Cortland

Grand Opening for the New, Expanded Succulence, Saturday

/ Todd_Lappin

Four Star Video has gone to the great disc-return slot in the sky, but shop owners Amy and Ken are having a grand opening for their new, expanded Succulence store tomorrow, November 17. Amy brings the details:

We’ve been working hard to prepare our space at 402 Cortland, and we’re excited to share it with our community. Our expanded store will feature a children’s section, bath and kitchen wares, and an exhibition of landscape photographs by local Bernal artist, Jean Pedigo. And of course, an ever-increasing collection of succulents, terrariums, and vertical gardens.

At the Grand Re-Opening Event you will also have the opportunity to contribute your personal wish to our Wishing Tree, which will remain in the shop as a symbolic, collaborative, testament to our continued commitment to our community, and our hope for peace and prosperity for all.  The Wishing Tree project is the first in a monthly series of Saturday drop-in family art classes and projects.

Please join us!

Darcy Lee from Heartfelt will set up a tea cart, we’ll have wine and snacks throughout the day, and after noon there will be a tasting table from Mama Tong, a purveyor of soups (which, along with other locally-produced edibles, can be purchased through Good Eggs and picked up at Succulence on Wednesdays!)

Starting at 4pm, we are holding an opening reception for Jean Pedigo: Selected Landscape Photographs.

PHOTOS: Sneak peek inside the new Succulence. Photo via Succulence

Bernal Library Reveals Unadorned Facade During Mural-Free Interlude

/ Todd_Lappin / 24 Comments

If you’re one of those people who spent the last decade or two wondering what the Bernal Height library would look like if it didn’t have a mural painted on its facade, you’re now in luck. The old mural was removed last month and the new mural will go up sometime in the months ahead. Yet for now — and for the first time since the early 1980s — the library is sans mural.

In a way, it’s a little disorienting; kind of like seeing Gene Simmons without his Kiss makeup. But unlike Gene Simmons, our library’s looks seem to get better and better with the passage of time.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Halloween on Cortland for Your Little Monsters Starts at 4pm

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Late notice on this (not my fault!), but the Bernal Business Alliance will host their annual Halloween Stroll on Cortland this evening.

It’s intended to be kid-friendly, so bring your little monsters to see and be seen — and scoop up piles of candy — beginning at 4 pm.

Here are some Pro Tips from Miss Lynn of the BBA:

In the excitement about the Giants this weekend I had forgotten to send out our guidelines for Halloween on Cortland on Wednesday October 31, 2012 – so here they are:

  1. IMPORTANT: Cortland does not get closed off for Halloween – so if you are walking keep your eyes/ears open for traffic; if you are driving in the neighborhood, remember that the smallest trick-or-treaters will be out and about from around 4pm.
  2. Please do not cross on the diagonal.
  3. Stick with friends.
  4. The Library will be open on Wednesday until 9pm.
  5. Make sure you have a meeting place pre-agreed with friends/family before going out – the Library might be a great option.
  6. The stores and the Neighborhood Center will generally start early with their treats around 4pm.
  7. Stores will shut down at 8pm.

PHOTO: Bernalwood’s Cub Reporter with her best friend Eddie on Cortland for Halloween, 2009. Photo by Telstar Logistics

Today! Free Pumpkin Carving at The New Wheel

/ Todd_Lappin

The newfangled New Wheel bicycle shop is having a free pumpkin carving this afternoon, and you’re invited. Miss Karen from New Wheel says:

We are having a fabulous pumpkin carving event at The New Wheel on Monday from 4-8 pm. Carving is free, but it is a BYOK event (bring  your own knife).  It should be lots of fun and we’ll showcase Jack-o’-lanterns at the shop that are not taken home during Halloween trick-or-treat festivities!

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

Glamorous Scenes from Fiesta on the Hill 2012

/ Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

Fiesta on the Hill 2012

Fiesta on the Hill 2012

Fiesta on the Hill 2012

The only thing more joyful than a night spent celebrating the Giants’ epic victory over the St. Louis Cardinals to take the NLCS is a morning spent perusing photos taken during the epic 2012 Fiesta on the Hill last weekend.

Okay, the Giants win may be the one that ends up in the history books, but Fiesta on the hill was pretty great too. And here are bunch of pictures that show how just how much fun it was — and in true Bernal style.

I took a few of these photos, but the really, really great ones were taken by superstar photojournalist Adrian Mendoza.

Way to look glamorous, Bernal Heights!

Fiesta on the Hill 2012

Fiesta on the Hill 2012

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics and Adrian Mendoza

After Giants Win, a Gangnam Style Air Raid Celebration on Cortland

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Wooooooo! Wow! The Giants are headed to the World Series. Again. Woooooooooo!

I was at Wild Side West on Cortland when the final out clinched the Giants’ victory in Game 7 of the NLCS, and the scene was rather wonderful. Immediately after the game was won, someone put PSY’s  “Gangam Style” on the jukebox, and the whole place erupted into a dance party:

Then I wandered outside, just in time to catch a very happy dude cruising up the street while cranking a vintage air raid siren:

Woooooooo!

PHOTOS AND VIDEO: Telstar Logistics

Eji’s Ethiopian Has Tasty Opening in 331 Cortland Marketplace

/ Todd_Lappin / 8 Comments

There was a small party at 331 Cortland on Friday night to celebrate the glamorous grand opening of the Eji’s Ethiopian kiosk. Amid much rejoicing and poured cups of Ethiopian honey-wine, Miss Eji was on hand to hand out samples of her food. Your Bernalwood editor took some of Eji’s rolls for a test drive, and declared them yum.

Our foodie friends at EaterSF did the full write-up… so I don’t have to!

Eji’s Ethiopian (331 Cortland) is the newest tenant of the charming 331 Cortland Marketplace. La Cocina incubator graduate Eji Atlaw has taken over the space left vacant by Big Dipper Baby Food to serve both hot and prepared vegan foods like injera rolls, sauteed greens, and stir-fried turmeric cabbage alongside hot or iced thyme tea. Operating hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily; closed Thursdays.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

BYO-Bagism Up in Bernal Heights, Plus: Get a Free Canvas Tote This Weekend

/ Bronwyn Ximm

It’s been three weeks since the city instituted its 10-cent minimum charge for compostable, recycled paper, or reusable sacks at the checkout counter, and so far the policy seems to be an easy pill for Bernal Heights to swallow. (No big surprise there, since green is, after all, glamorous.)

A micro-interview with cashier Alex at the Good Life on Cortland indicates that the ordinance is having its intended effect:

Bernalwood: Have you noticed any difference in the bag situation recently?

Cashier Alex: We’re definitely seeing a lot more people bringing their own bags.

Bernalwood: What happens when they don’t?

Cashier Alex: Then we have to count up all the bags at the end and charge for them.

Bernalwood: Sounds like kind of a pain. Is it? 

Cashier Alex: A little bit.

If you need to add to your collection of reusable bags, make sure to find SF Environment’s booth at Fiesta on the Hill on Cortland Street this Sunday starting at 11 a.m. The fine folks there will be handing out nice ones as part of their consumer education campaign.

PHOTO: Bronwyn Ximm

Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!!! It’s Fiesta on the Hill 2012!!!

/ Todd_Lappin

Fiesta on the Hill, 2011

Fiesta on the Hill, 2011

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls… it’s that magical time of year again.

That’s right, Fiesta on the Hill 2012 is coming to Cortland this Sunday! Bernal’s very own Main Street USA will be closed to traffic, pedestrians will roam with impunity, and there will be lots and lots of kiddie rides, music, and cute animals on hand to keep Bernalese of all ages entertained:

Fiesta on the Hill is a community based, high-profile and energetic Festival with an attendance of over 20,000 friends and neighbors from San Francisco‘s Bernal Heights area, neighboring communities and the greater Bay Area. The event is in its 24th year and continues to grow.

The Festival benefits the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center whose mission it is to preserve and enhance the ethnic, cultural, and economic diversity of the Bernal Heights District of San Francisco and surrounding neighborhoods.

See you on Cortland this Sunday!

PHOTOS: Fiesta on the Hill 2011, by Telstar Logistics

It Is Gone: Old Bernal Heights Library Mural Painted Over

/ Todd_Lappin / 45 Comments



After a long and difficult community-focused mediation process, followed by additional delays triggered by opponents, the old Bernal Library mural was finally painted over today.

Next steps? Artist Ruben Rude will begin painting the Moultrie-side portion of the mural. Precita Eyes will begin the prep work on the Cortland facade, including an outline for the forthcoming tile work, so we’ll soon see the scope of the new design in actual size. (The Precita Eyes portion of the mural will be executed in hand-painted tile.) Ruben is expected complete his work this fall, but Precita Eyes will probably be hampered by winter weather, so the Cortland remuralizing may go into early next year.

Once again, this is the final design of the new murals:

PHOTOS: Repainting of the old mural this morning, by Telstar Logistics

Eji’s Ethiopian Joining the 331 Cortland Marketplace

/ Todd_Lappin / 11 Comments

That available space in the glamorous 331 Cortland marketplace is no longer available. Eji’s Ethiopan will be moving in soon:

We are proud to announce a new vendor at 331 Cortland who will be joining the marketplace in early October, just a few short weeks away. Her food is vegan, full of spicy goodness and totally yummy. Eji has been working with La Cocina to make her business a reality and we are happy she chose 331 as her next step. Please stop by, try her food and welcome her to the neighborhood!

La Cocina provides a little more background:

Growing up in the bustling, Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, Eji Atlaw spent much of her childhood in the kitchen with her four sisters and mother, learning to make homemade Ethiopian dishes. Food has always been a passion for Eji, and one that stuck with her as she built a new life in the United States. Eji decided to pursue what she loves, and join La Cocina to begin working on plans to start her own vegan Ethiopian business. Eji’s launched at the 2011 San Francisco Street Food Festival, and since then Eji has been working as a caterer and developing a line of sauces that showcase Ethiopian flavors, spices and local ingredients.

PHOTO: Ejigayehu Atlaw, via Eji’s Ethiopian

The Stray Bar Brunch: PBR, Football, and Free Hot Dogs

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

If it fills you with existential dread to contemplate the idea of spending yet another Sunday brunch nibbling on free-range organic buttermilk pancakes while chatting idly about the latest New York Times Magazine cover story, you’ll be pleased to know that the Stray Bar on Cortland now offers a more robust alternative:

Football season is here and Stray Bar is ready for you! We have the NFL Ticket and we are open every Sunday at 9:30AM so you can fill up on your favorite teams and hot dogs all day long! Enjoy $5 Bloody Mary’s, $2 Tecate, $3 Pabst Blue Ribbons from 10-2pm along with free hot dogs & popcorn. We have a first-come first-served policy, so arrive early if you want to see your game on one of our three TV’s at the front bar. Come early for a good seat at the bar!

If you ask nicely, the bartender may let you pour maple syrup over your hot dogs. Maybe.

PHOTO: The Stray Bar

Billboard Saga Part XXIII: Pro-Life Billboard Removed, Yet Hacked Again. Again.

/ Todd_Lappin / 73 Comments

Okay, follow along…

As of this morning, the controversial pro-life billboard on Cortland that was hacked, then replaced, then hacked again, and replaced again, has now been removed completely.

So the billboard is gone, but it has nevertheless been hacked again. Neighbor Andy sent along this photo, and explains:

The Bernal Heights / Pro Life billboard fight continues. It’s torn down now revealing a new message.

On the bright side, at least it’s a happy message.

PHOTO: Neighbor Andy