With all the changes occurring in the Mission, nostalgia crept up on me. I started to reminisce about what the neighborhood was like 10 years ago. I then began to wonder what may have been here 10 years before that, or even 20 years, or before I was even born 25 years ago.
There was really only one way to find accurate descriptions on the history of my neighborhood. I had to meet and talk to longtime residents.
First, I approached Florentino and Imelda Ortiz, who happen to be my uncle and aunt.
After moving around the Mission when they first arrived in the 1960s, they settled in for good in their 24th Street home in 1972. They’ve collectively been here over a century, which to me meant countless priceless memories. Here are their stories of what the Mission used to be like.
Read the rest of the couple's history and memories on Mission Local.