When you zip south on US 101 alongside Bernal Heights, it’s hard to miss the giant Apple iPad billboard perched alongside the freeway just beyond the Cortland Avenue overpass.
But what you may not have noticed is that there’s also a house hidden behind that big billboard, and considering the odd location, it actually looks rather charming:
UPDATE: Bernalwood contributor David Gallagher pointed us to this superb 1955 photo that clearly shows this same house (at bottom, center) … as well as the fact that it has been hidden behind a billboard for many decades:
Gee whiz, it sure would be swell to reprise that old TWA billboard with the Lockheed Constellation on it, eh? Here’s a close-up detail:
Other fun things to notice in the detail: Peralta Street is still unpaved. That warehouse in the background is now the (quite good) San Francisco Antique and Design Mall, which was originally built as the headquarters for the American Seating Company.
Photos: Telstar Logistics, Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection
Bernalwood 
That’s on Peralta, not Prentiss. But agree that despite the funky/freeway location it is a bit charming.
Doh! Thanks. No more blogging after midnight…
It’s been behind the billboard for quite a while:
1955 – Charles Cushman Collection
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/results/detail.do?pnum=P08309
Amazing. Thank you, David! Too bad there’s an iPad on that sign now, and not a TWA Constellation
My friends live here, and it’s been an Apple ad the whole time I’ve known them. I love this house, it’s so cute, and the people are pretty fun too 😉
We’re a couple streets over on Bronte, but considered buying another house on Peralta a few years back. One of big drawbacks of that street is at night they blast a million-candle-powered lights on the board, and it lights up the entire street. I wonder if these residents are the only ones protected from the blast, or if they get the worst of it?
I live right across from the billboard, and it’s not that big of a deal. Further down the hill might be a bit bright, however.
I am the owner of this wonderful home! It is absolutely magical. Dog friendly, sun on all sides, cool old features inside, but totally modernized too.
Welcome, Angela! Love your home.
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