Author: Todd_Lappin

New Mission Theater Plan Will Also Bring New Housing to North Bernal Borderlands

/ Todd_Lappin / 12 Comments

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Last week, the City’s Planning Commission approved a very exciting proposal to restore and renovate the abandoned New Mission Theater on Mission at 22nd Street. It’s a promising development that will bring some grandeur back to the old theater, which will be operated by the much-loved Alamo Drafthouse cinema chain. Yay!

In addition, the project includes 114 market-rate housing units to be built on the site of today’s Giant Value store. Yet as our journo-friends at MissionLocal pointed out, this will also result in the development of a new affordable-housing complex in the Bernalwood borderlands, on the northwest corner of Cesar Chavez and Shotwell:

The developer will dedicate a piece of land near Shotwell and Cesar Chavez streets to the Mayor’s Office on Housing to construct affordable housing to comply with the city’s affordable housing requirement.

Typically developers are required by law to dedicate 15 percent of their units to inclusionary housing or pay a fee that, once the project is completed, will go toward financing affordable housing elsewhere.

The idea behind the land dedication, which is unprecedented, is that the city can turn that land around and build up to 46 affordable housing units as opposed to settling for fewer units being built on-site.

Grande, who was among the nonprofits’ directors that negotiated the deal with the developer, said this would allow the city to have more say on how the affordable housing units are built.

“It’s better because you get more bang for your buck,” he said. “With off-site affordable housing units this also gives us more community control on how the development will happen. It means partnering with affordable housing developers, who would abide by local hiring, and hire union workers.”

However for Howard Ruy, the owner of Auto Smog & Oil Changers at 1296 Shotwell St., which is on the site of the would-be affordable housing building, was told by his landlord that he would have to leave the shop once the land is transferred to the city.

“It means I’m going to have to close shop,” he said. “Honestly I am just waiting for (the landlord) to call me to say ‘you have to move out.’”

Innnnnnnnnteresting.

I have yet to see any renderings of the proposed Chavez/Shotwell development, so no word on how it will look. I will be watching closely, however, if only because I live a block from the site. So for now, consider me a YIMBY-inclined, interested party.

PHOTO: The future building site on Cesar Chavez Blvd at Shotwell Street in January 2013. Photo by Telstar Logistics 

Exasperated Parking Note Is Exceptionally Well Documented

/ Todd_Lappin / 16 Comments

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Neighbor Ron spotted this yesterday:

Saw this beauty on my commute down Eugenia stairs. Looks like the offender has been there for a while.

Indeed. Notice also that there is nothing even remotely passive-aggressive about this note — it’s straight-up factual, and bracingly aggro. We respect that.

It’s also meticulously documented. Notice all those detailed check-ins, updates, and times! Judgement here must favor the writer, strictly on the merits.

PHOTO: Neighbor Ron

Where to Buy Your Ski Bernalwood Season Pass

/ Todd_Lappin / 19 Comments

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Hello Skiers and Snowboarders!

It’s been cold, and it’s been wet, which means conditions have never been better at Ski Bernalwood, San Francisco’s finest wintersports resort destination. Right now we’ve got a 41″ base with powder and packed powder on top, so it’s a great time to strap on your boards and and explore all the terrain we’ve opened up on Bernal Hill.

Let’s go over some of the highlights on tap for Winter 2013.

Ski Bernalwood 2013 Season Passes Now On Sale

Ski Bernalwood offers plenty of challenging terrain for riders of all ability levels, with two charilifts for fast, convenient access to all areas of the mountain. But before you hit the slopes, you’re going to need a lift ticket.

This year, we’re proud to announce that Ski Bernalwood has partnered with several of the finest merchants in Bernal Heights to offer an our first-ever Ski Bernalwood Season Pass.

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For reals! This is an actual adhesive-backed lift ticket, sold with a complimentary metal wicket you can use to affix it to your favorite jacket or outerwear. Ski Bernalwood season passes are available for purchase starting today at any one of Ski Bernalwood’s Authorized Lift Ticket Vendors: Heartfelt on Cortland, Secession Art & Design on Mission, or the Precita Park Cafe in North Bernal.

Now, you might reasonably ask, Why should I buy a 2013 Ski Bernalwood Season Pass?

We’re glad you asked. Here’s why:

1) It’s a Superior Value
Have you purchased an all-day lift ticket in Lake Tahoe ski lately? Heavenly wants $102 for one. Squaw Valley gets $99 a day. Northstar is $105. But starting today, Ski Bernalwood is offering a full season pass for just $4.

That’s right! Four bucks buys a Ski Bernalwood Season Pass that gives you unlimited access to our trail and lift network for all of Winter 2013. Just show your pass to the lift attendants, and let our high-speed chairs whisk you up Bernal Hill to a world of gravity-fueled adventure.

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2) There’s So Much to Enjoy
All your favorite Ski Bernalwood terrain features are back for 2013. There’s lots of powder to discover in the steeps of the 14 Limited and Stoney Grotto runs. Huck the cornice at Cornelio’s Folly. Or drop in at the Haunted House Terrain Park, where our engineers have just completed construction of a massive new tabletop jump. We predict it will leave you spinning:

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Of course, you can’t go big on an empty stomach. That’s why we’ve put together a terrific lineup of tasty treats at the Sutrito Summit Lodge. Inside, you’ll find Off Piste, the innovative Swedish-style bistro that San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer says is “redefining what urban ski lodge cuisine can be.” To manage your thirst, don’t miss the two full bars serving artisanal cocktails and microbrews on tap. Outside, you can enjoy our Patio BBQ while taking in views of the city below.

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3) It’s Devastatingly Fashionable
Your 2013 Ski Bernalwood Season Pass opens the door to an entire winter of downhill fun, but it looks great on or off the slopes. No matter if you’re running errands on Cortland Avenue, or weekending in Chamonix, or rocking the red carpet at the Academy Awards — the Ski Bernalwood season pass attached to your jacket, hat, or shoulder bag represents Bernal Heights and tells the world that you demand superior downhill wintersports excitement.

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4) Think Globally, Ski Locally
Each 2013 Ski Bernalwood Season Pass is printed on rugged, self-adhesive vinyl, to handle any abuse you dish out on the slopes or around town. You’ll also be glad to know your pass was printed by your neighbors at Ellaprint on Precita Avenue, right at the base of Bernal Hill. So you won’t just look good you when wear your 2013 Ski Bernalwood Season Pass — you’ll feel good.

Remember, you can purchase your 2013 Ski Bernalwood Season Pass for just $4 from any of these Authorized Ticket Sales Vendors:

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Just stop by Heartfelt, Secession, or Precita Park Cafe during normal business hours, and ask at the counter for a 2013 Ski Bernalwood Season Pass. They’ll set you up.

We’ll see you on the slopes!

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Bernal Journalist Publishes New Story About Madman Who (Literally) Drove Around the World

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

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Here’s a locavore longread to carry you through the weekend.

Bernal Heights writer and anticool motorist James Nestor has just published a terrific new story over at the Atavist. It’s a true tale of adventure and obsession (though not necessarily in that order), and it’s called Half-Safe:

In 1948, a young Australian mining engineer named Ben Carlin set out to do the impossible: circumnavigate the globe, by land and sea, in a single vehicle. The vehicle in question was an amphibious jeep developed by the U.S. Army, which Carlin christened Half-Safe, after a deodorant slogan. It was a mechanical mongrel that was supposed to move with equal ease across land and water but in practice wasn’t much good for either one. Undaunted, Carlin and his wife Elinore set off across the Atlantic Ocean with dreams of fame and fortune, and of carving a small notch in history. What happened next is one of the most bizarre, remarkable, and forgotten adventure stories of the 20th century. In Half-Safe, author James Nestor endeavors to uncover Ben Carlin’s fate and finds a gripping story of love, danger, and extraordinary perseverance that spans three oceans and five continents. Half-Safe takes us from the eye of an Atlantic Ocean hurricane to the sweltering Sahara to the impenetrable jungles of Southeast Asia—and into the mind of a man who could overcome everything but his own demons.

Half-Safe costs as much as a cup of coffee, and you can download it for iPhone, iPad, Google Play, Nook, Kindle and probably any other e-readermadoodle you might favor — although be advised that it looks most sexy via the Atavist apps for iOS or Android.

Okay Ladies, Let’s Bernalcize!!!

/ Todd_Lappin / 6 Comments

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I found this photo on the Instagram yesterday, and it came with some handy workout advice:

Try this pilates mat flow this morning to build heat and strength in your center.

Top photo: – Begin in Upstretch treading through your feet. Inhale float the right leg to the sky, exhale reach out of the heal to place it back on the mat. Alternate sides. 6 lifts on each side. Finish by coming forward into plank to hold for 8 long smooth inhales and exhales. Don’t lock/hyperextend your elbows 🙂

Bottom photo: – Begin with legs in table top, pelvis in neutral, and start pumping your arms up and down vigorously “hundreds” style. Keep the pump of the arms and move legs from table top to a high diagonal. Slowly move the legs down to hover above the floor 2 inches. Hold the hover for 5 rounds of hundreds percussive breath. Remember to exhale all of your air in order to build lung capacity. The more you exhale stale air the more you can breathe in new life. You must make space for new air! Joseph Pilates always said…”treat your breath like an internal shower.” A moment by moment cleanse of tension and toxins. How does it feel?! Don’t lie to me 🙂 Try it out and then write a comment. Come on now…Rome was not built in a day. Consistency is vital! Practice everyday to transform your body and mind. Once it becomes habit you will wonder how you ever lived without it!

Remember: make it burn!

PHOTO: @Epicself

Bernal Cutlery Guru Reveals Cutting Board Wisdom

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

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The foodie blog One Fork, One Spoon recently paid a visit to Bernal Cutlery, our artisanal culinary knife shop in the tony 331 Cortland marketplace. Blades were sharpened, and along the way, wisdom was imparted about kitchen cutting board selection strategy:

Considering [Bernal Cutlery owner Josh Donald]  is a knife-obsessed dealer and sharpener, it should come as no surprise that his number one priority when considering a cutting board is protecting the knives that will cut on it. If you share that priority, then a wood cutting board is the way to go. While many government and food safety organizations require the use of plastic cutting boards in commercial kitchens, significant debate exists on the topic. Ultimately, the decision to go with plastic or wood is a matter of personal preference; if you won’t be able to sleep at night without putting your cutting board through the dishwasher, then you should probably get a plastic cutting board and plan on getting your knives sharpened a little more often. Most importantly, unless you have a serious crush on your local knife sharpener, do not use your knives on serving plates or cutting boards made out of glass, marble, super hard or super soft plastics.

If this appeals, there are also many more tips on wood cutting board selection and maintenance.

PHOTO: Bernal Cutlery, by Timmy Malloy

One Year Later, Stephen Stymiest’s Daughter Wonders About the Dad She Didn’t Know

/ Todd_Lappin / 6 Comments

It’s been almost a year since the death of Stephen Stymiest, the homeless man who was was a fixture and a friend to many neighbors around Precita Park.

Stephen is remembered warmly in Bernal Heights, but over the holiday break Bernalwood received an email from Stephen’s daughter, which sheds some light on the complexities of his biography.

This is what Kara Messinese is thinking about, one year after her father passed away:

Some of you may remember, some of you may not. Some may have known him, may have spoken to him. Others may think he was just a bum. It’s easier to think he didn’t have a history, but that is not the case.

A year ago, a man died. He lost a battle, a very long battle. He was a homeless man, an alcoholic, a disabled man. His days were spent in a park from what I can gather. He spoke to people, was friendly to kids and animals, and to some, made the park a safer place. To others, he was just another homeless guy sitting on a bench. To me, he was my father. His name was Stephen Stymiest.

Many days it crosses my mind, as it has for the past 15 years, wondering where he is, what he’s doing, and why he never came back for us, his children. And now for the past year, when I have those thoughts, it slowly dawns on me I know where he is. And I know that I will never have the answers to the questions I always wanted to ask.

Following his death, a reporter contacted my mom and informed her of his passing. Then there were posts on a blog with pictures of people holding a memorial in his honor. An artist had created artwork in his memory. We asked for stories people had of him and people responded. But, my brothers and I had questions. And no one was there with answers.

Did he ever think of us? Did he ever talk about us? Why did other people get to see him for the past 15 years and we were just left wondering? Is it wrong to be jealous of those people? Why, when everything was getting worse, did he not contact us? He knew our names, someone could have googled us. If the reporter found us pretty easily, I’m sure someone else could have.

I continued to hope that at some point I could reconnect with Stephen. I’m not sure what I wanted out of it. I wanted truth. I wanted the answer to the question ‘why’. I wanted an apology. I wanted him to care.

It’s not as if I’ve been without a dad for 15 years. My mom got remarried to a wonderful guy who raised my brothers and I as his own. He adopted us a couple years after Stephen left us and my brothers and I have all graduated from high school. I graduated from college, married, and have a wonderful family with a beautiful one year old daughter (she was born just a couple weeks before Stephen passed away). Brent and Jerad are both in college working on their degrees. We have grown up to be intelligent, independent adults. But, there will always be a part missing. Something that was part of us that is no longer around. Knowing we can never access it again. We only have the material items, things Stephen had with him, things my mother had that were his. We have divided these evenly so we all have a little bit of him.

Someday I hope to make it to San Francisco, to Precita Park. I want to see what Stephen saw everyday. While I will never see it the way he saw it, I can still see it and maybe meet some of these people who cared about him.

From the daughter who did not get to know him as well as one should, who saw the bad sides of him, and was old enough to be hurt by his abandonment, but from someone who knew he was capable of so much more. I thank those of you who talked to him, who sat with him, listened to what he had to say. No matter how many nights I was upset or cried over his disappearance I hope that he got some enjoyment out of talking to people and meeting people in the park. I hope he was able to get some peace in the end. I’m still working on finding that peace.

PHOTO: Steven Stymiest memorial service in Precita Park, January 2012. By Telstar Logistics

Ichi Sushi Makes EaterSF’s “38 Essential SF Restaurants List”

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

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I’ve long been a fan of EaterSF’s “38 Essential San Francisco Restaurants List,” because it’s updated regularly, it’s well chosen, and it’s pleasantly free of pretension or fuss.

The latest installment of the Eater 38, published just yesterday, contained a special surprise: Bernal’s own Ichi Sushi was just added to the list “for serving some of the best sushi in town, in a very uniquely San Francisco way.”

Here’s the blurbage:

ICHI SUSHI Although San Francisco isn’t a sushi town, per se, even the snobbiest raw fish fans adore Ichi, serving inventive, pristine sashimi, specialty rolls and more—all of it made with a very San Francisco, sustainable, seasonal focus.

As you may recall, Ichi also scored some mad props from Zagat recently, so this is just another feather to add to their samurai helmets.  Also, it seems that Ichi’s glamorous expansion plan can’t happen a moment too soon.  Big congrats to Chef Tim and Erin Archuleta, and everyone on Team Ichi. We knew you when…

IMAGES: Map, EaterSF. Photo, Tim Archuleta, by John Storey via SFGate

Did You Lose These Keys on Wool Street?

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

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Neighbor Tara found a feral set of keys on Wool Street:

My partner and I found some keys outside of our place on Wool St. Obviously, it’s kind of a delicate thing handing over keys to people, but I thought maybe you can post about them if appropriate? They have two letters (initials?) on the tag of the keys, and several keys on the keychain. Maybe if people can tell me what letters on on the tag, I can give them to them.

If these are your keys, and you know the mystery letters, contact the Bernalwood Key Recovery Hotline at bernalwood at gmail dot com.

Your 2012 Bernal Heights Real Estate Year-In-Review

/ Todd_Lappin / 7 Comments

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Yesterday, our Interweb neighbors at CurbedSF told us about a 1 bath, 640 square-foot fixer-upper on Manchester Street in Bernal Heights that was listed recently for $399,000. It ultimately sold for $685,000 — a mind-boggling $286K over the asking price. What to make of this?

Viewed in isolation, stories like that can make you dizzy. (In a good way… or, maybe not.) Don’t dwell on it. The trend that matters most is what happens to the overall Bernal Heights marketplace over a longer period of time. So for that, I asked our friends at Downing & Company to pull together a year-end summary of the Bernal Heights real estate market in 2012.

The data in 2012 looked pretty good for existing homeowners in our geographically sexy stretch of San Francisco:

For the most part, the theme of the year was reduced inventory levels and cheap debt. With these factors, home prices in San Francisco rapidly appreciated. This was even more pronounced in the popular central neighborhoods of the Mission District, Noe Valley, and Bernal Heights – the preferred ‘hoods of many tech employees. With the Facebook IPO and new hirings this year in the City from Twitter, Zynga, Yelp and other social network companies the competition for homes heated up. In Noe Valley and the Mission District neighborhoods things quickly got out of hand with multiple offers and bidding wars producing a spill over effect into Bernal Heights. While price increases were not as dramatic in Bernal Heights, the charts below reveals some decent lift.

Here’s how that dynamic played out on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis for single-family homes:

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Executive Summary: Noe was insanely ridiculously crazyhot, the Mission social-climbed upscale, and Bernal turned in some rather impressive results.

The story gets even clearer when you look at the sales picture for Bernal single-family homes in isolation:

Bernal-Heights-SFR-Home-Prices-2012-1024x615The bottom line? For single-family homes in Bernal Heights, prices increased by 17.9% in 2012. The story was similar for condos, with Bernal condo prices increasing by 13.5%.

Again, this may be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on which side of the homeowner fence you sit on. We understand. Yet those are the facts (and just the facts) told to us by the aggregate home sales data for 2012.

For more detail, check Downing & Company’s full 2012 Bernal Heights year-end market report.

PHOTO: South Bernal homes, as seen from Bernal Hill, by Patrick Boury. Graphs courtesy of Downing & Company

Bernal Hill Players Seek Clarinetist to Make Beautiful Music

/ Todd_Lappin

BernalPlayers.WantedNeighbor Jennifer Peringer is the pianist with the Bernal Hill Players, a tastefully badass chamber music ensemble based in The Dominion of Bernalwood. (Listen up, here.) Neighbor Jennifer writes to say that the Players are looking for a new member to join the group:

The Bernal Hill Players are looking for a new clarinet player and I thought it would be great (considering our name, and the fact that weekly rehearsals are held in our Bernal home) if we could get someone from the neighborhood.

Yes! Quite logical. Indeed.

Interested? Send the Bernal Hill Players an electronic communication.

PHOTO: The Bernal Hill Players on Bernal Hill, by Anna Kuperberg

Bernal Neighbor Seeks Assistance to Pay for Cancer Treatment

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

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Neighbor Micky writes with some difficult news about a crowdsourced effort to help Neighbor Mary Isham pay for her cancer treatment:

A few weeks before her 50th birthday, Mary Isham, a 35 year resident of Andover Street in Bernal Heights, was shocked to be diagnosed with a rare pancreatic tumor. Her doctor told her to get her affairs in order. That was over 13 years ago! When doctors see her now, they are the ones that are shocked to see that she is still alive and thriving despite 13 grueling years after a ten hour surgery that removed her pancreas, her spleen, her gall bladder, part of her stomach and small intestine.

But now, Mary faces metastases of the cancer in her liver. She has located a promising cutting-edge radiation treatment only offered in Europe. She has made one trip and needs to return three more times at a cost of $20,000. per trip. Given the exorbitant cost of the travel and treatment, she turned to Give Forward – an innovative crowdsourcing website designed to help people raise money for much-needed medical expenses.

Mary is well known in the progressive community, as she has been active in one cause after another for the last 40 years. She moved to the city in the early 70’s at the height of the anti-Viet Nam War movement and was influenced by that turbulent and exciting time. She began her nursing career in the city at Huckleberry House in the Tenderloin and went on to work as a nurse in the SF City and county jails and juvenile hall. She continued her commitment to health education at San Francisco General Hospital’s Patient Education Resource Center and then went on to serve as the director of the Health Center at Mission High School, where she became well known for her expertise in adolescent health care.

There’s more information about the campaign to help Neighbor Mary at her page on Give Forward. She’s currently raised almost $25,000 toward her goal of $60,000.

PHOTOS: via Give Forward