Did you lose a raspberry beret? If so, Prince found it somewhere in Bernal Heights. It’s his beret now.
Spotted by lavidalibre.
Author: Todd_Lappin
Help Wanted: Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center Needs a New Executive Director
They’re on the hunt to find a new ED at BHNC.
Even if you don’t plan to apply, the job description provides an interesting peek inside the organization:
Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center (“BHNC”) is a membership-based nonprofit organization founded in 1978. BHNC works to preserve and enhance the ethnic, cultural, and economic diversity of Bernal Heights and surrounding neighborhoods. It promotes community action to build a just and equitable community for all. BHNC focuses on the needs of people with low and moderate incomes. The organization works to accomplish its mission by developing affordable housing throughout San Francisco; providing linguistically and culturally responsive services to the community’s most vulnerable adults, seniors, youth, and their families, and developing leaders; organizing and empowering our tenants, clients, members, and allies to advocate for their needs and for the needs of the community.
BNHC’s annual operating budget is approximately $2.5 million, and its affiliated housing corporations have an aggregate operating budget of $5 million, in addition to the BHNC operating budget. The organizations have combined assets of approximately $48 million, and operating reserves of approximately $460,000. Funding for BHNC comes from a variety of sources including approximately:
- 35% from government sources;
- 30% from foundations and corporations;
- 4% from membership and individuals;
- 4% from special events; and
- 27% from earned income and other sources, including a significant amount of in-kind contributions, primarily from volunteer hours.
Photo: Dennis Yang
Then and Now: The Subtle-Yet-Significant Evolution of Peralta at Rutledge, 1982 vs. 2010
Dave Glass (aka Dizzy Atmosphere on Flickr) is a San Francisco photographer who has been at the game since the 1960s. His work is excellent, and he probably has more great photos tucked away in his film archives than many of us will ever amass on our hard drives.
Dave spent some time wandering around Bernal Heights over the years, and he recently contributed a few of his older photos to our Flickr Bernalwood group. (HINT! HINT!)
The image above was taken in 1982, and it shows the intersection of Peralta and Rutledge on Bernal’s east slope. It says a lot about how Bernal has evolved over the years from a rougher-at-the-edges working class neighborhood to the quirky-at-the-edges middle class ‘hood we know today.
There’s no better way to demonstrate this than to revisit the scene of Dave’s 1982 photo, to show how it looks today. So allow me to present the corner of Peralta at Rutledge, as it looked on the afternoon of December 24, 2010.
What a difference one Honda can make.
Photos: 1982, Dave Glass. 2010, Telstar Logistics
Parking Stress Triggers Culture War on Moultrie
The photo above was contributed by an anonymous Bernalwood resident on Moultrie Street, who explains:
Our nutty neighbor puts this stuff on our cars because we are exerters of our parking rights. Some other neighbors on the block receive the card because they are “SINNERS.” This particular card was put on and taken off my car several times.
Ask Not What Bernal Hill Can Do For You, But What You Can Do For Bernal Hill
Let us pause for a moment to remember those famous words John F. Kennedy uttered almost exactly 50 years ago, on January 20, 1961, during his Inaugural address. JFK said, “My fellow Bernalians: ask not what Bernal Hill can do for you — ask what you can do for Bernal Hill.”
Okay, so he didn’t quite put it that way. Nevertheless, in that spirit, let us instead recall the words Gabriella West shared yesterday on the Examiner’s community website, bringing news of a volunteer work day on January 16 to do some cleanup and native plant restoration on Bernal Hill:
For years, flyers were posted on the bulletin boards at Bernal Heights Park with a list of work dates for native plant restoration. Now, I’m happy to report that these work dates are continuing, despite the deaths of the couple who organized them for many years. Roland Pitschel, who died in August of 2009 and his wife Barbara, who worked at Strybing Arboretum and who passed away last year, were longtime Bernal Heights residents who were among a group of people involved in the preservation of the park as a natural area in the early 1970s. Their efforts over the years went into removing nonnative species such as fennel, wild radish and other weeds so that the hill could remain in its natural grassland habitat.
For anyone interested in doing some gardening on Bernal Hill in the brisk January weather, the next workday is Sunday, Jan. 16 from 11am-2pm. The traditional meeting place is at the bottom of the road that goes up the hill to the radio tower.
If you can’t make it this month, there’s information on additional volunteer opportunities, here.
Photo: Chris Brennan
A Missed Connection Outside Wild Side West
Will the “dashing architect” who had a conversation outside Wild Side West last week please pick up the white courtesy phone?
Hi, I met you outside of Wildside West on the night before New Years Eve. We discussed raw denim, architecture firms, etc. I felt like we had a connection, but I stupidly forgot to get your number. I would love to reconnect and go out some time. This is my first foray into Craigslist “missed connections,” but I am putting my faith into modern social networking. Here goes nothing!
Photo: Lindsay & Ashleigh
Yahoo Says: “If You Are Older, Like to Party, But Prefer a Classy Environment, Cortland Ave Is Right for You”
Our friends at Yahoo recently unveiled a new “Local” news page for Bernal Heights. It contains content from a variety of questionable sources that range from the merely dubious (such as Bernalwood) to the inadvertently hilarious.
The latter category includes a recent piece by Maryam Louise, in which Maryam evaluates the bar scene on Cortland Street from the perspective of someone who would probably rather be in South Beach, Miami. The result is an article that reads as if it could have been written by Lindsay Lohan during one of her drinky relapses:
To summarize the bars in Bernal Heights on Cortland Ave in a nutshell, they are geared toward people over the age of 25 that love budget happy hour specials. In addition, these bars close at 2 AM and offer a party animal spirit without the wild bar fights of the Mission District. If you are older, like to party, but prefer a classy environment, Cortland Ave is right for you.
In some neighborhoods, nightlife is hard to find. Bars are scattered throughout the community and make it difficult to browse. Typically, most alcohol drinkers love to move from one bar to the other within walking distance. It is always nice to start at one place that is quieter and then move on to food or dancing.
On Cortland Avenue in Bernal Heights, bar hopping is an easy task to accomplish. Within 2 blocks, there are over 4 different bars to choose from. Sadly, there is not a bar that specifically focuses on being a nightclub seven days a week, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t dancing and dance music playing.
It’s now only a matter of time until Cortland is overrun with Hummer limousines and underage kids waiting in line behind velvet ropes to enter the Stray Bar. But in the meantime, if you see a slightly tipsy young woman in a cocktail dress wandering Cortland in search of a techno beat, approach her gently and ask if her name is Maryam. If she says yes, urge her to call her mom to come pick her up.
Space-Time Rupture Reveals San Jose Boulevard In 1929
Through the miracle of Photoshop, Bernal resident Craig Butz has created a series of images that superimpose historic photographs over contemporary shots.
These depict the Bernal Cut — a major infrastructure project completed back in the days when we still attempted major infrastructure projects. The Bernal Cut lowered the grade of the southwest corner of Bernal Hill to make way for the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad — effectively opening up the Peninsula to routine transit. The cut was first carved out in the 1860s, but in 1929 it was widened to make room for an automotive roadbed — and today’s San Jose Speedway Boulevard.
The 1929 project is what Craig shows us here, via his spooky time portal that combines then-and-now photos in a single view. In an email to me, Craig explained how he does it:
Creating the montages requires finding the exact spot the original photo was taken, observing how tiny details line up in the scene, and ideally getting the camera within a few feet of where the old camera was situated. Then it’s photoshop layers and masking. The biggest thing I’ve noticed in taking these shots is how many more trees there are today. Several photos I wanted to recreate were impossible because the current view is just a lot of branches and leaves.
Images: Craigiest
Bernal Heights Is For Lovers
A lovely photo by Dyche, taken just a few days ago. With the entire city watching, these two need to get a room!
Or not.
UPDATE 1/2/11
Reader Erin Veneziano was moved to create a remix of the photo shown above, transforming it into a groovy 1978-style graphic that would look right at home on a vintage t-shirt or mounted alongside that Farrah Fawcett poster you may still have somewhere in the garage:
Parking Problem on Prospect Prompts Poignant Post About Proper Notification Procedure (and a Not-Nice Neighbor)
There’s been a parking problem on Prospect Street this week which highlights a few of the themes we’ve touched on recently here at Bernalwood; namely, The Essence of Neighborliness, and the Fine Line Between Engaged Activism and NIMBY Narcissism.
This note was posted yesterday on the Bernalheights mailing list, and is reprinted in its entirety here by permission:
Subject: I’m pretty bummed at some Bernal “Neighbours” this Holiday
Date: December 27, 2010 1:02:54 PM PSTI just placed my third phone call to yet another very grateful neighbour whose car has been tagged on the 100 Block of Prospect for towing, despite a note that they were happy to have someone move the car while they were visiting relatives for the holidays. In each case, the cars have been moved within hours.
My understanding is that all taggings are the result of a neighbour specifically calling the license plate number into DPT.
Really, neighbour, is it easier to deal with 311 and smack a fellow resident with a 90-dollar fine than it is to place a simple phonecall to a human being and say, “Yes, I need you to move your car, please?” (Though I would love to hear your reason for needing these cars moved so desperately, as they aren’t even on the side of the street that’s got homes on it, so it’s not like they are blocking your driveway.)
It would seem we’ve got a neighbour who has added “checking cars for movement like a hawk” to their Holiday to-do list, as these cars are getting tagged so fast that I swear I’ve never even seen some of them before they turn up with a tag on ’em- and my front window overlooks them all. In fact, I woke to a start this morning realizing I hadn’t had reason to leave the house since Christmas eve, and worried that maybe mine was already gone. This is just silly. It’s the holidays! Even people who are at HOME aren’t driving around every day.
Also, it makes our street look super junky and like it’s a dumping ground when you come home to 5 perfectly cared-for, non-abandoned cars chalked to all hell with WARNING notices taped to the windshield. It’s just an eyesore.
So, neighbours, can we talk this through? Can we find a way to work this out as neighbours without involving DPT? I should think a simple courtesy call is the least we can do this time of year.
Amen.
Photo: A demonstration of proper Bernal Heights parking-notification technique. Photo by Tucker Perry, via the Bernalwood group.
Go Team! Vote for Bernal Heights vs. The Lower Haight in the Curbed Cup Final Four
After two rounds of digital combat, Bernal Heights has made an impressively strong showing in the 2010 Curbed Cup, an online competition in which the CurbedSF blog pits neighborhoods against one another to claim bragging rights and possession of a pixel-based trophy. Now, wouldn’t this look lovely perched on our virtual bookshelf? (At least we won’t have to fight over who gets to keep it.)
To recap the competition thus far: Bernal Heights was initially ranked as the 11th seed in the Curbed Cup competition. Oh, how they underestimated us. To the great surprise of the pundits and wags, Bernal surged ahead to defeat the swanks of Nob Hill in the first elimination round. Then, in round two, we squeaked past the dotcommers of SoMa to eke out a narrow victory that catapulted Bernal into the Final Four.
Our next challenge will take place tomorrow — on Tuesday, December 27, 2010 — when Bernal will go head-to-head against The Lower Haight.
Obviously, any Bernal resident could go on and on about the aesthetic and moral reasons why we deserve to vanquish the Haight. But frankly, none of that matters. What matters is votes, and specifically, YOUR vote (and the votes of your loved ones, children, distant relatives, Facebook fwiendz, Twitter minions, work colleagues, pets, or anyone else with a unique IP address). In other words, the Curbed Cup plays well to another of Bernal’s historic strengths: our indomitable spirit of can-do activism.
So you know what to do: Tomorrow, visit CurbedSF and place your vote for good ol’ Bernal Heights. Then tell lots of other people to do the same (and tell them to do the same). Let’s defeat those rascals from the Lower Haight to make it into the finals. Mark your calendars. Monitor your social-networking feeds. Vote early and vote often, and LET’S DO THIS THING. Onward! To glory!
Christmas Morning on Bernal Hill, 2010 (Before the Deluge)
Fabulous! Glam! Sportif! These photos were taken early this Christmas morning by TyrellVoightKampff — presumably shortly after Santa paid his overnight visit. They come to us via the Bernalwood group on Flickr. Thanks!
PS: Notice… not a fixie!
Feliz Navidad, Bernalwood!
Happy Holidays from all of us at Bernalwood.
We’ll be taking it slow during the week ahead, with reduced posting volume until the New Year. Hope you’ll be taking it slow too. Enjoy the season, and enjoy the neighborhood!
Photo: Precita Avenue, by Telstar Logistics
