Here’s a fun one-two punch from the Bernalwood Time Machine. The photo above shows the corner of Precita and Alabama, at the eastern end of Precita Park, as it looked in 1928.
Here’s how it looks now:
Comparing the images, two main thoughts come to mind: First, it’s nifty that the storefront on the right was a corner store, even then. (The space is currently for rent.) And second, OH MY GOD SO MUCH PARKING!
Oh my. This is the spectacle that greeted me when I walked into Avedano’s last weekend.
They don’t mess around in that place.
Photo: Telstar Logistics
Yeah yeah, so it’s a Firebird instead of a proper Trans-Am. But still… with that gloss black paint reflecting Bernal Hill so perfectly on the rear quarter panel, this CB-era Pontiac would accessorize rather nicely with your Burt Reynolds costume, don’t you think?
Photo: Telstar Logistics
After almost a week of cold, driving rain, it felt so fantastic to feel of the warm sun on my face yesterday while soaking up the verdant energy of Bernal Hill in full bloom.
Photos: Telstar Logistics
Let’s explore the world beyond Bernal Heights, shall we?
Superb Historic Photos of Snowstorms in San Francisco (SFGate)
Tom Ammiano Wants to Make It Profitable to Sell Pot (The Snitch)
Vigilante Cyclists Identify and Photograph Mission Bicycle Thief (Uptown Almanac)
Waterfront Development Plans for the America’s Cup Race (CurbedSF)
Prices Fall for Those New Townhouses on Harrison near Precita (SocketSite)
Colorful MUNI Fast Passes of Yesteryear (Muni Diaries)
Help Restore a 200 Year Old Mural at Mission Dolores (Curbed SF)
Four Seasons in One Day at Ocean Beach (The Richmond Blog)
“Town Square” Parklet Proposed for 24th Street in Noe Valley (Noe Valley SF)
Fifth Floor’s David Bazirgan Crowned “Hottest Chef in the Bay” (Eater SF)
Photo: Shotwell Street between 22nd and 24th, Feb. 5, 1887, via SFGate
Interesting things are happening in the comments to Bernalwood’s post about the NIMBY who prompted the City to declare a vintage Coca-Cola billboard illegal. Apart from some enlightened thinking about where personal neurosis should end and personal responsibility begin, our armchair historians are working to verify the provenance of the sign to demonstrate to the City that it pre-dates our current sign zoning laws.
It was only a matter of time until the incomparable Burrito Justice –the vassal blogger from nearby La Lengua — busted out some of his history kung-fu. His sleuthery is typically impressive: Mr. Burrito has confirmed that the private home upon which the classic Coca-Cola sign now appears was the location of Tipton’s Grocery Store until the late 1960s. We now also know that Mr Tipton was a painter, so he may have even painted the original Coca-Cola sign himself. BOOYA!
Even better, Bernalwood reader Frank P. submitted a first-person recollection of the store this morning that provides a vivid description of what it was really like:
I grew up in that neighborhood and went to school at Paul Revere in the late 60’s-early 70’s. The building used to be a corner grocer, one that would be swamped with kids buying bubblegum, trading cards, and penny candy as soon as school let out. It was shoulder to shoulder kids in that little store, the stressed out owner running the register while at the same time trying to keep an eye on all of us. I think the store was Tipton’s as the owner was refereed to as “Mrs. Tips” by all of us.
Could well have been an advertisement for Coca Cola back then, don’t remember it though.
Our search for clues continues…
UPDATE 23 February, 2011: Bernalwood has obtained airtight historical evidence that the Coke mural was likely created during the 1940s — well before the City’s 1965 ordinances went into effect. Read all about it.
Image: 1950 Sanborn map overlay on current Google Map, by Burrito Justice
When you look downtown from atop Bernal Hill, one of the most prominent landmarks you notice is One Ricon Tower, the big skyscraper near the Bay Bridge that looks like a gigantic Ionic Breeze air purifier.
But what does the view look like from the opposite vantage point? With your feet planted firmly on Bernal’s ancient soil chert, have you ever wondered what the swells in One Rincon see when they look back at us from the safety and comfort of their posh living rooms? The above show a view of Bernal, taken from One Rincon
Let’s zoom in for a closeup:
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
Reader Molli Amara submitted some news via the Bernalwood hotline about a camera crew from the Style Network that’s shooting an episode of a TV show in our stylish neighborhood. (Luckily, no one told them about our unstylish dirt-fountain. Shhhhh!) For style-mavens, Molli also brings news of a yard sale that will take place at the same location this weekend. Read her full report for details…
As a rather new mom on leave of absence from work for a few months, I’ve had the opportunity to re-engage with our little village of Bernalwood in a more meaningful way — i.e. I get to be a weekday inhabitant of the neighborhood.
No longer waving goodbye early in the morning and returning at night — perhaps slipping in a quick end-of-the-day sunset walk to the top of Bernal Hill. As I try to escape my house at least once a day by traversing my least hilly route over to Cortland Ave., I have been getting to know the minutiae — where to avoid the most uneven pavement when I’m out with the stroller, which blocks have the new bright yellow lego-like corner ramps (what is up with the bizarre design of the one on the NE corner of Cortland and Anderson!?), waving at the old guys who hang out in their windows or garage doorways, and even recognizing some of the same dog people I see out around the same times. It’s a good day when I’ve at least made it out to The Good Life and maybe peeked in at the fun and lovely things over at Heartfelt.
Our little corner of Bernal is pretty quiet, immortalized this past December for its after dark loveliness. So there was a bit of excitement when we SouthEast slopers received a notice that the Style Network was taking over a bunch of our parking spaces to shoot a segment on my neighbor Deanne’s house.
She has a lot of cool stuff — she’s been doing live sound for shows from the Fillmore and seeing the world on tour, and she has the record collection to prove it. But as part of the show, they are going to make her get rid of a lot of it by having a big ol’ yard sale this weekend.
I don’t have a TV, but Deanne gave me a tour of her house this past Sunday, so I am curious, as a pack rat of sorts myself, to see what they will do to her house. Now my usually quiet walk up my steep hill is punctuated by the sound of generators and the sight of directors chairs and coolers on the corner that is now the craft service area.
Bernal may not have been given love by Soderbergh while he was in town the past few weeks, but at least we will be immortalized for our eclectic style.
UPDATE: I picked up a flier I picked up from some nice production people. Here are the details on the yard sale:
Clean House is hosting a huge yard sale!
When: Saturday, February 19th, 9am-1pm
Where: The Slovenian Hall 2101 Mariposa Street in beautiful San Francisco
Come and get GREAT DEALS on…
Classic Punk Rock albums
Collectible concert posters
Vintage clothing and accessoriesAnd so much more!
Come and meet the cast!
You may even find yourself on TV!
Cash only — no early birds, please
Style Network
Photos: Molli Amara
Danielle Lazier is a realtor with Zephyr Real Estate, and the author of SFHotlist. She offered to send along an update on residential sales trends in our sexy and glamorous neighborhood, so I took her up on the offer. Here’s what Danielle said:
Let’s start with the stats from last month:
Number of active listings: 41 Average list price: $728,573 Average days on market: 63 Number of sold: 66 Average sold price: $753,323 What’s the story behind the numbers? The Bernal Heights real estate market is blowing up. If a property is cute and priced right, it’s flying off the shelf.
In our little hamlet, we have very little “good” inventory right now. “Good” inventory is a listing that is priced realistically for today’s market. In other words, it’s either a “fixer” that’s an exceptional deal, or a nice place in a nice location that is priced fairly
A few recent examples that caught my attention :
301 Montcalm, asking $695,000, received 17 (!) offers and is in contract for a lot more money than the asking price. This 2-bedroom house is on the north slope with killer views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Twin Peaks, and Downtown. A nice single family home with views asking $695,000 was bound to get attention because that’s a killer deal in this market. It’s also a smart strategy for the seller as it created a bidding war.
3764 Folsom St sold for $1,150,000 over the holidays without even hitting the MLS or public market. I found this kind of amazing because Folsom Street off Cortland doesn’t usually elicit this high of a price. IMO, this just shows how the gentrification of Cortland is bleeding further down towards Bayshore. Must be the Lowe’s! 😉
The Bernal Heights market is doing well and recovering nicely from the downturn. I know, I know, as a Realtor you expect me to be a perky cheerleader always saying “the market’s great!”. Believe me when I say that I am not and never have been a cheerleader… I’m a bit more indie than that, thank you.
The news may be reporting prices down and foreclosures up in the Bay Area but the truth is that real estate is super local. What’s important to value is your local, micro-market. Just like SF has micro-climates, so do we have micro-markets. That’s even true in Bernal Heights, where there are about 3-4 micro-markets (north-slope, Cortland, south-east…). So while the nation is still in quite a mess, it’s not nearly as bad here in SF as most other areas and Bernal Heights is off to a good start in 2011.
More fun facts:
- The most expensive home sold in Bernal Heights since November 2010 was 1755 Alabama, a 3 bedroom single family with over 2000 square feet for $1,375,000.
- The least expensive sale was 24 Bosworth, a 4-room, bank-owned REO house for $305,000. A REO is a house that’s already gone through foreclosure and is now owned by the bank who took the house back from the seller.
TTYL.
Photo by Bernalwood’s Troy Holden
Is someone filming a “Lassie” remake on Bernal Hill? And if not, someone should. Mvagustaago shared this photo with Bernalwood, and it instantly reminded us of this:
I mean, the script practically writes itself…
LASSIE: Woof! Woof! Woof!
CONCERNED NEIGHBOR: Hi Lassie!
LASSIE: Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!
CONCERNED NEIGHBOR: What is it Lassie? Timmy’s in trouble!? He locked himself in the potty at Liberty Cafe!? Let’s go, Boy!”
Photos: by mvagustaago
This is an unfortunate story about a neighborhood landmark, the NIMBY menace, City bureaucracy, and a call to action for Bernal Heights history geeks. More or less in that order. Follow along…
Decades ago, the building at 601 Tompkins Avenue, at the corner of Banks in Bernal Heights, may have once been a corner store. It’s now a private home, but a vintage Coca-Cola advertising sign from the earlier days has remained on the building regardless. Bernalwood’s irate tipster explains the situation:
Is this perhaps a little bureaucracy run amok in Bernal; the inevitable fallout from our Supervisors trying to outlaw sugary drinks?
The antique Coca-Cola ad has been part of the corner of Banks and Tomkins probably since the 1940’s at least. In my 30 years in Bernal, the homeowners have lovingly preserved this little bit of old Bernal—probably the last remnant of a grocery on that corner.
Now the City is apparently citing them for an unauthorized billboard. Note that the Planning Department documents say the homeowners must pay $3400 just to appeal the decision.
This is madness. A way-cool vintage Coke sign, preserved by neighborhood old-timers, is targeted for citation and removal by clueless City sign inspectors? Really? Why? And why does the San Francisco Planning Department hate America so much?
Bernalwood attempted to contact the property owner, but so far our efforts have been unsuccessful. We also called the City Planning Department, to ask WTF. This proved fruitful.
The City action against the vintage Coke sign came as the result of a complaint about the sign that was submitted by a nameless NIMBY whiner on January 14, 2011. With impressive alacrity, the Planning Department investigated the matter, and on January 25, 2011 a City notice was posted to indicate that the old sign must be either permitted or removed.
Bernalwood spoke to Mr. Dan Sider from the Planning Department’s General Advertising Sign Program . Mr. Sider had photos of the sign at 601 Tompkins at his disposal during our talk, and he was quite friendly. Yet when told that the Coke sign has been there since the 1940s, he seemed skeptical. It looks new, he said, and in fairness, he’s right — it does look new. “That’s because it’s been lovingly repainted and maintained by the neighbors,” Bernalwood explained sweetly.
Mr. Sider seemed surprised. “As a San Franciscan, I think that’s very neat,” he said. “But it is very clearly an illegal sign, and we don’t have much discretion.”
“But… but… surely there must be some way to save this historic piece of commercial art!” Bernalwood pleaded.
Indeed, Mr. Sider explained, there is. If some evidence can be produced that the sign was in place prior to 1965 (when the City’s operative sign ordinances went into effect), the matter may be resolved pleasantly. “But the clock is ticking,” he said. Said evidence must be received by February 24, 2011 — within 30 days of the issuance of the initial citation — or else fines may begin to kick in.
UPDATE 23 February, 2011: Evidence of the vintage mural’s provenance has now been obtained, confirming that it is genuinely way old — probably a relic from the 1940s. But the struggle with the San Francisco Planning Department continues. Read all about it.
So, concerned Bernalwood citizen, there are two things you can now do:
2) Help track down evidence — preferably a photograph or other document — that demonstrates the old Coke sign on the side of 601 Tompkins has indeed been there since the Kennedy Administration, if not before. Activate your geektastic history researcher kung-fu powers, and keep your fingers crossed. If you find anything, Bernalwood will gladly pass it along to our friends at the Planning Department. But remember, the DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 24.
2) Call our Supervisor, Mr. David Campos to advise him of your interest in this matter. Admittedly, the preservation of vintage commercial art is hardly a core plank in his Progressive agenda. Yet this is also the kind of stuff that gives a neighborhood a tangible connection to its own history — and that matters a lot. Besides, if they do nothing else, our Supervisors exist precisely to represent us when dealing with City Hall silliness. Perhaps Supervisor Campos could put in a call to Mr. Sider? Perhaps you’d like to call Supervisor Campos to suggest that idea? Supervisor Campos can be reached at (415) 554-5144.
Photos: Anonymous Tipster
Patrick Boury took this stellar photo from atop Bernal Hill just a little more than a year ago. It still looks fresh today.
While rebuilding the new sewer line on Bocana today, our friends at the City Department of Public Works unleashed a spurting dirt-fountain on the neighborhood. At least, we sure hope it’s dirt…
Even better, the effluent from said dirt-fountain flowed down to Eugenia and Cortland, creating pools of muddy water that made Bernalwood look like a bayou. Good times!
Thanks to Arno for the photos and the tip!
