Gentrification Spreads an Upheaval in San Francisco’s Mission District

*Latino residents in San Francisco’s Mission District say that the rapid spread of gentrification is pushing them out and whitewashing their culture. New “dotcom” residents are paying more than $3,800 a month on rent.  Long-time Mission residents can’t afford that. VL

By Carol Pogash, The New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO — Luxury condominiums, organic ice cream stores, cafes that serve soy lattes and chocolate shops that offer samples from Ecuador and Madagascar are rapidly replacing 99-cent stores, bodegas and rent-controlled apartments in the Mission District, this city’s working-class Latino neighborhood.

As San Francisco has become the preferred bedroom community for Silicon Valley, the Mission, with its urban edginess, has become the hottest location. Close to the center of the city, it has historically been home to Mexican and Central American immigrants whose large families live in small apartments in narrow Victorians and older buildings. Taquerias, bakeries, bars and auto mechanic shops line the streets where Spanish is spoken. Like Chinatown, this distinctive neighborhood helps define San Francisco, but the gentrification — fueled by technology workers and the popularity of Airbnb — is faster and more drastic here than elsewhere.

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[Photo by DeShaun Craddock/Flicr]