Balmy Alley, Street art corridor in Mission District, San Francisco, US.

Balmy Alley is a narrow passageway in the Mission District lined with painted walls and garage doors. The murals cover every available surface with large colorful images created over several decades.

The first murals date to 1972, painted by Mia Galivez and children from a local child care center. In 1973 Patricia Rodriquez and Graciela Carillo painted a jungle-underwater scene, and their team became Las Mujeres Muralistas. In 1984 Ray Patlán led the PLACA project, which added twenty-seven murals in summer 1985 with a $2,500 Zellerbach Foundation grant.

The murals serve as a visual record of the Latin American community's presence and struggles in this neighborhood. Visitors encounter the works as an ongoing conversation about justice and identity that continues to evolve with new paintings.

Balmy Alley runs one block between 24th and 25th Streets, from Treat Avenue to Garfield Square, in the Inner Mission's Calle 24 Latino Cultural District. Enter on foot from either end; the murals sit on fences and garage doors along the left wall, with a utility pole and street lamp partway down. Buildings whose main entrance is on the alley carry fewer murals.

The alley's murals began in 1972 with Mia Galivez and children from a local child care center; Patricia Rodriquez and Graciela Carillo painted a jungle-underwater scene in 1973. In 1985, "Ray" Patlán's PLACA project added twenty-seven murals in one summer, funded partly by a $2,500 Zellerbach Foundation grant.