Bernal Hill

The Triumphant Return of Bernal Hill’s Lost Garbage Can

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Important news for Bernal Hill dog walkers and/or enemies of errant fecal matter: The Lost Garbage Can of Bernal Boulevard has returned, now in a stylish new location across from our glamorous new Vista Pointe minipark.

Newbie Neighbor Rally provides the photo above, and the straight poop. (Sorry, couldn’t resist):

Good news for those who care about the mundane, yet mysteriously glamourous details of life in lovely Bernal Heights. The trash can that had gone in missing at the bottom of Bernal Hill is BACK! This caused quite the stir around here, even the awesome Bernalwood blog talked about it.

Here we see its glorious return, now repositioned across the street from its former location.

Woo hoo! Less poo! Meanwhile, Neighbor Renee adds:

PHOTO: Stolen with gratitude from Rally P/Going West

Looking Down South Van Noir

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

There are plenty of photos floating around the Interwebs that capture the view from Bernal Hill, looking north down South Van Ness. There’s also a really good reason for this: It’s an awesome view that comes in a lot of different flavors, depending on each photographers’ mixture of light, lens, and perspective.

This picture by Jason Rodman is called “All Roads Lead to the Tenderloin,” and that’s a perfect name for an image that feels so noir.

PHOTO: Jason Rodman

Sunset Report: Warm Night Delivers Perfect Light

/ Todd_Lappin / 7 Comments

Just Another Perfect Sunset

Just Another Perfect SunsetRecall, we began the month of June with a freakish rain storm. Now we mark the official start of summer with weather that is actually rather summer-like. So bizarre! So surprising! So seductive. So… WARM!

Indeed, last night was particularly lovely, with balmy air, no wind, and no fog. So I headed up to the Hill to grab a few snaps.

Just Another Perfect SunsetBlessedly, tonight’s forecast looks just as warm and pleasant, which is good news for this evening’s Summer Stroll on Cortland. See you there.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

How the Gatsbys of Noe Valley Look at Bernal Heights

/ Todd_Lappin / 7 Comments

Bernal HeightsDo you remember that opening scene in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, where Gatsby looks whistfully at the green light across the bay over in tony East Egg? And how he is drawn toward that light because it embodies all his far-distant ambitions and hopes for the future? Well, some folks in Noe Valley apparently experience the same thing when they look at the lights of Bernal Hill.

These are a few recent submissions to Bernalwood’s Flickr group, and as you can see, the photos are all the more poignant because they are so obviously tinged with envy and longing. Superphotog Bob Horowitz took the one at the top, and Toby Tuper took a few as well:

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Toby also took this next one, which is extremely revealing psychologically because he chose to photograph it in GatsbyVision:

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PHOTOS: Bob Horowitz and Toby Tuper

Sunrise Over Our Microwave Tower (Which Needs a Name)

/ Todd_Lappin / 26 Comments

Sunrise @ Bernal Heights

Sunrise @ Bernal Heights

Ilya Yakubovich took these colorful snaps of sunrise atop Bernal Hill early last week. Gorgeous!

Meanwhile, and related-unrelated, it occurred to me recently that Bernal’s iconic microwave tower really needs a name. Calling it “Microwave Tower” is pretty lame.

I don’t have any specific ideas per se, but I would generally propose that — like its bigger cousin Sutro Tower — the name should be simple and vaguely honorific. Even “Bernal Tower”would work, for example. That’s just an obvious proposal; the Nomenclature Committee will consider any and all suggestions; please submit them in the comments below.

Bernal Hill Sketch Leaves Much to the Imagination

/ Todd_Lappin

Bernal Heights view

Any shutterbug with a cameraphone and a functioning index finger can take a pretty good photo from atop Bernal Hill, which is why I so appreciated this recent sketch posted to the Bernalwood Flickr group by 29 year-old artist Lisa Hsia. Creating this took some real skillz! But most of all I love the way it leaves so much to the imagination.

On her blog, Lisa writes:

I got tired after doing just the buildings you see in the sketch, so I left it at that. I’m sure there is a quicker and more sweeping way to depict the scene than my approach of drawing every single building, but I wanted to nod to the tiny, impermanent, toylike appearance of the neighborhood from so high up.

Totally Insane “Eye of the Storm” Sunset on Saturday

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

Spiral Sunset

In cased you missed it, sunset on Saturday evening was crazy off-the-hook for serious. Bernal Hill provided (per usual) an excellent vantage point from which to view the madness, which was caused by the same whack-job storm system that give us last night’s record-setting June (!!!) rainfall. (Sing along: “Kooooyaaaaaaanisqatsiiiiii”)

This weather front is bonkers, but it is also extremely well organized, spinning out in a spiral-shaped pinwheel that put Bernalwood in the eye of the storm right around sunset:

It’s even nuttier in the animated satellite view.

The setting sun lit up all those spiralling cloud loops as they surrounded our City, providing amazing texture and color. This was the scene:

Spiral Sunset

Lord Sutro looked dazzling:Spiral Sunset

The ridgeline just below Twin Peaks was glowing pink:
Spiral Sunset

One Rincon and the Bay Bridge were a colorful couple:
Spiral Sunset

South Van Ness looked exceptionally arterial:
Spiral Sunset

Our own Microwave Tower seemed rather rakish:
Spiral Sunset

The Spaghetti Bowl was a tangle of colors:
Spiral Sunset

And Bernal Heights Boulevard was delightfully apocalyptic:
Spiral Sunset

Lastly, here’s a 360-degree video, to help put it all in perspective. (Add your own “Double rainbow all the way!” soundtrack):

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

A Rare Eye-to-Eye Encounter with Bernal Hill

/ Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

Bernal Hill from the blue water tower

The citizens of Bernalwood are used to looking down on the rest of the City — quite literally. Our exalted altitude gives us a lofty perspective, so this fab photo is pretty unique: It’s an eye-to-eye view of Bernal’s southern face, taken from the big blue water tower in McLaren Park.

It’s rare to see Bernal Hill set against a backdrop of downtown high-rises, but I must say, this view is quite flattering to our profile.

UPDATE 1:04 pm

Photographer Jean Pedigo writes:

Just saw the great shot on the blog of the city and beyond with the hill from McLaren…reminded me of this one I took last Spring with my point and shoot while driving through the park for the first time.  It was so cool to see our hill from that vantage point!

PHOTO: Top, scathac1961. Below, Jean Pedigo

Cool Ghouls Film “Oh California” Music Video on Bernal Hill

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Last week it was glamorous fashion shoots, and this week it’s music videos by the hipster undead…

San Franciso’s Cool Ghouls recently filmed a video for their cute song “Oh California” on our rapidly-browning hill, and the finished product is a lot of fun to see. There’s no embed for the finished video via the band’s Facebook hoo-hah, but by all means watch it right here. To grab the music, download the free Cool Ghouls EP.

PHOTOS: Kate Shay