Excelsior District, San Francisco

From Freepedia

The Excelsior District in San Francisco is the area along Mission Street, south of Interstate 280 and north of Geneva Avenue. Its central point is arguably the intersection of Mission Street and Ocean Avenue. The area is characterized by the names of the streets, many of which which are named for European countries and cities. Excelsior is an ethnically diverse neighborhood with Latinos, Cantonese-speaking Chinese, Italians, Irish and African Americans. It holds an annual street festival every October.

Famous Excelsiorites include surrealist poet Philip Lamantia, Grateful Dead singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia, and Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame shortstop Joe Cronin.

Central to the neighborhood was the Granada Theatre at the intersection of Mission and Ocean, which opened in 1922 as the Excelsior, and ran until 1982. In 1931 when a Grandada theatre up the road changed its name to the Paramount, the old Granada sign was moved the Granada at Mission in the Excelsior district.