Someone better call Fox News, because the “War on Christmas” has now become an insurgency.
Bernalwood interrupts your holiday preparations to bring you this important accouncement: Mossquatch, the mutant Bryophyta-Homo Sapien hybrid who lives inside a meter-reading hole on the corner of Bocana and Eugenia, has embraced some seasonal Xmoss cheer.
Neighbor Allison reports live from the scene:
Looks like the man in a red suit has some competition. Mossquatch is back and doling out moss to all the good little children this holiday season. Seems he still may have something to learn from the real Santa Claus!
So with understandable pride, Davis is spreading the word that some of Sarabeth’s photos are currently on display at Cafe St. Jorge on Mission near Cortland:
My Daughter Sarabeth has her first solo photo show from now until Mid-Jan 2014 at Cafe St. Jorge (3438 Mission St) Some very nice photos – please check ’em out … (and also, Andrea de Francisco has a great cafe – if you haven’t had a change to try it, please do: Good food, great coffee, great atmosphere and a friendly staff!)
Last minute announcement (my fault) and Xmas shopping opportunity! Neighbor Lauren is having open studio event at her Recycled Glassworks workshop on fashionable Bonview Street this weekend. She tells us:
With all the recent home sales in Bernal Heights come plenty remodels. Out with the old, in with the new. Where do the old windows go to die?
They may find their way to my Recycled Glassworks studio where the glass starts a new life as handmade, functional tableware.
This weekend, I’m inviting neighbors and friends for Open Studio:
Saturday and Sunday (December 21-22), 12pm-5pm. 238 Bonview Street, just half a block up from Cortland Ave.
It’s a nice way to peruse my entire collection, and a great opportunity for last-minute holiday gifts. There will be many specials at outlet prices.
Who knows, if you had home remodel recently, you may see your old windows again, – in a new light.
Citizens of Bernalwood, our long neighborhood nightmare of subpar pizza has come to an end. No longer shall we have to venture beyond the cozy confines of our familiar Bernal terrain to enjoy pizza done right. Destiny and market opportunity have conspired to bring us some very fine pizza. Rejoice!
The PizzaHacker is setting up shop at 3299 Mission Street at 29th, in the former bank building that was formerly home to Inca’s Peruvian restaurant after it was formerly home to a record store. The PizzaHacker is Jeff Krupman, and he’s not new to the pizza game, having spent the last few years doing pop-ups around town. Foodie critics lovelovelove him, but now he’s planting roots in Bernal Heights, and I’m here to tell you, we are extremely fortunate.
The PizzaHacker will be open for a soft-launch tonight and tomorrow, Friday 12/20 and Saturday 12/21, but we’ll get to that in a moment.
First, let’s talk about the pizza…
Your Bernalwood editor visited the PizzaHacker last night to sample the merchandise. Apart from the installation of a new pizza oven, the old Inca’s space remains largely unchanged for now.
PizzaHacker Jeff was there, so I introduced myself and I ordered a straight-up Marinara pizza to-go. The pie cost $15, and apparently, I was the PizzaHacker’s very first paying customer in the new space. Whoohoo!
Bernalwood’s Cub Reporter was waiting eagerly when I got home, so we quickly began our taste test. The Cub Reporter spent a lot of time studying the pizza arts during summer sojourns on the greasy streets of New York and New Jersey, so her palette in these matters is impeccable. And after just one bite, we both declared our pizza from the PizzaHacker to be “OMG! INCREDIBLE!!”
Here’s the Cub Reporter conducting her taste test:
And here’s why our pizza was excellent:
No joke, that was by far the best pizza I’ve had in San Francisco in recent memory. Rejoice!
PizzaHacker business partner Jimmy explains the restaurant’s plan for the next few weeks:
Right now we are still working on the space and will be serving pizza here and there to test things out. After the soft-opening on Saturday, we are going to shut down completely to build out the bar and work out any finishing touches. We hope to be fully open and servicing the Bernal Community by January 15th. All in all its going to be a pretty simple restaurant. A few pizzas, a salad or two, beer and wine on tap.
So there you have it.
Run! — don’t walk! — to the PizzaHacker tonight and tomorrow night on Mission at 29th to taste a preview of the coming attractions. Then rest assured that Bernal will soon be home to a pizza place we can all be proud of… at last.
Thank you, PizzaHacker, and welcome to Bernal Heights.
Neighbor Vicky from the Bernal Heights History Project calls our attention to an August 12, 1897 article in the San Francisco Call newspaper about a tragic accident that took place while installing a sewer line near Precita Park:
The caving in of the southern embankment of a new sewer being put in on Precita Avenue, from Alabama street to Army, was the scane of an unfortunate occurrence yesterday afternoon. In the construction of this sewer a man lost his life by being crushed to death beneath tons of rock and earth, which fell in on top of him while at work in the bottom at a depth of twelve feet.
The name of the unfortunate man could not be ascertained. He was simply known as “Frenchy,” probably because he belonged to that nationality. All that was known of him by the other workmen and the people about Precita Valley was that he took a section of the sewer from George M. Ferine, who was tbe contractor to whom the contract was let’ by the Supervisors. Perine. in turn, gave out sections of the work to any person who applied for a share. “Frenchy” secured fifty feet of contract on the topmost point of the line, where it was found necessary to sink to a depth of twelve feet in order to bring the bottom level to the line.
The unfortunate man had worked hard and faithfully on his job from the time he got the contract until yesterday, when he hopefully announced to some of bis fel-low-workmen that he had just two more feet to dig when his portion of the contract would jbe finished. This was about twenty minutes before the life was crushed out ot his body by the falling earth.
As was the custom of the time, the article goes on to describe the precise circumstances of Frenchy’s demise in gruesome detail. The body was recovered, apparently, but the article provides no additional detail about burial arrangements.
So was Frenchy laid to rest near the site of the accident that claimed his life? Let the legend begin…
This book is unlike any wine book ever produced. It is first an art book — an incredible collection of intimate images and accompanying prose that celebrate the different individual flavors and aromas found in wine. It is also an educational book and a wine guide, directing readers to easily findable wines that can broaden their horizons as wine drinkers.
The book will appeal to anyone who enjoys indulging their senses, from the foodie who wants a wine book that doesn’t read like a dictionary, to the wine novice looking to educate their palate. Even the wine connoisseur will return again and again to savor the beauty of these images with wine glass in hand and the book in their lap.
Neighbor Alder’s Kickstarter has an $18,000 goal, with about $62oo remaining (at this writing) before the January 1 cutoff.
IMAGE: Preliminary (non-final) cover mockup of The Essence of Wine
National media alert! On NPR’s Morning Edition this week, a group of students at Bernal’s Paul Revere School were the focus of a story by Eric Westervelt about Mission Science Workshop, an innovative program to make science education more unboring:
On a recent afternoon in San Francisco, 9-year-olds from Paul Revere Elementary in the Bernal Heights neighborhood are captivated by a large Van de Graaff electrostatic generator — and the prospect of gently zapping a reporter. They implore me to put the metal part of my microphone on the machine — all in the name of science, of course.
It’s semi-controlled chaos here, but that’s the point. This is free-form explore time at the Mission Science Workshop in San Francisco. The program works with low-income and underserved public elementary schools to get kids excited about science. The program does it by mixing lots of hands-on learning with specific experiments that teachers can continue back in their own classrooms.
There are a lot of live reptiles, whole animal skeletons and a handful of project stations throughout the room, a large former high school auto shop-turned science lair. Think mad scientist meets Willy Wonka, with limited impulse controls. Fourth-graders Matthew Rivera and Jamal Damon gently tussle over two pythons while teacher Sarah-Jayne Reilly stands by.
“I grew up in Ireland and really didn’t do science until I was much older,” Reilly says. “And when I came here the first time, my mind was like, ‘Wow! I just love the way the children are learning to think.’ ‘
“We always tell them, ‘Don’t just believe me, try it for yourself, test it for yourself. It’s OK to be wrong. It’s OK to say what you’re thinking,’ ” she says.
For teacher Sam Haynor, the science workshop is about using imaginative experimentation to spark learning, and to counter the idea that science is a set of known facts that students should sit back quietly and receive from on high.
PHOTO: Student at Mission Science Workshop, via NPR
Breakfast with Enzo is a weekly show of children’s music and storytelling created and performed by Enzo Garcia. Held at the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center for the last 11 years, Breakfast with Enzo was much-loved by local children… and their parents.
Last week, however, Breakast at Enzo’s long run at BHNC came to an end. In a note to his mailing list, Enzo Garcia alleges that the closure stemmed from a significant increase in the rental fees BHNC charges to use the space:
This year a new housing director was hired by BHNC. The housing director is my contact for the rental of BHNC’s dining room. In February I received notice from the housing director that the rent I pay to use the space would go up 50%. Since I had never been subject to a rent increase in my tenure at BHNC, I made no waves and agreed to pay the increased rent and continue to use the dining room.
On December 2nd, I received an email from the housing director that my rent would increase an additional 66%, up from the 50% increase beginning January, 2014. I can not sustain the increase without passing the cost along to you, the patrons of the show. I am terribly concerned that attendance will be negatively affected.
Breakfast with Enzo is a live music performance for families in the San Francisco bay area. Although I consider the show to be a performance it is routinely referred to as a class by parents who attend. Most organizations offering music classes for infants and toddlers here in the bay area require pre-registration, cost over $20 per class and are taught by underpaid teachers (I speak from experience). At $6 per person and no pre-registration, Breakfast with Enzo is a more affordable service for the community.
Having been at the BHNC for many years now I have seen personnel there come and go. Breakfast with Enzo has remained. I would like to continue serving families with live music at the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center.
In a note to Bernalwood, Neighbor Christina vented:
A weekly tradition, Breakfast with Enzo has been an incredible resource to the neighborhood, not just because young kids are getting a social outlet and musical education at the incredibly reasonable rate of $6 for 2 hours of super, jump-around, mind-enriching, fun. But Bernal businesses are benefitting by having families from other neighborhoods come in to see Enzo, and then spend the afternoon having lunch, going to the library, and shopping in Bernal.
The BHNC is a City subsided space, which is supposed to be supporting the surrounding community. Their main focus is at-risk teens, and low-income elderly, so apparently they don’t value what has been happening there on Saturday mornings for the last 11 years. Egos, miscommunication, and who knows what is at work here, resulting in Bernal kids are no longer getting to have their music time. And guess who’s moving into Enzo time slot — no one. They’re booting Enzo out for no one.
It’s really sad.
Bernalwood reached out to BHNC to get their perspective on the closure of Breakfast with Enzo. BHNC housing director Amy Beinart writes:
Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center is a neighborhood-based nonprofit organization that provides services for low-income seniors and youth, organizes members of the community to advocate for their needs, and develops and operates affordable housing for low income people. We support this work through extremely constrained funding sources, including fee-for-service contracts, foundation grants that are restricted for use to serve our programs, and membership and donations. We stretch these dollars as far as we can to support the programs that address our core mission. We are able to supplement our budget in a very small way by renting our space for community uses and private events. This is one of very few options we have to secure the money we need for upkeep and repairs to sustain this valuable community resource.
Many evenings and mornings, the downstairs multipurpose space and the upstairs conference room are used by 12-step recovery groups. Periodically, private individuals reserve the space for birthday parties and baby showers. Additionally, we have been happy to have Enzo rent the room on Saturday mornings.
As Enzo has described to you, for many years the rent rate was flat; he paid $30 per Saturday, or $10 per hour. Last year, he agreed to an increase to $45 per Saturday morning, or $15 per hour. This year, in considering our budget for the year ahead, our ever-increasing overhead costs, and need for repairs to the building, we recognized that we had to look carefully at all possible sources of income to support BHNC. Earlier this month, I sent Enzo an email proposing a new rate of $75 per Saturday, $25 per hour. The proposed rate is lower than our standard private event/business rate; and well below the $70 per hour charged by SF Rec and Park to rent the center behind the library.
In my email, I asked him to contact me to discuss if he had concerns about the amount. He emailed me back that this rate would be too high, and I responded that it was not our intent to price him out and invited him to suggest an increase that he could support. It is clear, however, that we cannot keep rates for private events flat while our expenses continue to rise. While we agree that Breakfast with Enzo is a fun event, it is not a program of BHNC, and we are not able to raise funds to subsidize his use of the space.
This is an evolving situation. We’ve been in conversation with Enzo about a workable compromise, and continue to be open to finding a solution.
Bernalwood hopes that a way will be found to keep Breakfast with Enzo on Cortland, and we will update this story accordingly.
The real estate people at Downing & Company just compiled one of their spiffy summaries of Bernal Heights home sales, and the monthly report for November shows that single-family home prices have leveled off, with the average home going for $1.16 million:
Last month 12 homes sold in this neighborhood at an average sale price of $1,163,250. 8 of the 12 homes sold for more than $1 million. It looks like home prices have more or less stabilized in Bernal Heights. For the last 7 months the average home price has clocked in at roughly $1 million.
With more buyers than sellers in the market the pace of sales remained quick. The homes that traded hands last month were on the market for an average of 27 days before going under contract.
Read the original item for a home-by-home breakdown of the sales shown in the image above.
Meanwhile, for all you fans of seasonal Year In Review roundups, Downing also links to this monthly summary of 2013 Bernal Heights single-family home sales trends:
For the second time this year, there has been a fatal shooting at the Alemany public housing in south Bernal. John King from the SF Chronicle tells it:
A 16-year-old boy died Saturday night in a shooting near the Alemany housing projects on the south flank of Bernal Heights.
The incident occurred shortly after 11 p.m. at Alemany Boulevard and Ellsworth Street near Interstate 280, according to Officer Albie Esparza of the San Francisco Police Department. Two bodies were found on the scene by police.
Clifton Chatman, 16, was pronounced dead at the scene. Another male had life-threatening injuries but is expected to survive.
No suspects have been identified, Esparza said.
The SFPD is looking for tips in the case.
Hearing about the shooting, Neighbor Karen wrote Bernalwood:
I was really struck by the sadness of losing a young life from our neighborhood. I have a son myself, so I guess it kind of hit home. It reminded me of how amazing the Bernalwood community (and the Bernal community as a whole) was supporting Christy Svanemyr’s family when she was tragically killed in Holly Park. And how helpful the community was with the Moultrie St fire. And I hope there is some way we could help this family too.
For some reason, it seems especially tragic to lose a family member during the holidays. Is there anyone who reads your blog who might know the family and could reach out to them to find out how we could help?
UPDATE – 30 December, 2013: The SFPD has released additional details about the circumstances that led to the death of Clifton Chapman on December 14. The San Francisco Examiner reports:
A teenager was arrested in connection with the Dec. 14 homicide of 16-year-old Clifton Chatman, police Sgt. Danielle Newman said Friday.
Two people were shot that day in the Bernal Heights area, and police say the shootings happened during the course of an attempted robbery.
The intended robbery victim was walking in the 500 block of Alemany Boulevard near Ellsworth Street some time after 11 p.m. The victim was surrounded by a group of teenage boys, and one of the boys demanded the victim’s cellphone. One of the boys pulled out a handgun while the others rifled through the victim’s belongings.
Although the victim complied with suspect’s demands, the boy with the gun shot the victim in the face, Newman said, but the shot glanced off his face and struck Chatman, who was reportedly one of the robbery suspects.
Last night I stepped outside my house for just a minute to grab some party-surplus holiday cookies from the trunk of our car. That’s when I saw him: A hulking white monster approaching from the east on Precita Avenue.
I looked up and rubbed my eyes to dispel the illusion, but no — he was real. IT was real! It really was a hulking white Yeti roaming the streets of Bernal Heights, along with a beaded colleague.
Fortunately, the wintry monster seemed friendly, and it cheerfully agreed to pose for a photo. And then, in the blink of an eye, it was gone, leaving me — and my stash of party-surplus holiday cookies —unharmed.
Neighbor Daniel shared these security camera stills that show a burglar in the process of trying to rob his home on Holladay:
I wanted our community to be aware of a home burglar. These photos were captured at 3:47 am Friday, Dec 13 inside my house. This guy jimmied my front lock and went in to my garage. He did not take anything, but he saw he was being filmed and left. I live on Holladay. It’s that time of year when people get burglarized, so if anyone sees this guy they should phone the police.
Lisa Moro began curating shows at the Inclusions Gallery in San Francisco’s eclectic Bernal Heights neighborhood in 2007, with the aim of becoming embedded in a community where she could make a difference.
The results have been successful and positive: a comfortable, inclusive space in the midst of a vibrant, creative neighborhood – where the gallery acts as a strong connector within the community, building bridges between local artists, neighbors. And this is never more apparent than during the annual show of Bernal Heights artists.
In Moro’s words, “The community supporting the gallery gives me the opportunity to support the artists in the community.”
Very Special Thanks to Bernal’s Ralph Carney for providing the soundtrack for this film.
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