The Legend Across the Street

It's pretty cool living in the shadow of a local landmark, though sometimes the traffic it brings is a bit annoying. Over the past dozen years in the Mission, I've seen the St. Francis Fountain evolve from a sparsely populated place with cranky 60ish women in orthopedic shoes serving the then popular crab on sourdough sandwiches to its current standing room only hipster hang out on weekends. Though in business since 1917, it was sold by the founding family around the time of the Millennium, struggled, shuttered up for a few months and then was transformed by the owners of Boogaloo's. The owners seem to be part of the wave of transforming the east Mission into what the Valencia corridor was a decade or so ago. There are pros and cons to that.

The latest addition to the fountain came this week with the addition of the red and white awning for the increasingly popular outdoor dining. It's a cheerful addition in the middle of a very wet weekend, and I'm glad it survived yesterday's wind and rain storm.