Part of San Francisco for 227 years

Walking down San Francisco's Dolores Street for the first time, I stopped and admired the large, ornate basilica I assumed was the 227-year-old Mission Dolores. I didn't realize I was staring at the wrong building until a friend walked over toward the entrance of the relatively nondescript chapel next door.

The small, whitewashed adobe building is the real Misión San Francisco de Asís, more commonly referred to as Mission Dolores. It is the sixth of 21 Franciscan missions stretching from San Diego to Solano County along the old Camino Real (Royal Highway). So well constructed that it withstood the devastating 1906 earthquake, this is the oldest standing building in San Francisco.

After walking into the chapel, I found my gaze quickly settling on the gorgeous ceiling, a zigzag of yellow and red stripes designed to mimic the baskets woven by the Costanoan or Ohlone Indians, which inhabited the area when the first settlers arrived. A large, ornate altar is built into the back wall, with two smaller altars on either side.

Back outside, I realized the building was more interesting than I thought. The front appears to have four large columns supporting a balcony that houses six smaller columns and the three mission bells.

Appearances are deceiving, though. The entire facade was created from a single block of adobe that was 10 feet thick and 22 feet wide.

A colorful garden is next to the small cemetery that's home to 150-year-old tombstones belonging to some of San Francisco's most important early residents. Buried here are Don Luis Antonio Arguello, the first Mexican governor of Alta California, and Don Francisco de Haro, San Francisco's first alcalde, or mayor. In the center of the cemetery is a statue of Father Junipero Serra, who oversaw the creation of the first nine Franciscan missions.

History is in the air here. Even though you're just a few steps away from the constant stream of buses that run down 16th Street, walking into the mission is like stepping back in time. Besides the chapel itself, there is a small museum that displays a baptismal register that dates back to 1776, and also the original mission key, which was the model for the symbolic key to San Francisco.

The mission is inextricably tied to the history of the city. In March 1776, a scouting party visited the area and claimed the land for the King of Spain, Carlos III. Back at their home base in Monterey, the group was given permission to return to the area and establish a mission. Colonists and soldiers arrived in San Francisco on June 27, 1776, and, two days later, celebrated mass on the site of the future mission.

That date, June 29, became the official birthday of the city of San Francisco.

In the late 1700s, this small building was part of an expansive complex in the middle of a large field surrounded by rolling hills. The church was next to a granary, shops, and a convent that housed the Franciscans and their guests. Today, it is dwarfed by its companion basilica and the three-story Victorian buildings that line Dolores Street.

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