For me, one of the bright spots of this year has been Thursday Doors, a  challenge by blogger Norm Frampton that encourages photographers (and those of us who point and click) to share entrances, arches, doors, and even sometimes windows from around the world, both the grand and the not so grand.  Sometimes those entrances have a backstory and sometimes they’re just whatever catches the eye.

My favorite doors from this year were actually garage doors.  I found them in a neighborhood of San Francisco known for its extremely diverse culture:  The Mission District.  Before the 1970s this area was heavily hispanic and not on any tourist’s map.  Then artists and hipsters, attracted by the low rents, began to move in.  They convinced home owners, restaurants and shop keepers to let them brighten otherwise dark and suspicious alleyways with their artwork.

Many of the murals (like the above) have political messages.  Others are whimsical.

.

A few had cultural overtones. I don’t know what Che is doing in the above mural but there he is.
Because the Mission District is named after 1776 Mission Dolores, it’s not uncommon to see religious murals. Some are inexplicable.

To see other Mission doors click on any of these links

• The Mission, Part 1
• The Mission, Part 2: Unity
• The Mission, Part 3: Whimsy
• The Mission, Part 4: The World is an Orange
• The Mission, Part 4: The World is an Orange
• Alta Impunidad (street art in the Mission)
• The Eyes Have It

Finally, this door caught my eye down in San Diego.