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Neighborhood Bar, Mission District
The Mission District is the oldest neighborhood in San Francisco. A church founded here in 1776 by the Spanish was named after the fresh-water lagoon. Laguna de los Dolores was so named because it was discovered on the Friday before Palm Sunday, the Friday of Sorrows. Mission Delores prospered until Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821 when it lost its funding and all contact with religious authority.

The abandoned mission and its buildings were neglected for nearly thirty years until the Gold Rush caused a property boom in San Francisco. During the late 1800s the Mission's good weather turned it into the district of choice for the middle class. Severely damaged by the 1906 fire, the Mission became home to the city's Italian and Irish laborers. These newcomers developed a unique way of speaking with a specific accent heard only in 'The Mish,' as the area was then called.

During the 1950s Latino agricultural workers from Mexico and Central America began to arrive in large numbers. During the '60s and '70s the popular 'La Raza' movement proudly established its own identity by promoting cultural heritage and arts programs in the district. Today the Mission District is more than 50 percent Latino.

But things are still changing, since the 1980s the Mission has seen a large immigration of young Bohemians and artists as well as a big influx from the Lesbian community. So once again the Mission District prepares to evolve and accommodate the needs of its new residents.
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