Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts

The building you are approaching began its life as a furniture store known locally as The Shaft before it was transformed into a landmark of Latino creativity in 1977. Its conversion from a retail warehouse into the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts was the result of a years-long, often heated community effort to secure a dedicated space for the Chicano, Central American, South American, and Caribbean diaspora in San Francisco. The project was so deeply rooted in local activism that its founders initially dreamed of building a pyramid on the site to serve as a ceremonial altar for the neighborhood.