Hundreds Gather on Bernal Hill to Watch Supermoon Eclipse, Have Close Encounter

September 28, 2015September 28, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

At sunset last night, a massive crowd of hundreds of people gathered on Bernal Hill to watch a once-in-a-generation event: a supermoon lunar eclipse. PBS Newshour explained what the fuss was all about:

Sunday night, the sun, earth and a full moon will be in a straight line, making the moon, which is in its closing point of orbit, appear much brighter than usual. This phenomenon, referred to as “supermoon” total lunar eclipse, hasn’t happened in 33 years and won’t for another 18 years.

Basically, at the very moment when the moon’s orbit put it closest to Earth (making it a supermoon), the moon, Earth, and the sun were also arranged in a line (creating an eclipse). This gave the big moon a creepy red color, which is why lots of people also call this a “bloodmoon” (or, in the contemporary argot, #bloodmoon).

Like many others, Neighbor Susie was drawn to Bernal Hill to watch the spectacle, and she shared this photo of the scene:

Here’s a panorama perspective from Neighbor Art:

For all the celestial pilgrims who stuck around, it was well worth the wait. Neighbor Rusty shot this image from Holliday Street:

The super-duper blood moon was amazing. Yet later in the evening, things got even more intense. Here’s some EXCLUSIVE footage of what happened at Sutrito Tower shortly after the bloodmoon eclipse reached its apex:

UPPER PHOTOS: Top, supermoon, Sept 27, by Rusty Hodge. Middle, crowd on Bernal Hill by Fred Sharples. Bottom, supermoon over Bernal as seen from Billy Goat Hill, by Charlie.

PG&E Transformer Explodes, Injuring 2 as Blackout Darkens Cortlandia

September 28, 2015September 28, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 16 Comments

Many South Bernal resident experienced a blackout of much of the day on Saturday, after a PG&E power surge took down part of the local grid. Neighbor Esther was reporting live from the scene:

At Wool and Eugenia this morning. Two loud pops and flashes. Fire dept is here. Live wire hanging down to shoulder level in intersection. Red hot little wire up above. Yikes! Overheard a comment about a power surge that caused this.

Yikes is right. Here’s Neighbor Esther’s photo of a red-hot wire cooking above Eugenia:

Blackouts are a nuisance, but unfortunately this outage actually caused injuries, as the power surge triggered a transformer explosion on tiny Heyman Avenue, several blocks away.

Benny Evangelista from The San Francisco Chronicle covered it:

Robert Antonelli, 55, was at the window of his Heyman Avenue home about 7:45 a.m. talking to a friend, Manuel Cruz, 34, of Daly City, who was standing outside, when he heard what sounded like a firecracker’s wick sizzling.

“And the next thing, ka-boom,” Antonelli said. “It exploded like a bomb. It blew things off my shelf. I flew back into my bed. Debris flew back into my room.”

Antonelli said Cruz, who was standing next to the transformer, was knocked out, and both men were taken to San Francisco General Hospital. Antonelli said he was treated for light burns on his face and released, but Cruz was more seriously burned and remained hospitalized.

The hospital did not immediately return a call seeking information about Cruz’s condition.

PG&E spokesman Matt Nauman confirmed that two men were injured after an equipment failure that occurred while a utility crew was at Wool Street and Eugenia Avenue, working to fix a power failure that began about 7:30 a.m.

Terrible. Get well soon, Neighbor Bobby and Manuel Cruz!

UPDATE: In the comments, Neighbor Esther shares more information about the injured:

I spoke to Neighbor Bobby later on Saturday after he was released from the hospital. He suffered light burns over his face and he said his lungs were still hurting and that is also hurt for him to talk. Manuel’s injuries were more serious, apparently he has severe burns all over his body but initial reports indicate his eyesight and hearing are ok. Best wishes for both men recovering soon!

Esther also reminds us that another PG&E transformer exploded nearby, on Coleridge, a little more than a year ago. Bernalwood has sent a series of questions to PG&E to understand more about the history and inspection procedures for this infrastructure. Stay tuned.

PHOTOS: PG&E crew working at Wool and Eugenia, courtesy of Neighbor Esther

Succulence Is Having a Sidewalk Sale All Weekend

September 25, 2015September 25, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Neighbor Ken Shelf from the fabulous Succulence at 402 Cortland wants to tell you about a plantastic sidewalk sale happening at the store this weekend:

This coming weekend, Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 26th and 27th, Succulence is having a sidewalk sale from 11-4 each day.

We are moving a lot of awesome items out of the shop that we’ve had for a long time. There will be planters, home stuff, some plants that need TLC, some products that will give you TLC, and a variety of other fun stuff.

This is a cash only sale, just available on the sidewalk those two days. We are making room for tons of new stuff coming for the holiday season.

Hope to see everyone out next weekend!

PHOTO: Ken Shelf in situ, Courtesy of Succulence

You’re Invited to the Official Pinkie’s Bakery Grand Opening on Saturday Afternoon

September 25, 2015September 25, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

It’s been a few months since Sandbox Bakery was sold to Pinkie’s Bakery, so by now we trust you’ve had enough time to reach the later stages of your own Kübler-Ross cycle. Take a moment to let the Acceptance flow through your neurons.

Now, doesn’t that feel better?

While we’ve been working on that, owner Cheryl Burr of Pinkie’s has been working hard to make the place her own, and that process is complete too. Now Pinkie’s Bakery is ready for an official grand opening at 833 Cortland, and you’re on the guest list:

I’d like to invite the Bernal Heights community to Pinkie’s grand opening party this Saturday, from 1-3 p.m. We’ll be serving sweets, savories, and bubbly!

The transition is nearly complete, and Pinkie’s signage goes up on Friday afternoon. We also commissioned a new interior mural (thanks, New Bohemia!).

We’ve been gradually adding items from Pinkie’s (donuts, cake, bacon brioche, eggy challah, etc.), and we’ll launch a new menu of sandwiches next week.

Hope to see you on Saturday!

PHOTO: Maria del Rio for Pinkie’s Bakery

Saturday Night: Watch “Night at the Museum 3” in World-Famous Precita Park

September 25, 2015September 25, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

Following up on last weekend’s princess-heavy screening of Frozen in Precita Park, Neighbor Dean Fryer tells us that CPMC will show Night at the Museum 3 in Precita Park this Saturday, Sept. 26 at 6:30:

So, we have the next movie on Saturday—Night at the Museum 3. And, we have something special happening on Saturday—an exciting performance (related to the movie) will begin at 6:30! It’s going to be amazing (Hint—as if a movie character comes alive). I would love to tell you more but this is a big surprise.

PS: Check out this ridiculously adorable photo of some Bernal kids who showed up to see last weekend’s movie.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: Bernalwood

Fabulous Bernal Editor Creating Cookbook to Feed Your People

September 24, 2015September 23, 2015 / Todd_Lappin

Scientific fun-fact: Food tastes better when you enjoy it with other people. The reverse is true too: Sharing food is a great way to get know people in a way that makes you care more about them.

With those profound truths in mind, Bernal Neighbor and editor Leslie Jonath has a crowdfunding campaign underway to publish Feed Your People, a cookbook that will celebrate yummy food as a way to create stronger community.

(ROMANTIC DISCLOSURE STATEMENT: Neighbor Leslie is also my sweetie, and she’s asleep in bed upstairs as I write this now. Shhhhhh.)

Neighbor Leslie writes:

Feed Your People is a community-based cookbook with recipes for crowd-pleasing big batch cooking from warm-hearted cooks, chefs, community organizations, and grandmas for the foods we gather around — from backyard barbecues and soup suppers to hand-wrapped tamales, dumpling dinners, and seafood boils. Whether for a family reunion, a DIY wedding, holidays, memorials, non-profit fundraisers or a neighborhood block party, this book will inspire you and make cooking for your community a delicious, affordable, fun, memorable feast.

Despite the popularity of supper clubs, pop-up dinners, block parties, bake sales, and community dinners, there are very few books featuring recipes that scale for a crowd. Feed Your People will be co-authored with 18 Reasons, a beloved San Francisco based non-profit whose mission is to “empower our community with confidence and creativity to buy, cook, and eat good food every day” and published by Powerhouse Books.

If bringing great people together with great food sounds like your kind of thing, backing Neighbor Leslie’s campaign is just like pre-ordering a copy of the book — with the advance knowledge that the book will simply have with a loooooooooong delivery time.

Leslie explains what her book is all about in the video below, and you can contribute to Feed Your People here.

Bernal Neighbor Will Magically Transform Your Surplus Fruit Into Tasty Jam or Chutney

September 24, 2015September 24, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Are you up to your eyeballs in surplus fruit from your backyard fruit trees? Neighbor Jaiya would like to help:

Do you have fruit trees that are giving more than you know what to do with? Would you like to see that excess transformed into something delicious? I can turn your extra fruit into sweet preserves or savory chutneys. You provide the main ingredient, I come up with a recipe, make it, can it, and share the results with you.

I have been a home canner and baker for years, and love sharing what I make with friends. Since I’ve been living in an apartment in Bernal, I’ve had to venture outside the city limits to collect my favorite fruits for my home canning projects. Meanwhile, I’ve noticed that there are abundant fruit trees (apples, pears, quince, figs, and meyer lemons) right here in Bernal Heights that are producing more than their owners can consume.

So, Bernal Neighbors… If you have extra fruit on your trees, let me turn it into a delicious treat to share with you. Just contact me at jaiyapie *AT* yahoo *DOT* com. I’m looking forward to meeting you, sharing recipe ideas, and enjoying the harvest.

Bon appetit!

PHOTO: Some jam and chutney made during the last few weeks, by Neighbor Jaiya

Exploding Sunset Dazzles Bernal Heights Neighbors

September 24, 2015September 23, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

There have been some remarkable sunsets of late, but the one last night was a real jaw-dropper. Neighbor Dan snapped this stunning photo last night from glamorous Winfield Street.

Meanwhile, at about the same time, your Bernalwood editor was at a slightly lower altitude, crossing Cesar Chavez just as the sky exploded. It was so intense, I stopped dead in my tracks in pure awe. Here’s an unedited, #nofilter view of the kind of landscape that makes even an AutoZone parking lot look supersexy:

PHOTOS: Top, Dan Jurafshy; below, Telstar Logistics

Petition Process Underway to Create Residential Parking Permit Area for North Bernal

September 23, 2015September 23, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 133 Comments

Though opinions on the wisdom of implementing Residential Parking Permit (RPP) in North Bernal appear to be polarized, a process is nevertheless underway to implement an RPP district in Precitaville and Santana Rancho.

SFMTA recently set up a dedicated page for North Bernal RPP planning. It explains:

Residents of North Bernal, generally defined as the blocks south of Cesar Chavez Street and east of Mission Street, organized two widely advertised community meetings to educate the public about the residential permit process. Both were held at the Precita Neighborhood Center. The SFMTA presented information at both meetings describing the residential permit program so residents could make an informed decision on whether to support permit parking.

The next step in the RPP process is collecting signatures for the North Bernal Residential Permit Parking Petition. SFMTA says the petition allows residents to express support or opposition to residential permit parking for their block. To succeed, “the petition requires signatures from at least 250 households (or 50 percent of total households, whichever is less), and must contain a minimum of one mile of street frontage.”

How would the program would be implemented if the petition indicates that support for the proposed RPP is uneven from one North Bernal block to the next? That’s not entirely clear, though SFMTA says “the boundaries of the new resident permit parking area will include those blocks with a majority of households in support of permit parking. This suggests that the initial rollout of a North Bernal RPP could be irregular from street to street and block to block, depending on how many households on each block signed the petition. (Academic question: Doesn’t this seem like a RPP version of the Prisoner’s Dilemma, on a block-by-block basis?)

To learn more about the proposal, visit the SFMTA’s North Bernal Residential Parking Petition site, or email questions or concerns to InfoRPP@sfmta.com.

MAP: Existing RPP areas near North Bernal, via SFTMA

Cortland Neighbor May Leave Bernal After 130% Rent Increase

September 22, 2015September 22, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 52 Comments

Last week, Bernalwood received a heartbreaking note from Neighbor Bianca, who is reluctantly vacating her apartment on Cortland (near Andover) after being notified of a 130% rent increase. She tells Bernalwood:

It is to my great dismay that as a four-year Bernal resident, I have been officially notified of a rental increase. The 2-unit building I live in was sold about 4 months back to Citibrokers, Inc.

I found the notice of my rental increase coldly slapped and taped onto the front gate of my 2 bedroom apartment. I have attached the picture of the main document.

My unit is considered a “Single-Family Unit” because the building consists just of my apartment and a nail salon below. That makes it exempt from rent control. I spoke with the SF Rental Board, they said the rent increase was legal. It would seem pointless to attempt to fight it/hire a lawyer

As an On-Call Biologist at the Exploratorium and a part-time bartender at a music venue in the Mission, I simply do not make enough money to afford this new increase. With this, I must leave the Bay as I have run out of options for myself and my pup, Karma.

I hope this serves as a bleak warning to the rest of our beloved Bernal locals. I want to sound the alarm so other residents brush up on their rights and keep in touch with the landlord with regard to any future sales plans. My prior landlord didn’t even tell me when he sold the building! It wasn’t until a real estate agent was at my door, asking to come in for measurements. Sigh.

I absolutely adore this neighborhood and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else in the city. I’m going to truly miss Bernal Heights…it’s a special slice of paradise hidden in the noise and chaos of SF. It saddens me deeply it must end like this.

Best,

Bianca
(Biologist, Bartender, Bernal & Dog Lover, Silly Cross-Stitcher)

Grrrrrrrr. Coming shortly after the 355% rent increase that drove Neighbor Deb from her apartment on Bocana earlier in the year, this is a tough story to hear.

Meanwhile, if anyone has any leads on potential housing options for Neighbor Bianca here in Bernal, please contact Bernalwood. We’ll make sure the information gets to her ASAP.

PHOTOS: via Neighbor Bianca

Video Shows Drive-By Shooter Shattering Windows at Precita Park Cafe

September 21, 2015September 20, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 17 Comments

It’s been a week since several windows at the much-loved Precita Park Cafe were shattered in a disturbing barrage of late-night gunfire.

Impressively, the damage was quickly repaired, so that virtually no trace of the incident remains. Less impressively, the SFPD says they have few leads in the investigation.

Here’s a development: Bernalwood has reviewed security camera footage that shows how the incident unfolded. It happened at 4:43 AM. The shooting was a drive-by, and the passenger fired the weapon. It was over within seconds.

Pay close attention to the car that appears in the first few moments of the video. You can see several muzzle flashes, and broken glass falling to the ground:

Want to play high-tech sleuth? Use your own combination of algorithms to zoom and enhance the video. Can you identify what kind of car this is?

Tuesday: Go See Neighbor Dan the Automator in “Got a Girl” at Great American

September 21, 2015September 21, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

We all know that everyone who lives in Bernal Heights is a rockstar. So you may already know that music producer Dan Nakamura — aka Dan The Automator — is a Bernal resident too. Neighbor Dan is well-known in the music biz for the work he did to give artists like Deltron 3030, the Gorillaz, Del the Funky Homosapien, and Handsome Boy Modeling School their distinctive sounds. His most recent collaboration is a retro-chic project called Got a Girl that he created with actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

I really really enjoyed the album — so much so that all the 0s and 1s on my streaming audio player got glitchy from nonstop listening. Now, tomorrow night, Tuesday September 22, you can go see Neighbor Dan perform with Got a Girl at the Great American Music Hall. He tells Bernalwood:

I’m very excited to bring out Got a Girl to San Francisco. It’s been a project that I am super proud of, and I hope people enjoy it as well. It was all recorded and mixed in Bernal Heights, so I’m extra glad to see it on Bernalwood.

Please come out and see us on Tuesday the 22nd if you have the time.

Its homegrown! It’s locavore! It’s sultry and sexy like Paris in the rain, but it was born and raised right here in Bernal Heights. Got a Girl is all that, and tickets are right here.

Here’s a rather confusing third-eye fetish video from Got a Girl, and don’t miss the super-extra-bonus photos Neighbor Dan shared with us below:

PHOTOS: Courtesy of Dan the Automator

Restored Esmeralda Slide Park Wins Fabulous San Francisco Beautiful Award

September 21, 2015September 21, 2015 / Todd_Lappin / 7 Comments

Remember just a few short months ago, when the historic and symbolic Esmeralda Slide Park was a sad ruin?

Blighted by the decaying forces of time, The City had to remove some of the wooden structures before they collapsed. Then came the rallying cry, and the heroic volunteer effort, and then the mini-park was restored and reborn. And now it’s won an amazing beautification award from San Francisco Beautiful.

Neighbors Joan Carson and Nancy Windensheim worked their tail-feathers off to make this happen, and without them, none of this would have happened. Here’s what they had to say about the recognition:

For all you folks who were waiting for the results of who is the winner of the SF Beautiful Award…

Being a nominee was cool enough, but Esmeralda Slide Park just went on record as the 2015 recipient of the Seven Hills Award. This Award “recognizes nominees who have made a significant contribution to the creation of unique neighborhood character.”

There were 7 award categories and a winner for each. It’s very fitting Esmeralda Slide Park got the Seven Hills Award. Everybody knows Bernal is the ‘hood with the kick-ass slide; Now folks see we not only have the great slide, we have a plaza and park that is also awesome. It’s going to get even better, so stay tuned for more!

Hurray for our fabulous community, and bravo to everyone who has worked and will continue to work on the Esmeralda Slide Park.

See you at Esmeralda!

We did it! Our slides are both ass-kicking and award-winning. Kind of like Kanye West, but with a much better attitude.

Most of all, a lot of very special thanks are due to Neighbors Nancy and Joan, who lead the charge to reconstruct the Esmeralda mini-park and make it better than ever. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Very, very well done, ladies:

PHOTOS: Courtesy of Neighbors Nancy and Joan

Bernalwood

Broadcasting from glamorous Bernal Heights, San Francisco (Elev. 443 ft.)

Author: Todd_Lappin