Clarion Alley is a small street between Mission and Valencia Streets and 17th and 18th Streets in the Mission District in San Francisco, California. It is 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.
[Sanborn Maps, SFPL] 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 meeting hall, where
Thomas Mooney once attempted to organize railway workers.
[Curt Gentry, Frame-up; the incredible case of Tom Mooney and Warren Billings. Norton 1967][Crocker Langley City Directory 1920] Later, it was home to artists and musicians from at least the early sixties through 2002.
Notable residents included
Terry Riley,
The Cockettes, Lise Swenson of Artists' Television Access, and two of the artists, Rigo 23 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.
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, 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.
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
