KQED and San Francisco travel startup Detour have spent the last six months collaborating on an interactive audio tour of one of San Francisco’s most popular and most contentious streets — 24th Street in the Mission. For more than 50 years, 24th Street has been the heart of San Francisco’s Latino neighborhood. Now the latest wave of tech money is changing the area faster and more drastically than ever before. Evidence of gentrification lives on every block of San Francisco, but 24th Street and the Mission embody the question at the forefront of San Francisco’s identity: What does it mean to belong to a place in the midst of unprecedented change?
The Mission Detour is narrated by the “Mayor of the Mission,” Roberto Hernandez. Roberto is a lifelong Mission resident and activist who still lives on the same street he grew up on, and knows everyone in the neighborhood. On this interactive walk, Roberto takes you deep into the Mission with people who intimately love the neighborhood, but in very different ways. Roberto introduces you to all kinds of locals, from Latinos who treasure the neighborhood’s traditions, to tech-worker newcomers drawn to the neighborhood’s buzz. Their voices guide you down the main drag and back alleys of 24th Street to reveal the places and stories that make the Mission the culturally unique place that is.
The Detour features a dozen stops including Balmy Alley, La Palma Mexicatessen, Garfield Park, Haus Coffee, Mission Girls and Precita Eyes Mural Studios. The tour also features a soundtrack of musicians like Tommy Guerrero and John Vanderslice. By the end of the Detour, you’ll understand why change agents and preservationists alike celebrate the Mission’s sense of place and want to belong there -- and that a statement like "I belong" can mean two different things. As Roberto will tell you, “If you're saying it to yourself, it's empowering, but if you're saying it to someone else, it can mean 'You don't belong.' And who gets to belong is a real emotional topic around here.”
The Mission Detour goes live in the Detour app on Thursday June 9. On Saturday June 18, Detour and KQED will be co-hosting a group event in celebration of the project. Reserve free tickets through the Eventbrite listing to join the producers and narrators of this project for a group walk of this Detour. Thirty people are also able to claim tickets on the Eventbrite listing to join for an afternoon party that day at Precita Eyes Mural Studios.
Download the Detour app for free at: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id886455839