Art Corridors Part 2: Balmy Alley

Granny Wesson's last angry brilliant post on Bluxome Alley got me thinking about the history of public art in San Francisco. In asking myself where it all began I posed a question demanding more research than I ever imagined. So, I specified the question a tiny bit, where and when did the alleys decorated top to bottom with murals originate?


And that takes me to the Mission District's infamous Balmy Alley. Intricately decorated and broadly diverse, the murals reflect the numerous perspectives that make up the neighborhood's rich Latino heritage and new contingency. However, the images do not always find easy peace with each other. Paintings often bleed into contiguous murals, blurring the lines where one ends and another begins, and even confronting one another. Look carefully and you might find remnants of murals from the past -- disappearing ever so slowly with a fight -- flitting in the corners of walls or under chipped wood fences.

The humble origins of Balmy Alley date back to the early 70's, coinciding with the same period that graffiti began to take over New York's subway lines. The first mural was organized by Mia Gonzalez under the tutelage of Susan Cervantes and Carlos Loarca. Youth from the "24th Street Place" program designed the mural, and together with people from the community, painted it during the Mission's first mural painting community event.


In the 1980's Balmy Alley evolved under the direction of Ray Patlan and Patricia Rodriguez. Hoping to call attention to the atrocities and injustices in Central America, Patlan and In 84, Rodriguez helped organized the painting of over 26 murals informed by the theme of "Peace in Central America". Balmy Alley thereby took on a particular political flavor. The walls were coated with direct political messages, expressions of rage, hopeful calls for unity, and personal narratives. It was during this period that Balmy Alley gained worldwide fame (and to this day, you might notice a lot of tourists cruising though the corridor.)


Ever changing and shifting with the community's own development, Balmy Alley now possesses a soothing but vibrant character. New murals appear as weather rains down on garage doors and old wooden posts crumble away piece by piece. The many flower bushes and trees that align the Alley's winding red brick road marks the corridor off from other alleys situated in warehouse districts or along hard cement pavement. It's rare to see mural art in an alley juxtaposed with the greenery, or that nature so well integrated into a somewhat unforgiving urban environment. But Balmy Alleys offers just those anomalies and surprises, if you take the time to look.








Flickr archive coming at the end of the month!!