Paxton Gate

The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill


Salvador Dalí probably would've shopped here for all his taxidermy and gardening needs. Get a surrealist home makeover with animal-skull puppets, terrariums sprouting from lab beakers and mounted heads of African game. The kids' shop down the street (at 766 Valencia) maximizes playtime with volcano-making kits, shadow puppets and rocket-ship dollhouses. Check DIY taxidermy workshop dates online.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill attractions

1. 826 Valencia

0.01 MILES

Avast, ye scurvy scallywags! If ye be shipwrecked without yer eye patch or McSweeney's literary anthology, lay down ye doubloons and claim yer booty at…

2. Incline Gallery

0.06 MILES

Ramp up your art collection at Incline, a sloping gallery at the rear of an ex-mortuary where bodies were once transported for embalming. Today this is…

3. Women's Building

0.11 MILES

A renowned and beloved Mission landmark since 1979, the nation's first women-owned-and-operated community center is festooned with one of the neighborhood…

4. Dearborn Community Garden

0.17 MILES

Welcome to paradise in a parking lot. When the local Pepsi bottling plant closed in the 1970s, neighbors wouldn't let urban blight take over the block –…

5. Clarion Alley

0.21 MILES

The Mission District has a long history of street art and muralismo – an oft-political school of public art prevalent throughout South and Central America…

6. Dolores Park

0.3 MILES

Welcome to San Francisco's sunny side, the land of street ball and Mayan-pyramid playgrounds, semiprofessional tanning and taco picnics. Although the…

7. Creativity Explored

0.36 MILES

Brave new worlds are captured in celebrated artworks destined for museum retrospectives, international shows and even Marc Jacobs handbags and CB2…

8. Mission Dolores

0.43 MILES

The city's oldest building and its namesake, whitewashed adobe Misión San Francisco de Asís was founded in 1776 and rebuilt from 1782. Today the modest…