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

between Mission and Valencia Streets and 17th and 18th Streets, notable for the murals painted by the Clarion Alley Mural Project.

History

Originally called "Cedar Lane," the alley's name was changed around the turn of the twentieth century to Clarion Alley. The street is notable for community and arts activity, including the Clarion Alley Mural Project, the American Indian Center and Promotoras Latinas Comunitarias de Salud.

47 Clarion

The warehouse at 47 Clarion was originally known as the Woodmen Building with the main door at 3345 17th Street. It was an

IWW The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...

meeting hall, where

Tom Mooney Thomas Joseph Mooney (December 8, 1882 – March 6, 1942) was an American political activist and labor leader, who was convicted with Warren K. Billings of the San Francisco Preparedness Day Bombing of 1916. It quickly became apparent that Mo ...

once attempted to organize railway workers. Later, it was home to artists and musicians from at least the early sixties through 2002. Notable residents included

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for ...

The Cockettes The Cockettes were an avant garde psychedelic hippie theater group founded by Hibiscus (George Edgerly Harris III) in the fall of 1969. The troupe was formed out of a group of hippie artists, men and women, who were living in Kaliflower, one of ...

, Lise Swenson of

Artists' Television Access Artists' Television Access (ATA) is a non-profit art gallery and screening venue in San Francisco's Mission District in the United States of America. ATA exhibits work by emerging, independent and experimental artists in its theatre and gallery ...

, and two of the artists,

Rigo 23 Rigo 23 (born Ricardo Gouveia, 1966) is a Portuguese-born American muralist, painter, and political artist. He is known in the San Francisco community for having painted a number of large, graphic "sign" murals including: ''One Tree'' next to the ...

and Aaron Noble, who were founding members of the Clarion Alley Mural Project. 47 Clarion was demolished in 2001, and a parking lot for the condominium project on 17th Street replaced it. It became a symbol of the neighborhood's

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...

Murals

Since 1992, the alley has been covered in murals painted by the Clarion Alley Mural Project. Alley residents Noble and Rigo together painted the mural "Superhero Warehouse" showing a series of depressed superheroes on the warehouse's side, as a contribution to the mural project. Another of the early murals, painted by Scott Williams after research done by

Fred Rinne Fred Rinne (born 1955) is an American visual and performance artist. His cross disciplinary approach, outsider aesthetic and overriding cultural critique defines his work. "As an American I feel that I have grown up bathed in pop schlock again ...

, depicted native animals of the Mission District.

''Dog Days''

Clarion Alley was featured in the opening chapter of the fiction novel ''Dog Days'' by John Levitt. The main character is ambushed by evil forces that animate one of the murals into a monstrous force.

References

Bibliography

*Murray, Julie. "Moving Stairway to Heaven" in ''Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo'', Jacoby, Annice, ed. NY: Abrams, 2009. p 126 *Noble, Aaron. "The Clarion Alley Mural Project" p. 113 and "Vatos Mexicanos Locos" p. 122 in ''Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo'', Jacoby, Annice, ed. NY: Abrams, 2009 * Culture of San Francisco American artist groups and collectives Mission District, San Francisco Streets in San Francisco History of San Francisco