San Francisco’s Balmy Alley, a cultural centerpiece of the Mission for over five decades, is getting a facelift. The alley has been a popular tourist destination, with visitors from around the globe coming to see the murals that line the street. However, many of the murals have been fading and decaying over the years.

Restoration Efforts

Artist Tirso Gonzalez and ‘mural doctor’ Yano Rivera have been awarded a Community Challenge Grant from the city for up to $129,294 to restore six murals — five in Balmy Alley and one in the mini-park at 24th and York streets. The grant will allow the original artists to return and restore their own murals, including Juana Alicia Araiza, Betsy Miller-Kusz, Irene Perez, Hector Escarramán, and Josue Rojas.

The murals of Balmy Alley began in the 1970s when ‘mujeres muralistas’ wanted to clean up the alleyway and painted feminist murals to show Chicana/Latina culture and prove that women could create large outdoor murals. Over the decades, the murals in the alley have reflected different cultural moments, including the wars, indigenous cultures, and resistance of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua in the 1980s.

Gonzalez and Rivera are in the process of getting permission from the Balmy Alley property owners, who have to approve the restoration efforts for murals painted on their homes or garage doors. They will also paint a new mural on the side of Taqueria Vallarta, a wall that has been notorious for graffiti.

The Community Challenge Grant was established in 1991 through a voter initiative allowing businesses to put a portion of their gross receipts taxes into a ‘beautification fund.’ City administrator Carmen Chu said that $3.3 million in funding went to 25 different projects this year.

Original reporting: Mission Local — read the source article.