Cortland

People Are Talking About 3rd Cousin Restaurant on Cortland

/ Todd_Lappin / 40 Comments

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Recently, during a stroll on Cortland Avenue, your Bernalwood editor ran into Neighbor David. It was a sunny day, and Neighbor David was in grand spirits, because, he said, he was still high from the amazing dinner he’d had the night before at 3rd Cousin.

As you may recall, 3rd Cousin is the new restaurant at 919 Cortland, that used to be a popup called Kinfolk. 3rd Cousin is owned and run by Chef Greg Lutes, and as with every culinary entrepreneur, his effort to open 3rd Cousin in a permanent location has been an arduous labor of love and obsession. 919 Cortland used to be home to the somewhat less stylish Pizza Express, but now Chef Greg has transformed it into a casual venue for his elegant food with Michelin star aspirations. Crazy, right?

Anyway, when I bumped into him, Neighbor David gushed about the food at 3rd Cousin, which he described as being thoughtful and well-prepared but not too fussy. He said the prices at 3d Cousin are a on the higher side, but the quality of experience made it a worthy indulgence every once in a while.  And he said the desserts were mind-blowing.

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Hmmmmmmm! I thought.

Then, just a few days later, San Francisco Magazine published an article about “Four Restaurants We’re Crazy For.” 3rd Cousin was at the top of the list:

3rd Cousin
Bernal Heights
At the brick-and-mortar incarnation of his erstwhile Kinfolk pop-up, Greg Lutes serves cozy seasonal fare in an austere charcoal-gray dining room. A robust salad of baby mustard greens comes garnished with persimmon, garrotxa cheese, and dehydrated batons of purple yam, while grilled swordfish is rendered addictive by a shower of dukka, an Egyptian spice blend. Lutes’s strengths are best showcased in his savory uni crème brûlée: The caviar-topped number proves that you can teach an old dessert new, and impressive, tricks.

Frankly, I only understood about half of that.

But the point is, when both the critics and an actual man-on-the-street are talking about 3rd Cousin, that’s a strong indication something special is going on there. I’m looking forward to trying it out.

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics

The Faraday Cortland is a New Electric Bike Named After… Us!

/ Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

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It’s a well-known fact that transportation companies like to name their vehicles after glamorous locations in California.

When Chevrolet needed a name for their rugged all-season SUV, they chose to name it the Tahoe. When Chrysler needed a name for their luxury minivan, they called it the Pacifica. Chevy’s midsize car with affluent aspirations is the Malibu. And when San Francisco’s Faraday electric bicycle company needed a name for their ridiculously stylish (yet eminently practical) new machine, they decided to call it… the Cortland.

Yes! The Faraday Cortland is a new electric bicycle named after Bernal’s very own main street. Adam Vollmer, the founder of Faraday, even confirmed this:

Wow. How sexy is that??

Faraday says the Cortland offers “the perfect balance of style and utility,” which means the new bike is exactly like everyone who lives in Bernal Heights.

Unlike Bernal Heights, the Cortland offers easy access, thanks to a  new step-through frame design. Faraday’s Kickstarter page for preorders outlines some of the ebike’s other highlights:

With the Faraday Cortland, we’ve added an extra 20% of range, more efficient motor, upgraded software, and more. We’ve also made it more comfortable, more fun to ride, and, dare we say, more stylish with the introduction of a step-through frame.

Prices start at $1999 with the Kickstarter campaign discount, and of course we expect you’ll also be able to get a Cortland on Cortland, at Bernal’s much-loved local purveyor of newfangled electric bicycles.

Finally, here’s the promo video for the Cortland, produced in the self-parodying Cortlandia Portlandia style:

PHOTOS: Courtesy of Faraday

RIP Robert Nygard, a Familiar Character on Cortland Avenue

/ Todd_Lappin / 14 Comments

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We’re sad to report that Robert Nygard has passed away. Neighbor Robert was a familiar face on Cortland Avenue, but he died last weekend after he was struck by a car near Mission and 29th streets, a few days short of his 61st birthday.

Valerie Reichert, manager at the Bernal Heights Library, recalls:

Robert was part of the neighborhood’s old guard, and those of us working on Cortland chatted with him daily. When I came to work, Robert was always sitting with his coffee on the Neighborhood Center bench. He would shout across the street “Hey Lady! “and then give me the weather report.

Robert used the library pretty much every day and was a favorite with the staff. He was a teller of tall tales (which I fell for lock stock and barrel), convincing me last year it was his 80th birthday, when in fact he had added 20 years in order to ice the cake. Mr. Robert Nygard was definitely part of our Bernal landscape.

Neighbor Stacie from Little Bee Baking adds:

Robert was one of the older guys who hung out most every day at the Neighborhood Center or the library, and he came in to my shop regularly for ice cream. He also used to play the blues on his guitar outside the Neighborhood Center while I was getting my shop ready to open. (He was always really proud that he taught himself to play the guitar!) It’s just weird not seeing him after having seen him almost everyday for the past two-plus years.

PHOTO: Robert Nygard at the opening day for Little Bee Baking. Photo courtesy of Stacie Pierce.

Coming Soonish: The San Francisco Cafe and Creamery on Cortland

/ Todd_Lappin / 11 Comments

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Among the many questions brought to us by Bernalwood readers, one of the most frequent we hear these days is: “What’s going on with the creamery that’s supposed to go in to the former Bernal Heights Market at 800 Cortland, on the corner of Ellsworth?”

Indeed. As previously reported, the creamery on Cortland is a new project from by the family that created the [transformative] Harvest Hills Market on the Folsom end of Precita Park. It will be called the San Francisco Organic Cafe & Creamery.

Bernalwood has learned about an additional component to the plan: In parallel with the  San Francisco Organic Cafe & Creamery, the team also plans to launch a fleet of vintage trucks that have been painstakingly restored and converted into mobile ice cream stands. The Creamery will be a restaurant, but it will also function as a supply depot for the ice cream trucks. Here’s what the first truck looks like:

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So when will the Creamery open? What’s the hold up? The wait for opening day has been long.  Your Bernalwood editor has been asking the Creamery team about this for quite some time. Yet whenever we ask, we’re greeted with a fatalistic shrug and a cryptic grin that we’ve also seen on the face of just about every would-be entrepreneur who has tried to open a new food business in Bernal Heights. Over time, Bernalwood has come to understand the meaning of this gesture. It signifies: “I’m basically ready, but I am powerless in the face of a vast and indifferent bureaucracy, so I have no idea when my business will open.”

In the case of the Creamery on Cortland, that challenge is magnified, because there are lots of special statewide regulations that apply to dairy-based businesses. As Michael from Harvest Hills sarcastically explained,  “We’ve learned that getting a milk plant license in California is almost as hard as opening a nuclear power plant.”

Despite all that, opening day is getting closer, hopefully, and there are new signs in the windows of the creamery that explain what’s to come:

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Bernalwood also received some additional detail from Hannah and Gina on the Creamery team:

We are expecting late February or March for partial opening of the cafe and creamery. They’ll put up the awning next week and then the big yellow truck will start to be up there more often for a little retail time in the afternoons. The yellow truck has won the bid to be in the city parks, along with five other trucks like her that will have organic items from the cafe. We are not sure how soon the final legal leases will be finished and of course El Nino has to run his course. None of our trucks are box trucks; all of them are open-platform diner trucks – you can see more at dinertrucks.com

Seating and some decoration will hold us up another few weeks from opening the cafe to the public. We still have to get the big 80 quart mixer in and its really heavy. The pizza oven and baking oven fired up this week along with other new ovens. We’ve been making ice cream there and hope to start the bread for the store soon, along with organic cookies, cupcakes and pies .. These items will also make it to our stores and others in the Bay area in 2016.

We’ve tried to focus on organic items that we don’t see made in San Francisco. So it’s simple San Francisco Organic… The retail side of the company is the Cafe and Creamery. We hope you get a chance to come up once we are fully operational.

So there you have it. Pretty soon, hopefully, the San Francisco Organic Cafe and Creamery will open for business, serving homemade ice cream and food in a diner-style atmosphere. And if for any reason that doesn’t happen, we can take comfort in the knowledge that 800 Cortland may prove to be a more promising site for a nuclear reactor instead.

PHOTOS: Storefont by Telstar Logistics. Truck courtesy of San Francisco Organic Cafe and Creamery

UPDATED: Toddler Injured During Despicable Daytime Robbery and Assault

/ Todd_Lappin / 26 Comments

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A little after 3 pm last Friday, Jan. 8, a 2 year-old child in a stroller was injured during an armed robbery on Cortland Avenue near Prospect. KCBS reports:

San Francisco police said the assault took place at around 3:18 p.m. on Friday near the intersection of Cortland and Prospect avenues in the city.

Investigators said the man drove up in a black sedan, exited the vehicle with a gun and approached the woman. He knocked over a stroller, injuring the 2-year-old who hit her head on the sidewalk.

He then ripped the woman’s purse from her neck, demanded money and then struck her on the arm with his handgun.

The suspect then grabbed a tablet from the child and fled from the scene in the sedan, police said.

Both the mother and daughter were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Bernalwood is relieved that mother and daughter are doing okay, and we will update this story as additional details become available.

UPDATE, 10:30 am: Neighbor Sarah provides additional detail from Captain McFadden of SFPD’s Ingleside Station:

This happened near the community garden walkway at Cortland and Prospect. A woman was walking with her 2-year-old in a stroller. A car pulled up, and a juvenile (approx 13/14 years old) jumped out to grab the woman’s bag. In the struggle, the stroller got knocked over. The juvenile also took the kid’s tablet, then jumped back in the car, which sped off eastward.

The police believe they have an idea of where the juvenile may live – they think it may be one of the nearby public housing developments. The 2-year-old is OK, though I’m sure the whole experience was very frightening.  As reported, this was in the daytime, too – so rather surprising.

Thursday: Come All Ye Bernal, for the 2015 Holiday Stroll!

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

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Many many moons ago, in the time of the Bernal ancestors, a festive tribe of elves and druids lived in the lands we now call Bernal Heights. Each year, in anticipation of the winter solstice, these proto-Bernalese would gather on the pathway we now call Cortland Avenue to celebrate the arrival of the rains and the season of lights.

Today, tens of thousands of years later, the Bernal Business Association continues this ancient tradition, in the beloved form of the Cortland Holiday Stroll. The 2015 Stroll happens this Thursday, December 10, from 6 to 9 pm, and here are all the tasty details:

The Bernal Business Alliance and merchants will usher in the sixth annual Holiday Stroll all along Cortland Avenue in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood. Businesses will stay open later than usual, from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, December 10, 2015. Each participant will have one-­night specials for unique holiday gifts, and sometimes, giveaways or musical guests for the evening. Admission is free.

As in prior strolls, the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center will be accepting cash donations and new, unwrapped toys suitable for ages 0-­10 years old for their annual holiday Toy Drive at their office on 515 Cortland Avenue. Many of the Holiday Stroll participants will also have silver buckets at the registers for monetary donations. (Checks should be made payable to “Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center.” )Toys and donations will be accepted at the Center until December 15.

To date, about 30 brick­-and­-mortar and home­-based businesses will be participating, including:

  • Heartfelt, who will have grog, cookies made by owner Darcy Lee, music by one man band Brian Belknap and hidden gift certificates around the store
  • The Epicurean Trader, customers will receive free gift wrapping with purchase; in­store wine tasting and in­store discounts
  • Just in time for the season, Bernal Homeopathy will have for sale ready­to­go homeopathic remedy kits for trauma recovery plus cold & flu, for sale
  • Inclusions Gallery, celebrating its eighth year, will have live music and light refreshments to commemorate their anniversary
  • The Good Life Grocery will serve hot apple cider and other treats
  • Restaurants Vinorosso, Vega and Bernal Star will offer mulled wine
  • Anda’s Piroshki, of the 331 Marketplace on Cortland, will sample their Adjarian cheese bread
  • Bernal Library will be giving away free books on the deck facing Cortland
  • Lama’s Ken Po students will demonstrate karate and will off $30 off a two­month introductory special
  • Kingmond Young Photography will have snacks, drinks and a guest artist
  • The Lucky Horseshoe will have complimentary snacks and drink specials
  • Succulence will have snacks and drink as well
  • Pinhole Coffee will have vendors selling Cork Maps, Jewelry, Knitwear, Greeting Cards. The coffee bar will be open for coffee, peppermint hot chocolates, and Red Blossom Teas. 

Several other businesses will have one­-night only discounts to kick off your holiday shopping, including:

  • Bernal Beast
  • Arts of Balance, 20% off seasonal packages
  • The Cutting Edge Salon and Sandy Owens Massage and Healing will hold a raffle for a complimentary massage session or energy reading, as well as $15 off coupons for a future session or gift certificate for the holidays.
  •  fitBERNALfit
  •  Little Bee Baking

For more information about the event, visit bernalbusiness.org

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PHOTOS: Top, Holiday Strolls of Years Past, by Telstar Logistics

Today: Grand Opening Party for Neighbor Darcy’s “Heartfelt Ampersand” Boutique

/ Todd_Lappin

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It’s been a few weeks since Neighbor Darcy Lee of Heartfelt fame opened “Heartfelt Ampersand,” her new boutique a few doors up the street at 409 Cortland.

Now that she’s settled in, Neighbor Darcy is finally ready to have a proper opening party, and word on the street is you’re invited. She says:

We’re having an opening party!

Please stop by for a bit of bubbly, some tasty treats, and live tunes, Tuesday December 1st, from 4 to 8pm.

The infamous Brian Belknap will be playing, and there will be champagne and cookies from Dianda’s.

Bonus: Wear a frock or sundry from Ampersand and get a 25% discount on a new purchase. See you there!

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PHOTO: Courtesy of Heartfelt &

Healthy Spirits Now Open on Cortland, with a Grand Opening Sale on Saturday

/ Todd_Lappin / 9 Comments

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It’s finally open. After weeks of curiosity and voyeuristic speculation, the Healthy Spirits liquor store has opened at 249 Cortland, inside the former Chuck’s Grocery space.

The opening of a liquor store would not typically warrant much attention, but Healthy Spirits is not a typical boozemonger; The new Cortland branch is the third outpost in the Healthy Spirits family, which is regarded as one of the City’s more esteemed purveyors of whiskey and agave spirits.

Store manager Nate Breed brings Bernalwood the 411, and extends an invitation to a special grand opening sale on Saturday, Nov. 28:

We’ve now officially opened Healthy Spirits Cortland.

So we are absolutely thrilled to be a part of the Bernal Heights community, and we look forward to what we can add to the neighborhood. Our first shop was founded in 1998 in the Castro District, so we’ve had about 17 years to perfect and evolve who we are and what we do. Our main areas of expertise are beer, whiskey and agave (tequila and mezcal), but everything we carry is hand-selected and extremely quality-focused.

One of our most important goals is consumer education. We strive to have the most knowledgeable and dedicated staff that can make beer and spirits consumption into an immersive, informative and exciting experience. This notion over the years has helped us provide great customer service, but it also breeds an environment that’s accessible for both the novice and connoisseur alike.

Another chance for education lies in our Beer, Bourbon and Agave Clubs, that feature advanced monthly selections with detailed write-ups and interviews with the distillers and brewers themselves. The clubs come with an awful lot of perks, including discounts, first shot at limited releases and occasional free tickets to beer and spirit events. We also strongly believe in supporting local breweries and distilleries while seeking out the esoteric and saving a special place for the classics. It’s important for us to not only understand how something is made and what it tastes like, but also where it’s made and by who.

Anyway that’s Healthy Spirits in a nut shell. And we’d like to extend a special invitation to all your Bernalwood readers to attend our Grand Opening Celebration on Small Business Saturday November 28th at 11am.

We will be giving away free swag all day and having some unbelievable sales: 10 to 40% off everything in the shop. We’ll also be raffling off the right to buy extremely rare bottles of whiskey like Pappy Van Winkle, Buffalo Trace Antique, Four Rose Limited 2015 and St George Single Malt the first 5 hours, and putting other rare and vintage beer and whiskies on the shelf when the doors open. Come early, as the best deals and rarest selections tend to go fast.

Store hours are:

Monday-Thursday: 11am to 10pm
Friday-Saturday: 11am to 11pm
Sunday: 11am to 9pm

See you at the shop!

Nate

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Sandwich-Making Robot in Andi’s Market Looks Like Terminator, Tastes Like Proust

/ Todd_Lappin / 13 Comments

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Last week, a new worker joined the staff at Andi’s Market on Cortland Avenue: a fully automated, sandwich-making robot. Created by Bistrobot, the newfangled machine makes peanut butter sandwiches on fancy white bread with your choice of honey, blackberry jam, sweet chili, or chocolate sauce.

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Bistrobot CTO Hamid Sani tells Bernalwood:

The machine at the Andi’s market is our first deployed automated sandwich maker. The machine is placed inside the store and the customer can place an order through a tablet kiosk, pay $2 (cash or credit), and watch our robot make them a custom sandwich. Simple as that.

Bistrobot is a startup that recently graduated from Y Combinator. We have a small but dedicated team with the goal of making robotic platforms that can make food, starting with sandwiches.

Neighbor Flo adds that some Bernal Heights DNA flows deep within the Bistrobot’s mechanized heart:

I live on Ellsworth St. My nephew, Steve Littell, is a chef and machinist from Chicago who came to SF with five engineer start-up buddies for the purpose of making this machine and others like it with more sophistication. My nephew now lives on Ellsworth St. too!

Locavore robots! Perhaps this was inevitable.

Neighbor Darcy filmed a video of the sandwichbot in action:

Yesterday, your Bernalwood editor visited Andi’s to conduct my own taste test of our robotic sandwich future. I ordered a peanut butter and honey sandwich, and when it emerged from the Bistrobot’s mechanical maw, it looked like this:

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And the taste? Well, it tasted just like a sandwich mom would have made — if mom was a faceless automaton who looked like a mutant Lionel train set encased in a transparent plastic box. As a culinary experience, it was certainly worthy of any school lunchbox. As an entertainment experience, it was far more tasty than anything you’d get at the Musée Méchanique — and much closer to home too.

But don’t take my word for it. Stop by Andi’s Market, 820 Cortland (between Ellsworth and Gates) and command the Bistrobot to make you a sandwich.  Do it while you still can, because today, the sandwich robot works for you. Someday, however, you may work for it.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics. Video courtesy of Darcy Lee

Saturday: Bring Your Little Monsters to Cortland for Halloween

/ Todd_Lappin / 6 Comments

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For tens of thousands of years, the merchants of Cortland Avenue have opened their doors during the evening hours on October 31st and put out candy baskets for children, so that families in Bernal Heights can introduce their kids to the rituals of Halloween in locavore safety and style.

This year, that ancient tradition continues, and Neighbor Darcy from Heartfelt brings the details:

Bernal Heights Halloween festivities take place on Saturday, October 31st. The merchants on Cortland start giving out candy for the wee crowd at 4:30-5:00 p.m.

Please take note that Cortland is not closed off to vehicle traffic. Please talk to your trick or treaters and ask them to abide by some basic safety rules:

  1. Look both ways before crossing the street. Use established
    crosswalks wherever possible and please use the sidewalks
    do not walk in the street.
  2. Carry a flashlight and/or put reflective tape on your costume.
  3. Trick or treat with friends or adults.

Have a super time, it is a wonderful night in Bernal and we hope this is a grand one.

Love,
Darcy, aka the queen that night

Looking for some last-minute costume ideas? Check out these greatest-hits galleries of Bernal costumes from 2012 and 2013. But it may be tough to beat the incredible, interactive video costume Neighbor Dan Rosenfeld created:

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ALSO, please share your photos of Bernal Halloween 2015 costumes with us during the weekend, so we can do a greatest hits costume roundup for this year too.  Send your costume photos to bernalwood *at* gmail dot-com.

PHOTOS: Top, Neighbor Goldilocks and Two Bears, spotted on Cortland Avenue during Halloween 2013. Below, Big Head Dan. All photos by Adrian Mendoza. 

Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!!! It’s Fiesta on the Hill 2015!

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

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Clear your dance cards, save the date, and start getting your kiddies fired up, because the epic Fiesta on the Hill happens this Sunday, October 25, on fabulous Cortland Avenue here in Bernal Heights.

Fiesta is the once-a-year occasion when Bernal’s very own Main Street USA shuts down to traffic so pedestrians can roam with impunity in an urban playland for fun-loving locavores. It’s a Bernalese bounty of tasty food, artisanal offerings, bumping beats, and plenty of games and attractions to divert the surplus energies of overstimulated children. And it’s all to benefit the esteemed Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center.

Organizer Genevieve Roja shared this preview of Sunday’s attractions:

This the biggest fundraising event of the year for the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, which is both the host and beneficiary of Fiesta on the Hill, which is now in its 27th year.

This year we will be doing a drawing of some nifty gift certificates from brick-and-mortar-based and home-based Bernal businesses. We’ve got a pretty luxe knife set from Bernalian and local realtor Michael Minson; a $150 gift cert from ICHI; $50 value gift certs from Pinhole Coffee, Bernal Homeopathy, 12 Small Things and Cafe St. Jorge, and more.

There will be a lot of Bernal musicians playing on the Main Stage, and lots of them were born and raised in Bernal:

  • 10:00-11:15 a.m.: Trio Pizzicato (Bernal based) Stage: Main
  • 11:25-11:35 a.m.: BHNC Senior Chorus not confirmed yet .Stage: Main
  • 11:50-12:30 p.m. // HEADLINER #1: 35 Years of Trouble // TBD (bluegrass, kids) Stage: Main
  • 12:55-1:40 p.m. // HEADLINER #2: Soul Society (jazz funk, Bernal members) Stage: Main
  • 2-3:30 p.m. // HEADLINER #3 // Adelante (salsa). Bernal based members. Stage: Main

Finally, we’ve also added a smaller stage in front of BHNC this year. That’s where you can see:

  • The View from Bernal Hill
  • Lunch Money

Fiesta on the Hill poster

PHOTOS: Scenes from Fiestas past, by Telstar Logistics

Thursday: Celebrate Little Bee Baking’s Second Birthday

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

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Corrected: Oopla. An earlier version of this post contained an incorrect date for the Little Bee festivities. The fun happens on Thursday, Oct. 15.

Here’s something sweet: Though it seems like just yesterday when Neighbor Stacie Pierce opened up the fabulous Little Bee Baking on Cortland, Bernalwood is reliably informed that the glamorous Little Bee grand opening actually happened two whole years ago. Also, because of that, we are reliably informed that festivities are in order.

Neighbor Stacie from Little Bee tells us:

It is with much joy and gratitude that I invite our friends and neighbors to celebrate Little Bee Baking’s turning 2! To say it’s hard to believe that two years has past already is an understatement, and I am truly humbled by all the support and love shown to us since we opened our doors.

I’m so happy to live and work in such an amazing community of people, and Little Bee looks forward to many more years on Cortland Avenue.

Stop by this Thursday 10/15 from 10am-6pm – mini cakes, brownies, tarts, ice cream cones and beverages will be just $2

Can’t wait to celebrate with you!

Love,
Stacie and the Little Bee family

Big Bernal congratulations and high-fives to Little Bee, and thanks for all the delicious.

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IMAGE: Neighbor Stacie of Little Bee Baking

Saturday: Celebrate at the Bernal Heights Library’s Gala 75th Anniversary Party

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

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Bernal Heights Library Dedication, October 20, 1940

Bernal Heights Library Dedication, October 20, 1940

Its not hyperbole to say that the Bernal Heights Branch Library is a pillar of our community, and we are incredibly lucky to have it. The building is lovely, the role it plays is invaluable, and the library staff work hard to make it all happen.

Our library turns 75 this weekend, and Bernal branch manager Valerie Reichert wants you to come to the birthday party:

We are having our 75th Anniversary on Saturday!

Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Bernal Heights Branch!
Saturday, October 10th 1:30- 4:00 pm

The Bernal Heights Branch is 75 years old. Come share stories and help celebrate our beautiful WPA branch built in 1940. Activities include : San Francisco Mandolin Orchestra, crafts making in the Children’s Room, refreshments and history slide shows. Volunteers and staff will invite you to record your “Hot Bernal Minute” which will be captured on iPads.

Fun! But let’s back up. Where did our glamorous library come from?

Here’s the basic history:

The Bernal Branch as a “library deposit station” was established in 1920 at 303 Cortland Avenue. As the neighborhood and library grew, it was moved, in 1936, to 324 Cortland. When that proved inadequate the neighbors lobbied for a new building.

The one floor branch library at 500 Cortland, was the 21st in the system and built on the site of the original Bernal School at a cost of $94,600. It was designed by Frederick H. Meyer, one of the most prolific and versatile architects in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century, funded by the Work Projects Administration and dedicated on October 21, 1940.

After 68 years of use, the branch closed for renovation, as part of the Branch Library Improvement Project, in February 2008. The renovation, with a budget of $5.7 million, was designed by staff of the City’s Bureau of Architecture under the supervision of Andrew Maloney. His design is an intelligent and elegant response to Meyer’s building which originally devoted only the upper level to library purposes, and incorporates such modernizations as ADA accessibility, and seismic and technological upgrades.

Thank you, FDR! See you on Saturday.

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PHOTOS: Top, Bernal library, circa 1940, via SFPL Online Historical Photo Archive. Below, parade on Cortland for the Bernal Heights Library, October 20, 1940. Via Living New Deal.