Calle 24: Cuentos del Barrio was an effort to bring visibility to the Latino heritage of the Mission District’s 24th Street, and to support its continued vitality. The project launched in summer 2013 at the offices of legacy business Acción Latina, where a group of local high school and college students participated in urban history workshops and received training in oral history methodology from Dr. Carlos Cordova of San Francisco State University and Oscar Grande of PODER. Students then conducted over a dozen interviews with community leaders from 24th Street to recover stories dating from the 1940s to the present-day. The project culminated in a series of youth-led walking tours of 24th Street, held on July 28, 2013 during “Sunday Streets” in the Mission. A self-guided walking tour booklet is available in PDF format.
Funding for Calle 24: Cuentos del Barrio came from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Bland Family Foundation.
Project findings helped to inform a resolution designating Calle 24 as a Latino Cultural District. Spear-headed by the Calle 24 SF Neighbors and Merchants Association in partnership with the Mayor’s Invest in Neighborhoods program and then District 9 Supervisor, David Campos, the resolution aims to stabilize the displacement of Latino businesses and residents, preserve Calle 24 as the center of Latino culture and commerce, enhance the unique nature of Calle 24 as a special place for San Francisco’s residents and tourists, and ensure that the City of San Francisco and interested stakeholders have an opportunity to work collaboratively on a community planning process. Read more about Calle 24 on their website.