Juan Pablo Romero snapped this photo yesterday in Bernal Heights.
Apart from being beautiful, the photo also manages to capture many of the essential textures, tensions, and juxtapositions of Bernal Heights, all within the frame of a single image. Impressive!
PHOTO: Juan Pablo Romero
An autistic 11 year-old boy who went missing from his home in Concord, California was found near the Alemany housing project in Bernal Heights last Friday after Bernal neighbor Alice Caruthers noticed that the boy looked lost.
Zachary Jordan-Smith, an 11-year-old boy with autism, walked out of class on Friday and hopped a BART train to San Francisco. He’s now been safely reunited with his family because of one woman’s instincts. […]
He was found in the 900 block of Ellsworth in San Francisco in front of a head start school.
Somehow he squeezed through a fence at Holbrook and took a path to the North Concord BART station, which is nearby, and managed to get on BART train without money.
Fortunately, he was found safe.
“A sigh of relief. An absolute sigh of relief. Words cannot describe it. We were just so nervous and all of a sudden, such relief,” his father, Chris, said.
“I want to go get my son,” his mother, Christine, added.
That’s exactly what the Jordan-Smith family did. They got in the car and drove to Concord, bound for San Francisco.
Jordan-Smith was found next to I-280 by a woman who held him there for police, and the first officer on the scene happened to be a family friend.
There were hugs and happiness all around.
“I said, ‘Lord, give me favor right now. Clear this freeway so I can get this kid.’ I said, ‘Are you lost?’ and he said, ‘Yes I’m lost.’ I said, ‘Where do you live?’ and he mentioned a street I’ve never heard of. He mentioned Concord and I said, ‘Concord, how did you get here?’ He said, “BART,’ so I said, ‘Oh, so you’re missing. I’m going to get you safe and I promise you I’m going to get you to your parents,” San Francisco resident Alice Caruthers said.
Wow. Neighbor Matt shared this detail:
My daughter’s schoolmate saw the boy running somewhat erratically down Andover and across Cortland.
Previously she and a classmate were on the J Church going outbound and had seen the boy get off on Church St. So somehow he managed to get from BART to Muni and ended up on Andover above Cortland.
What a story!
Indeed.
Of course, anyone who knows Neighbor Alice will tell you that her role in this Good Samaritan tale should come as no surprise: Alice Caruthers is also president of the Alemany housing project residents association and she’s served on the board at the Alemany Farm. And now, on top of all that, she’s also a superhero.
Here’s the ABC-7 video report:
PHOTO: Montage by the San Francisco Police Department
We knew this was coming, right?
Despite San Francisco’s ongoing housing shortage, a group of Mission District demonstrators, landlords, and homeowners kicked off a campaign to oppose the construction of new homes at 1515 South Van Ness. Bernalwood recently told you about 1515 South Van Ness; it’s a privately funded project by Lennar Corporation that would create 157 units of mixed-income housing on the site of the former McMillan Electric building, which was in turn the site of the former Lesher-Muirhead Oldsmobile.
MissionLocal was on hand to document the theatrics:
“Today we’re calling on Lennar to gift this site to the city for 100 percent affordable housing,” said Erick Arguello, a member of the merchants association Calle 24 and a principal opponent of the project.
Arguello said the market-rate building would fuel gentrification and displacement in the neighborhood. He pointed specifically to higher rents for commercial Mission businesses, saying a new clientele would bring upscale shops to a historically lower-income, culturally Latino district.
“When you get more luxury housing, you get people with a lot more money moving into the neighborhood, which creates a different demand for products,” he said.
The project at 1515 South Van Ness Ave. would bring 138 market-rate units and 19 below-market-rate units — fulfilling the city requirement that 12 percent of units on the site be affordable — to the Mission District, as well as six ground-floor retail shops.
The complex would raze and replace the McMillan Electrical building and abut a planned 96-unit fully affordable senior complex to be built by the Mission Economic Development Agency — a point of contention at a February community meeting where audience members wanted a merger of the two sites.
On Thursday, some 25 people gathered at the project site and vowed to fight the project to its death. Roberto Hernandez, founder of Our Mission No Eviction, said the project was out of place in the Mission District.
MissionLocal adds that D9 Supervisor David Campos helped postpone the hearing for 1515 South Van Ness in the Planning Commission; an indication he supports the strategy Roberto Hernandez calls “delay, delay, delay until we kill it.”
If you’d like to voice support for 1515 South Van Ness, you are strongly encouraged to send an email to Doug.vu@sfgov.org at the San Francisco Planning Department.
There’s an open artists’ studios event happening in The Mission this weekend, and a few Bernal artists will be participating. Neighbor (and artist) Miles Epstein shared these tips on where to go to see some Bernal artists in action:
This weekend is Mission Artist United Spring Open Studios.
There are quite a few Bernal artists who maintain a presence in The Mission, and they’ll be opening their doors between noon and 6pm Sat and Sunday April 16 and 17.
Sophia Green and Miles Epstein will be showing at the Back To The Picture Gallery 934 Valencia @ 20th (Fun Fact: Derek Hargrove, the excellent area manager for Back To The Picture, also lives in Bernal)
Sharon Steuer will be open at Workspace, 2150 Folsom @ 17th
Rachel Leibman, Catherine Mackey, and Peter Liang will be open at 1890 Bryant.
Wendy Miller also has a studio at 1890 Bryant Street.
PHOTO: Painter Catherine Mackey
Neighbor Heather is fascinated by a strange little tree in Holly Park that has sprouted a very tall appendage. She says:
I’ve been watching tree in Holly Park for a month or two now. I think it deserves a profile.
The tree has sprouted one “reach for the sky DeVry!” branch that is easily twice the height of the tree. With a little tuffet of 6 or 7 leaves on the end. It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. (Well, OK, this is San Francisco and I go to Folsom St Fair every year, so not REALLY… But certainly the weirdest thing in Holly Park.)
Bizarre! Can any of our armchair arborists explain this strange mutation? Here’s the view from a different angle:
PHOTOS: Neighbor Heather
If you’ve traveled along Cesar Chavez near the intersection of San Jose Avenue recently, you might’ve noticed that the new California Pacific Medical Center St. Luke’s hospital building is beginning to look much less skeletal, and much more building-like.
This project has been in the works for a long time, and now Mirabel Avenue neighbor Dean Fryer — who by day works as a media relations manager for CPMC — brings us a progress report:
I’m writing to let you know about the amazing progress being made on the new replacement hospital at the Sutter Health—CPMC St. Luke’s Campus, our neighborhood hospital. Things are moving along quickly. The steel structure is done and the exterior wall panels are nearly all in place, resulting in a great new look for the campus and neighborhood.
As you’re likely aware, St. Luke’s has a long history in our neighborhood. Originally it was located on Lundy’s Lane, in 1871, before moving to the current location in 1875. The location was perfect for a hospital — near the end of the cable car line on Valencia Street and near the rout of the original Southern Pacific main train line coming up from the peninsula. We’are excited to continue serving our neighborhood, and the city, with the new hospital (scheduled to open in 2019).
You can already see the space around the new hospital take shape. Visible are the outline of the entry areas where families will come and go, and the framing of the stairs that lead to the plaza which symbolizes the historic pathway traveled between the peninsula and the city. The plaza will be open and well lit to provide neighbors a safe environment, day or night, while crossing the campus.
The new seven-story, 120 patent bed hospital, is designed to blend nicely into the neighborhood with color and aesthetic. Depending on the direction you approach the hospital, it will have a different look and feel. From the east there is the greenery of the plaza and from the west the low rise section of the building next to the neighbors. There is also the intentional use of different materials on the exterior to create an illusion of diminished building height.
We’re also proud of all the local hiring that has happened at this construction site and our other hospital construction project at Van Ness and Geary. At the St. Luke’s campus we are excited that 33 percent of the workforce consists of San Francisco residents, with 13 of the workers born at the current St. Luke’s campus hospital. An additional 6 workers also live in Bernal Heights.
The views of Bernal Hill from the hospital are spectacular as well. Here’s how it looks (click to enlarge):
I’ll keep you updated on the construction progress, but Bernal neighbors can always check CPMC2020.org for more details and to access the construction cameras.
PHOTOS: Courtesy of CPMC
Well, the great San Jose Avenue Traffic Calming Experiment has officially been declared an abject failure. The effort to slow traffic along San Jose Avenue by reducing the exit to San Jose Avenue from I-280 northbound from two lanes to one instead succeeded mainly in causing epic traffic backups along I-280 and more motor vehicle accidents. Oopsie!
In addition, the scheme created additional sadness and delay in South Bernal and St. Mary’s, so now the exit will return to its original two-lane configuration. The Glen Park Association reports:
The 280 freeway offramp to San Jose Avenue will return to a two-lane configuration, owing to a high number of accidents following an experiment to slow traffic by narrowing it.
Seven accidents were recorded on the offramp between June and November, 2015, after engineers reconfigured the two exit lanes to merge into one lane just before the Monterey Street underpass. The offramp reconfiguration was the second phase of the Northbound San Jose Avenue & I-280 Off-Ramp Road Diet Pilot Project, which was intended to slow traffic on San Jose Avenue south of Randall.
In Phase I of that project, San Jose Avenue itself was reduced from three lanes to two. When that measure did not slow traffic, Phase II was implemented, and the offramp was reduced from two lanes to two lanes merging to one.
Since Phase II also failed to reduce speeds and reduce traffic volumes but did increase the number of accidents, Caltrans has decided to return the offramp to its original state. The road is scheduled to be re-paved in May, then re-striped.
If the goal is to reduce speeds along San Jose Avenue, some armchair traffic engineers in Bernal-Glen have a few good ideas about how to accomplish that.
Oh, how the time flies. Neighbors Holly and Matt from The Epicurean Trader on Cortland are celebrating the first anniversary of their store, and to mark the occasion they’re offering a special deal to Bernal neighbors. Holly says:
We’re celebrating our first year as a Bernal merchant! We love this neighborhood. Mat and I have both lived in the neighborhood for years and all our employees live in Bernal Heights too.
The store has changed a lot since opening day – not our overall mission, but the assortment of products we sell. We’ve always wanted to be a neighborhood store, so we continually collect feedback from you about items you find difficult to buy locally. We stock as many as we can to make everyone’s lives a little easier.
We were also just named one of the Best Neighborhood Markets in San Francisco, and we’re now the highest-rated Specialty Market on Yelp (even ahead of Bi-Rite on 18th.) So now we’re even more excited to celebrate!
To thank the neighborhood for all their support, we will be extending a 10% discount off all purchases Monday thru Friday this week to Bernal Heights residents. Just ask for the discount when you check out. (Note: we may ask for some confirmation that you live in Bernal Heights.)
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
Where do Bernal merchants retreat to rest and recharge after they hang the Closed sign in the windows of their Cortland storefronts? Our friends at the CurbedSF blog recently did a profile of the house that Amy and Ken Shelf from Succulence call home. It’s a colorful look behind the scenes at one of Cortland Avenue’s most unique shops — and the people who created it:
The Shelf family had been friendly with the owner of [Four Star Video] before he died. David Ayoob was often in front of his business, sweeping up and greeting the neighbors. “He was a community character. When I read that the business and building were up for sale, I thought ‘I could be that guy,'” says Ken.
Borrowing every penny (“Back then, you could do that,” notes Amy), the couple purchased the building at 420 Cortland Avenue. The days of video rentals at a brick and mortar store were waning, and from the beginning they were planning the next phase. When Darcy Lee, the owner of Heartfelt down the street, suggested they start selling succulent plants out back, a new business was born.
Amy came up with the name Succulence to honor the richness of life, and for this couple, it’s an idea they take home with them after the store closes. The store, the neighborhood, and their family are inextricably woven into the into the nearby Victorian cottage they own on a short street that’s quintessentially Bernal Heights; in other words, it’s on a narrow, hilly passage where each crest hosts a scenic city view.
Read the whole thing to learn more about Neighbors Amy and Ken Shelf and to see pictures of their colorful home.
PHOTOS: CurbedSF
A few months back, we told you about the crowdfunding campaign to support El Buen Comer, a new restaurant that will open at 3435 Mission Street (at Kingston) in Bernal Heights.
Well, the grand opening will (finally) happen soon, and San Francisco Chronicle reporter Jonathan Kauffman is so excited he wrote a big profile about Isabel Caudillo, the founder of El Buen Comer. Kauffman writes:
Isabel Caudillo’s first restaurant, El Buen Comer, opens in Bernal Heights next month with 45 seats, gorgeous terra-cotta bowls imported from Mexico, a beer and wine license, and waiters. But her true first restaurant opened in 2001. It was called her living room. […]
It has taken far longer than anyone thought for the restaurant to be ready. The delays have given Caudillo time to apply for loans from the Mission Economic Development Agency, launch a Kickstarter campaign — one donor contributed $15,000, which still floors her — and, most importantly, to feel ready. Her sisters call from Mexico, offering encouragement. Craig and Annie Stoll of Delfina continue to mentor her. So do colleagues in La Cocina who have already opened restaurants of their own.
Much like Caudillo’s living-room restaurant, El Buen Comer’s short dinner menu will center around comida corrida: four daily guisados with soup, beans, rice and tortillas, served family-style. Caudillo is cooking the food she grew up with, the food she knows in her bones, but the zeitgeist has inadvertently joined up with her: More non-Mexicans are searching out guisados, mostly in the form of tacos de guisado, tortillas topped with a few spoonfuls of stew.
Get to know Isabel Caudillo by reading Jonathan Kauffman’s complete profile of her, and start counting the days until El Buen Comer opens. Guisados! Guisados!
PHOTO: Isabel Caudillo by Gabrielle Lurie for The San Francisco Chronicle
Yesterday was Opening Day for the 2016 San Francisco Giants season, and Bernal neighbor and rockstar-in-residence Matt Nathanson was there to sing the national anthem. You can watch it here.
A few hours later, the Giants went on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 12-6, with help from a Hunter Pence grand slam. So to recap: Neighbor Matt sang the national anthem, and the Giants crushed the Dodgers. Coincidence? Hold that thought.
Neighbor Matt got a pretty swell souvenir out of the deal:
Of course, this isn’t the first time that Neighbor Matt sang the national anthem at a Giants season opener. Historians will note he also sang it in 2010, and we all know how that turned out. Coincidence?
We think not.
PHOTO: Top, via Jason Snell. Hat Tip: kc!
Yesterday, Neighbor Tim proposed to Renee atop Bernal Hill. She said Yes!
HURRAH! Congratulations!!!
This being 2016, the proposal was documented from above by Bernalwood pal and ace aerial videographer Eddie Codel. Eddie says:
Long time Bernal resident Tim Lang proposed to his girlfriend Renee Carano yesterday atop Bernal Hill, on what was probably the warmest day of the year. The special moment was captured by drone, of course!
The video is lovely, sweet and deep, in a way that only an aerial camera could convey. Kleenex Alert: You may experience feelings. Watch:
Last week, the humble but delightful Lucky Horseshoe bar on Cortland celebrated its fifth anniversary. Hooray! That’s a big deal, because it means that The Lucky Horseshoe can now lay claim to its proud own era at 453 Cortland, a barroom space that has been home to several previous eras of Bernal dive-bar legend.
For decades after World War II, 453 Cortland was known as The Cherokee. (More about that in a moment.) Then the space became Skip’s Tavern, a bar nearby neighbors remember for being rough around the edges and loud at night. Yet Skip’s was also home to some rather incredible blues music and a vibrant culture of its own.
Since then, Lucky Horseshoe has established its own funky vibe, and it retains a commitment to music. It’s friendly and well-maintained, but it’s still the kind of dive a neighborhood can be proud of. CONGRATS Team Lucky Horseshoe!
Through all this, presiding over all these eras of boozy history at 453 Cortland, is the big, weird mural painted above the front door. It’s a faded, vintage scene of cowboys, Indians, and rolling Western landscapes, and it’s obviously been there for a long time:
What’s the backstory on the mural?
Lucky for all of us, Neighbor Vicky Walker from the Bernal Heights History Project is on the case. Neighbor Vicky tells Bernalwood:
Here’s what we know about the mural inside 453 Cortland!
The mural was painted by Harold Vick (1915-?). Here he is as a young man:
Later, Harold Vick worked at the Sommer and Kaufmann shoe store on Market Street as a card writer, sometimes listed as an artist. (LOOK at that store. Amazing!)Harold got married in 1940 and moved to 19 Roscoe in South Bernal. His brother, Melvin, took over The Cherokee and ran it with his wife, Barbara, from 1943 to 1946.
The Cherokee in 1973, from the Max Kirkeberg Collection
Harold probably served in World War II. There’s another Harold Vick listed as a survivor of the Bataan Death March, but I haven’t been able to confirm that it’s him yet. In any case, Harold Vick is absent from the city directories from 1942 onward, although his wife, Patricia (Patti/Patsy) is still listed at 19 Roscoe in 1946. And Harold Vick never appears in S.F. directories again.
All that means we can probably assume that Harold Vick painted the Cherokee mural right around the time it was first owned by Melvin Vick.
The story is told that the Harold Vick painted for beer money. The drunker he got, the odder the mural in the Cherokee became:
The mural in the Cherokee wasn’t Harold Vick’s only barroom masterpiece. We know he also painted “After Cassino” which hung at 309 Cortland in Duval’s Studio Club.
Duval’s Studio Club became Charlie’s, which was a dive bar. That became the Stray Bar, which is now Holy Water.
The mural there was from 1944. My pal Jenner Davis is a former bartender at Charlie’s, and the daughter of Anita Davis, who was Regi Harvey’s partner, who sang all the time at Skip’s. She says: “The scene depicted in ‘After Cassino’ was taken from an original sketch Harold Vick found, singed and burned, in a field as he was crossing it with his platoon during World War II. Nearby were the remains of the artist who created the sketch, and his unsuspecting female subject, who had blown them both to bits when her plow hit a land mine.”
Here’s a detail from Harold Vick’s ‘After Cassino’:
We’re told that After Cassino’ now lives in the private dining room at Avedano’s.
IMAGE: Hanging the new sign at the Lucky Horseshoe in 2011
Bernalwood 
