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Blocker: 4600 Mission
Exploring San Francisco through the lens of city blocks, Blocker is a weekly series by Charles Hodgkins. Look for it on SFist each Wednesday, around the lunching hour.
Blocker, No. 2: Mission St. in the Excelsior
It’s like someone threw a net over the Mission District circa 1972 and moved it south a couple miles. An overly simplistic description of this block at the heart of the Excelsior? Perhaps. But it’s more accurate than you might think. Didn’t some leisure suit-clad wiseguy in a Corvair convertible blaring an 8-track of Cosmo’s Factory just turn right onto Ocean Ave.? Or did we imagine that?
The no-nonsense block of Mission St. between Brazil and Persia Sts. coldly swaps out the Beauty Bar for a dimly lit tavern called Pass Time, and Medjool for four austere Chinese joints and a closet-sized Filipino place specializing in palabok. Awnings could use an update. Shop fronts are less than shiny. There is no valet in sight. This utilitarian swath of businesses and budget eateries may not take home the crown if pitted in a glamour pageant against its celebrated rival up the way, but it stands a good chance to win the boxing match in a 15-round TKO.
As an endless procession of plus-sized 14 Mission and 49 Van Ness buses parade up and down the pavement, a parka’d-up fellow manning an ice cream cart in front of El Chico Produce Market shivers from the summer wind blowing from the southwest; business for him is predictably minimal. Down at the opposite end of the block, a church band rehearses in their place of assembly, directly above the gigantic, 24-hour Clean Wash Center. The brassy starts and stops carry out the open windows and through the heavy gusts, halfway up the street. It’s an impressive racket.
Everything’s always on sale at the King Mart Int’l Discount Outlet across the road, while a handful of prominent banks anchor the center of the block, along with Walgreens and a Goodwill store housed in what looks to be a converted theater. The lack of residences here – even above the retail businesses and restaurants – is striking. People may shuttle through for take-out, a quick haircut, or a grip of cash from one of the numerous ATMs, but there doesn’t appear to be too many people actually living along this somewhat dilapidated stretch.
Other parts of the Excelsior along Mission St. may sport the odd whimsical, modern touch - a new nightclub here, a fresh café there. Not this one. This is working class San Francisco, in any era. Park your own car.
