Savvy Shoppers: Mission District
Linda Furiya | First appeared in Hemispheres May 2001

Take a walk on the wild side in one of San Francisco’s most creative and electric enclaves. From kitchen to haute couture, the shopping selections reflect the area’s lively diversity and high-octane energy. Will you come away empty handed from the Mission Impossible?

San Francisco’s Valencia corridor is a ribbon of ethnic restaurants, hip clothing and furniture stores, and family-run grocers clustered between Market and Cesar Chavez streets-a landscape with limitless shopping opportunities. Take a detour into a vintage apparel shop and pick up a ‘60s psychedelic print blouse, stumble upon a new independent designer whose fashion suits your style to a T, or explore a garden shop that has a bent toward the exotic.

Diversity is nothing new to the Mission. The first newcomers were Spanish missionaries, builders of the adobe chapel Mision San Francisco de Asis (now called Mission Delores), followed by frontiersmen and gold diggers. Later, as the city rebuilt following the infamous 1906 earthquake, many Irish and Italian families arrived in what is now the district. Over the last several decades, the area has become home to a strong working-class Latino population. And mot recently, the Internet boom has brought leagues of New Economy fortune-seekers who are bringing to the area lost apartments, stylish bars and restaurants, and design-minded retailers.

Located across from the tacqueria and dive bar, Kelly Kornegay’s elegant RayonVert’s (3187 16 th Street between Valencia and Guererro; (Tel: 415-861-3516) is part floral workshop, part home furnishing resource, and complete diversion from the chaos of urban living. French country tables are tastefully cluttered with coffee table books, teardrop molded candles in senna, lime, lucite and avocado ($16-$18), sand scalloped ($10) and crackle-glazed ($30) bowls that suggest a Japanese garden’s spring colors. Handsomely refurbished and artfully distressed apothecary cabinets ($625-$2,900) are stocked with clever takeout sushi stationery kits ($16) and fortune cookie-shaped boxes ($5) in silk fabrics.

On the corner of Valencia and 16 th, the epicenter of the Mission, beams the sunburst-orange storefront of Therapy (545 Valencia Street; Tel: 415-861-6213). For aficionados of ‘50’s-style modern furniture, owner Wayne Whelan offers affordable reproductions of classics such as Breuer’s black-leather and chrome chairs for $250. Clean-lined, buttery-soft leather sofas, loveseats, and armchairs in hip sorbet pastels will set you back in style ($880-$1,870). Therapy carries tasteful America pottery-inspired vases in Gerber daisy colors ($28-$32) and gold-leafed and frosted tumblers ($22 for a set of six) to throw off excessive minimalism.

About a block and a half away, Paxton Gate (824 Valencia Street; Tel: 415-824-1872) offers loft-dwelling flower-box ganders a twist on the usual fertilizer- and seed- store fare. Though watering cans ($24) and other basic gardening necessities are in stock, the store also creates a mad-scientist tone with large, early 1900s anatomy charts ($500). Mind-boggling 29 million-year-old brachiopods at $5 apiece part of an extensive fossil collection-are displayed alongside utilitarian Japanese digging knives ($34) and buttery-handled bonsai shears (starting at $28). If you’re looking for something different to hang on your walls, choose from a spectacular collection of exotic mounted and framed insects, such as a 5-inch-long African goliath beetle ($49).

Captain Jack’s (886 Valencia Street; Tel 415-648-1065) boasts mint-condition patchwork leather jackets and rock concert T-shirts for a low-cost rock ‘n’ roll look. Go whole hog and accessorize with glitzy Elvis gold-rimmed shades ($12) from his Vegas era or round bug-eye peepers ($24) of Andy Warhol fame.

Modern Time Bookstore (888 Valencia Street; Tel: 415-282-9246) is a Mission District fixture, celebrating nearly 30 years of providing a large selection of cutting edge titles for armchair intellectuals and paperback politicos. The store boasts a strong selection of political and current-affairs titles. Ina bright nock, parents assist little ones in choosing from a wide selection of children’s books.

Around the corner, make a beeline for the endearing cherry-red awning of Ruby (3602 20 th; Tel 415-550-8052), an art gallery collective. The tiny shop houses the works of 40 artists who create and show their jewelry and accessories, and objects d’art. The constantly changing merchandise may include handmade Shaker-style tables with Japanese washi paper decoupage ($260-290); on you next visit, you might find baby-food jars and vintage porch light covers fashioned into hanging candles with colored glass beads and twisted curling wire ($22-$52). Unfettered by mass production, jewelry such as Maureen Mongran’s earrings ($180) and necklaces ($190-$200) composed of tiny vintage photos framed in patinaed sterling silver are one-of-a-kind pieces.

On the next block lacy Papel picado (Mexican paper cutouts) dance across windowsills and mariachi music arouses the spirit of fiesta at Encantado gallery of fine Arts (904 Valencia street; Tel: 415-642-3939). Owner Mia Gonzalez’s Mexican arte popular fills two rooms with brilliantly colored, high-quality folk art made of papier-mâché, wood, and ceramic. Other Mexican delights include silver and pewter window boxes ($14-$85) and sea -and sky-colored tiled mirrors ($25-$300).

Let soft lighting, the music of harps, and the trickle of water lead you into the pleasures of Currents (911 Valencia Street; Tel: 415-648-2200). The aromatic bath offerings include soap-by-the-slice ($6) such as the delicious Three Day Weekend- a heavenly medley of citrus, vanilla, lilac, rose and jasmine. For chocolate lovers, there’s the invigorating Cocoa Café, blending the scent of chocolate and milk. Bliss out on Tub Tea ($1 per ounce), a combination of therapeutic or soothing herbs that comes in a draw stringed muslin bag and turns you bath into a soothing oasis.

Looking for romance, seeking fortune, or dodging evil? Botanica Yoruba (998 Valencia Street; Tel: 415-826-4967) is a purveyor of oils, candles, incense charms, and talisman with mystical and spiritual properties that are essential to Santeria (a tribal religion in West Africa). Protect your spirit or wash away personal woes with Mystic Spiritual Baths such as Come to Me, Protection From Enemy, and Money Drawing. The burning incense and jars of rattlesnake tails, antelope horn, and African ash can turn anyone into a believer.

Rachel Ambrose’s American-style furniture, handcrafted by her family in Lisbon, Maine, gives a charming homespun appeal to her store, Home Remedies (1026 Valencia Street; Tel: 415-826-2026). Handmade brooms leaning in a corner and old-fashioned chenille throws ($120) kissed with delicate rosebuds cozily hint at baking pies and fresh sun-soaked laundry. Displayed in dish towel-lined wicker baskets, tall corked bottles of milky fragrance ($16) in Pure Grass or Lavender are ideal for city folks who pine for the scent of line-dried laundry.

Right next for at DEMA’s (103 Valencia Street; Tel: 415-206-0500), the spirit of Nancy Sinatra meets that of Audrey Hepburn at this ultra-cool “indie” (independent clothes designers operating from a retail atelier) boutique. Owner Dema Grim designs and sews classics with a twist: three-quarter bell sleeve blouses ($96), A-line skirts ($120), and cropped ($120) and slim ($120) trousers cut from reproduction vintage cloth such as pima cotton in Palm Beach colors and glittery stretch dark-blue denim. Evening calls for a traffic stopping tiger-print eyelash pencil skirt ($100) or a black-velvet sheath dress lined in va-voom red ($250).

Across the street, Therapy’s older sister, Therapy Too (1051 Valencia Street; Tel: 415-684-7565) warehouses Whelan’s best-selling original ‘30s and ‘40s art deco armoires ($275-$550). Mica-toped chrome dinette tables with butterfly-back chairs ($800 a set), red-and-white malt shop booth seats ($1,200), and round chrome high-table and four high-stools ($770) bring to mind bobby socks and milkshakes.

A doorstop down, a Laku (1069 Valencia Street; Tel: 415-695-1462), the imagination and sewing talents of Yaeku Yamashita, a former fashion designer hailing from Tokyo, bring to life fanciful slippers spun from fairy tales. Laku means “to be happy” in Japanese, and one can’t help but feel an overwhelming giddiness when slipping into delicate creations constructed from rich silk velvet brocade, lavish taffeta, luscious tapestry, and playful pompoms (adults $65-$75, children $29-$49).

On the next block, partners Lisa Kellman and Dino Lucas modeled their green pharmacy, Scarlet Sage Herb Co. (1173 Valencia Street; Tel: 415-821-0997), on the methods of Old World apothecaries. An entire wall is devoted to screw top jars filled with dried herbs used in medicinal teas, potions, and elixirs for the health of family and pets. The generous homeopathic selection of bath and body products, such as fennel-scented Angelica Aroma body milks ($14.25) and Lovemate Magnate flowerwater ($10.95), invites browsers to rub and sniff.

Lugging around bags of loot after a day of shopping calls for a dessert break at Herbivore (938 Valencia Street; Tel: 415-826-5657), where the assortment of vegan desserts removes the sin but not the taste. From your spot in the sidewalk seating area, sip organic house coffee while you relax and enjoy the always-interesting pastime of Mission District people-watching.