Clarion Alley

Clarion Alley is a small street in San Francisco between Mission and Valencia Streets and 17th and 18th Streets. The alley lies at what was once the center of a lagoon that covered the central Mission District area,

Historic Lagoon

although some historians dispute the existence of the fresh water lagoon. Originally called "Cedar Lane," the alley's name was changed around the turn of the twentieth century to Clarion Alley.^[1]

The street is notable for community and arts activity, including the Clarion Alley Mural Project, the American Indian Center^[2] and Promotoras Latinas Comunitarias de Salud.^[3] 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 Tom Mooney once attempted to organize railway workers^[4][5][6], Later, 47 Clarion was home to artists and musicians from at least the early sixties through 2001.^[7] 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. 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. 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.

The Clarion Alley Mural Project formed in 1982, inspired by Balmy Alley and other murals and muralists of San Francisco's Mission District. One of the early murals, painted by Scott Williams after research done by Fred Rinne depicted native animals of the Mission District.

Native Species mural on Clarion Alley, Williams

References

1. ^ http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/d82114.jpg
2. ^ http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=Clarion_Alley_and_Post-modernism
3. ^ http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=Dot.com_Meltdown_Real_Estate_Frenzy_Subsides_at_end_of_2000
4. ^ http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Epicenter_of_Crime:_The_Hunt%E2%80%99s_Donuts_Story
5. ^ Curt Gentry, Frame-up; the incredible case of Tom Mooney and Warren Billings. Norton 1967
6. ^ Crocker Langley City Directory 1920
7. ^ http://www.meganwilson.com/related/clarion.php

Drescher, Timothy. "Clarion Alley and Post-modernism" [1]

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" p113 and "Vatos Mexicanos Locos" p122 in "Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo, Jacoby, Annice, ed. NY: Abrams, 2009

Rapoport, Lynn. "Wall space: The Clarion Alley Mural Project uses public art to paint a home," San Francisco Bay Guardian, October 23, 2002. [2]