Pope to Porn- a Mission District Walk

FROM THE POPE TO PORN: URBAN CONTRASTS, URBAN ACTIVISM, AND CULTURE CLASH IN THE MISSION DISTRICT 1776-2014

This tour is a study in urban contrasts and an easy walk through the formerly semi-rural landscape of The Mission lands, along the banks of an erstwhile creek and a vanished lake. Not only is this tour about how several creeks, a lagoon, wetlands, swamps, and perhaps even a lake were buried and remain just below your feet throughout much of the Mission District.
This tour also looks at the changing demographics of this district and the resulting flashpoint of culture clashes that follow.
The Mission defies definition and although it flies under the radar, this once idyllic piece of San Francisco has been the scene of more class wars, social upheaval and land grabs than anywhere else in the Bay Area if not the state.

We will begin at the Golden Fire Hydrant and make our way through Dolores Park; originally a Jewish cemetery. Now it may be packed with hipsters, gay men, Latin American immigrants, dogs, their owners and well-to do families with strollers, nannies, and children. We'll head to the Mission Francisco De Asis, commonly known as The Mission Dolores. We will see the Mission Dolores Basilica which was dedicated by Pope Pious in 1951. In 1984, while protestors chanted, Pope John Paul ll caused a scandal by hugging a child with AIDS. We will tour the Mission, the oldest building in San Francisco. The original building was completed in 1776, several weeks before the Declaration Of Independence was signed. There is a small museum on site displaying artifacts from the decimated native population. The graveyard is filled with tombstones of mainly Irish immigrants, & open to the public. Some 5000 Ohlone were buried here as well. Admission ($6) to the Mission is not included.
Missión (Dolores) San Francisco de Asís was originally built close to the a creek that the Spanish called, Arroyo de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, Our Lady of the Sorrows.