Blogger Eleven Twenty-Nine lives on the west side of Bernal Heights, and she recently experienced one of those flushes of Bernal-love that transcends the physical charm of our village on a hill — because it’s rooted in a deep appreciation for the people who make the neighborhood feel so much like home. She writes:

Besides the obvious beauty of our neighborhood — we are lucky to overlook the whole city from the top of the hill — we are so lucky to have a great community. Whether it’s right next door or half a mile away, there are people we trust, who care about us and our home, and who we’ll go out of our way for when they need it.

We’ve often thought about how much we value this aspect of our neighborhood and whether, if we’d known about it, we would have paid a premium to live here. When looking for a new place to live there are so many things to factor in: walk scores, school zones, proximity to shops and restaurants, parks, etc. But what about having friendly neighbors and a sense of belonging and safety?

In a city like San Francisco, where everyone seems to be too busy to really connect with other people, the surprise of building a community with our neighbors has been invaluable.

PHOTO: Benadamx

Here is one of the fringe benefits of living in Bernal Heights: Because our glamorous ‘hood is kind of gorgeous and kind of a secret, outsiders often experience a sense of heightened awareness when they discover Bernal and all its myriad charms. And because everyone these days is wired up like a mobile multimedia production studio, we regularly get to see Bernal Heights through the eyes of those who are seeing it for the first time.

Leah Giberson showed us one such perspective earlier in the week, and now comes this amazing photo submitted via the Bernalwood Flickr group by giggie larue. In her caption to this photo, giggie writes:

My ex now lives in a part of sf called bernal heights. less than a mile from where we lived together. for some reason we had never happened upon this neighborhood before.

visiting him these past weeks, i’ve discovered one of the most amazing hidden jewels in this gem of a city. narrow streets that curve up and down and round and round, often interrupted by stairways where the road can’t follow through without razing a hillside, even the thought of which mortifies.

the houses range from tiny, quaint, gorgeous late 1800’s to crazy tacky 50’s kitsch, 60’s mod, 80’s spaceage, and contemporary japanese-inspired; mostly compact abodes, with various styles of fencing and courtyards, and masses of foliage and flowers, including in community gardens. everyone has dogs, and there are tiny little dog parks tucked in the most surprising of places. the views are stunning, more than 180 degree points of view. tres old-world euro village.

as is my wont, i’ve been wandering to see what i can see. turned one corner and up this increasingly steep hill were these 2 people. having nothing to do with one another, but sitting and reading the same. no, no bus stops here. just what people do in san francisco, without feeling conspicuous, or “weird” as a pittsburgh friend once told me i looked while doing yoga stretches outside, at his mailbox as we talked.

Wish i would’ve known of this neighborhood long ago.

Funny thing is, a lot people who now live in Bernalwood would probably say the exact same thing.

PHOTO: giggie larue

Let’s review some things that have been happening elsewhere in San Francisco (while we weren’t really paying attention):

City Faces $380 Million Budget Deficit, Considers Layoffs for City Workers (SF Chronicle)

PETA Proposes Silly Meatless Name Change for the Tenderloin District (SFist)

A Graphic History of Paper MUNI Fast Passes (Muni Diaries)

Michael Bauer Adds 26 New Restaurants to the Bay Area Top 100 (InsideScoop)

Fun-Hating NIMBY Temporarily Shuts Down Slim’s in SOMA (Uptown Almanac)

Mysterious Cosmonauts Sighted in Lower Haight, Then Vanish (Haighteration)

IMAGE: Muni Diaries

Ah, to be young and single and living in Bernal Heights. Sure, there are challenges — OMG! So many baby strollers! So many restaurants with abstract names! — but overall it’s pretty chill. Or so says Zane Michael on Nabewise, a website that aspires to be the Yelp of urban geography. Mr. Michael — an aspiring literatus, it seems — wrote a description of life in Bernal Heights that provides an illuminating inter-generational perspective on this place we all happen to call home. His commentary is reprinted here in its entirety, because, really, I couldn’t bring myself to cut a single word.

If You’re in Your Twenties

I don’t do Yoga. I don’t have my own edible backyard garden. I don’t have 2.5 kids. I don’t eat at Restaurants with single word descriptors. I don’t really fit in with the Bernal Height locals, who some might facetiously insinuate are the personification of well-known San Francisco stereotypes. But I still feel amazingly comfortable living in Bernal even if the neighborhood sometimes elicits in me a sense of terror stemming from portentous visions of my amortizing, fettered, future.

Incontrovertibly, the biggest draw of this neighborhood is the location. Its location makes it the perfect fit for the East Bay or South Bay commuter; the 101 and 280 are both relatively close and accessible. If you depart in the morning prior to 7 A.M., you will generally be unlikely to encounter heavy traffic driving southward. And if you are coming north by auto in the evening, you egress prior to the real heavy freeway traffic that normally begins immediately after the Cesar Chavez exit. At the 22nd St. Station in the nearby Potrero Hill neighborhood you can catch the natty Caltrain south and travel as far as San Jose.

For the person that works in downtown SF, the North Bay, or East Bay, the 24th St. Mission BART Station lies less than a mile away and you can easily get anywhere in the entire city relatively quickly by bike or bus. Another attractive feature is the abundance of free parking especially in comparison with other SF neighborhoods where a parking space may cost two hundred dollars a month or more. In the picturesque area surrounding Precita Park where I reside on the North side of Bernal Heights Hill parking can be obtained almost any time excluding Sunday evening. I have not frequently ventured over to the quaint Cortland Avenue mini-village area and hence cannot comfortably impart any information pertaining to parking or dining in that sub-locale.

Verdant and halcyon, Precita Park itself is a lovely urban reprieve and usually brimming with canines of all shapes and sizes expending their pent up energy. On summer days, locals gather to blithely doze in the sunshine and consume organic picnic feasts gathered from nearby Cancilla Market. A short vertical hike up Folsom St. will take you to the top of Bernal Heights Hill, home to one of the largest off leash dog parks in the city and boasting a terrific panoramic view that would make any snapshot obsessed tourist jump for joy. Weather-wise, the neighborhood experiences slightly warmer temperatures being located in one of the several hot spots scattered throughout the city.

Being adjacent to the callow and infamous Mission district, where even the weather is hip, makes for a bevy of nightlife options for both young and old living in Bernal Heights. For the penurious late-night diner, there exists a plethora of relatively inexpensive ethnic restaurant options in the Mission district. It’s easy to mosey over to an exciting attraction on Mission St. or Valencia St. and return home to repose in lenitive tranquility: giving you the best of both worlds. This also works out well when my Mom comes to visit and lauds me for living in such a “cute” area with charming Victorian homes. I reward her by telling her inquiring suburban housewife friends that I live off of Cesar Chavez St. in SF—eliciting a look of fear in response. All jokes aside, I have never felt unsafe in Bernal Heights even when walking or jogging solo late at night. The only time I have felt genuine fear was when I accidently threw away a pizza box in a peevish ponytailed neighbor’s recycle bin. That’s not recyclable dude!

Of course slightly cheaper rent or home prices can be found elsewhere in SF. Few other SF nabes though can brag about having a little something for everyone: commuter, outdoor enthusiast, or dog lover. Nor can anyone deny the pleasure of having an idyllic small-town experience in a big city.

If visiting, be sure to check out Mitchell’s ice cream for tropical flavors like coconut or purple yam; the treasure trove of LPs at dilapidated Thrillhouse Records; Alemany’s Farmers Market for fresh produce; pupusas and futbol at Balompie Café 3; The Knockout for sweet tunes and cheap booze; and the adorable Bike Basket Pies.

Photo by Thomas Hawk