Also Loving Mission Street

Why do I love Mission Street? Let me count the ways.

The gentleman in mariachi gear on the 14-Mission trying not to block the aisle with his giant guitarron.

Sizzling sausages on makeshift bbqs near the 24th St. BART station.

Sounds of Latin music spilling onto sidewalks after dark.

Papel picado metalwork at the 16th St. BART plaza.

Arroz con leche for $2 a bowl on bridge tables up and down the street.

Small shops full of low-cost crap. This is a good thing. Have you seen Union Street lately? Empty storefronts. But in the Mission, not so many.

Cole Hardware.

A boy with backpack dashes into Zocolo, then out, opens the gate and runs upstairs to his family's apartment above the restaurant (I watch this from my office above the SoCha Cafe).

Medjool. Pupusas. Mission Pie.

That drunk guy peeing against the trash can outside my building? Not so great. Ditto for the 49-bus driver who saw me standing at the stop near Valencia waving my Fast Pass, came to a full stop, saw me start to run for the bus, and suddenly drove away. Why?

That's SoCha Cafe from the bus stop. My office is the window at the top right. The cafe has free Wi-Fi and live music every night. There's a benefit for Haiti happening there on the 4th. C'mon by.

www.sochacafe.com