Fotoeins Fotografie

Above: “La Victoria” mural painted in 2024 by Timewizard & Tressprays.

There’s something very familiar about a family-run bakery: the look, the warmth, the smell, the taste. As a product of Chinese immigrants and growing up next to (Vancouver’s) Chinatown, I have a very soft spot for their bakeries: every bite of the sweet and the savory are living memories of “home”.

On a wander through San Francisco’s Mission District on All Saints Day (2024), I find myself in front of the mural called “La Victoria” adjacent to the bakery with the same name. My eyes light up at “pan dulce” (pastries). Already aware of the “Día de Muertos” holiday, I turn the corner to see the stack of “sweet bread” in the window display, including the “pan de muerto” (bread for the dead) and the “cross of bones” on top of each “pan”. The holiday is a memorial and celebration of the dead. Small altars accompanied by golden brown pan de meurto and brilliant orange marigolds symbolize the connection between living and dead, allowing the dead to find their way back “home”.

To the amusement of the women behind the counter, I order and hold a pan de muerto in my hand, before digging into the slight crunch of the thin crust, delighting in the sugar sprinkle and orange tang in the glaze, and revelling in the soft interior of the bread. I’m grateful for a small glimpse of traditions in the Mexican-American community.

•   November 1: Día de Todos los Santos, All Saints Day.
•   November 2: Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead.
•   I’d learn later about the bakery’s journey to its present location.
•   I enjoyed reading about pan dulce and pan de muerto from The Other Side of the Tortilla.

La Victoria Panadería.

Pan dulce.

Pan de muerto with the “cross-bones” on top: glorious, delicious.

Location

•   La Victoria: 3249 24th Street (at Capp), since 2019
•   BART lines Blue, Green, Red, or Yellow to station “24th Street Mission”
•   MUNI bus 14 or 14R to stop “Mission Street and 24th Street”
•   MUNI bus 48 or 67 to stop “24th Street & South Van Ness Avenue”

( View this location on OpenStreetMap )

I received neither prior support or post-visit compensation for this content. I’m happy to pay for the pan, and I’m not asking for free pan; what am I: a dum’ colonizer?! I made all images above on 1 Nov 2024 with an iPhone15. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-wl3.