Events

Friday: Celebrate Secession Art & Design’s Fifth Anniversary

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

Secession Art & Design is a Bernalwood treasure. Part creative studio, part art gallery, part fashion boutique, owner Eden Stein’s store on Mission (at 30th, across from Safeway) is a stylish labor of love.

Happily, Secession will celebrate its Fifth Anniversary on Friday evening:

Join us for our 5th Anniversary Party at Secession
Friday, August 10, 6:30 -9:30pm

Extralars will DJ, Inna Jam is doing a jam tasting, wine will flow, and you’ll get a chance to meet our in-house and featured artists. If you are not able to make the party you can stop by to say hello Tuesday thru Sunday,12-7pm.

Secession Art & Design opened its doors 5 years ago with ambition, creativity, and dedication to community. Many people were surprised we chose this location, but the location chose us. 5 years later, our gallery and boutique showcases 50 artists and designers in “The Bernal Flats,” a neighborhood that is bustling with amazing restaurants, bars, boutiques, and galleries. Our inspiration has been to create a movement where the customer and the maker can feel connected. Our two in-house studios nestled in our boutique give clients an opportunity to experience process. A fresh approach to curating encourages our customers to come every two months to see our new collection of art, clothing, and jewelry.

Bonus! The current show at includes this Bernal-inspired piece by artist Hilary Williams:

Singing Out the Fabric of Morning” by Hilary Williams. 2012 Bernal Heights painting using acrylic and screen printing on fabric and wood.

PHOTO: Top, Eden Stein inside Secession, by Julie Michelle

BHNC Hosts Meeting About Upcoming Alemany Night Market

/ Todd_Lappin

You might have heard about the upcoming Street Food Festival that will happen on Folsom Street and 22nd on Saturday, August 18. However, you may not have heard about the first-ever Alemany Night Market that will happen the evening before, on Friday night, August 17, right here in glamorous Bernalwood.

Brilliant!!! Such a great idea!!! Mark your calendars.

Rachel from the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center tells us there will be a meeting at 6:30 pm BHNC tomorrow to discuss the Alemany Night Market, and all are welcome to attend:

La Cocina, a non-profit incubator kitchen providing affordable commercial kitchen space and hands-on technical assistance to low-income and immigrant women entrepreneurs, is hosting the first ever San Francisco Night Market at Alemany Market on Friday, August 17th. Alemany has been the proud launching point of La Cocina vendors like Azalina’s Malaysian, El Huarache Loco, Sabores del Sur, Estrellita’s Snacks and several more. BHNC is hosting a community meeting for La Cocina on Thursday, 8/2 at 6:30 PM to make sure community members have a chance to get more information about the evening event, expectations and ways to get involved. Food will be provided by La Cocina business and Cortland business Anda Piroshki. For more information about the La Cocina Community Meeting, please contact caleb AT lacocina DOT org.

More details about the event in this spiffy poster:

Meet the Winner of the Bernalwood Air Guitar Photo Contest

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

Citizens of Bernalwood, let the record show that Neighbor Clarissa rocks.

That’s Clarissa up above, and that’s the photo she submitted as her entry in the Bernalwood Air Guitar Photo Contest to win a pair of tickets to the glamorous Noisette Food and Music Festival this coming weekend.

Like a true rockstar, Clarissa gets the details right: A dazzling light show in the background, visible from her stage on Bernal Hill. Perfect aerial technique. Agile hands clutching her invisible instrument. And a face that exudes pure heavy metal intensity. Fabulous.

Citizens of Bernalwood, let the record show that Neighbor Clarissa is the winner of our contest, and she’ll be rocking out at the Noisette festival this weekend. Woooooo! Wooooo! (Hold up your lighters, people.) Congrats!!!

Now let’s check out a few of our other wannabe rockers.  Meet Neighbor Toki, our First Runner-Up:

Toki jams the air guitar from Bocana Street, and apart from having great form, this little rockstar has big style — check out those Vans and his dope indie-style sweater! A total natural. Sweeeeeeeeet!

Our Second Runner-Up is Neighbor Carmen:

Carmen blasts her invisible electric guitar through an invisible amp powered by the new solar charging station in front of the New Wheel bicycle shop. Bonus eco-style points for that, as well as those retro New Wave shades.

Many thanks to everyone who rocked out with Bernalwood for this contest, and to our friends from NoisePop for providing us with a pair Noisette tickets to give away. And most of all, big standing ovation to Neighbor Clarissa, for rocking the hardest.

Join a Meetup for Artists on Bernal Hill, Saturday

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

 

Neighbor Laurie is leading another meetup for visual artists on Bernal Hill tomorrow:

It’s been 5 months since I set up the SF Sketchers Meetup group, and we’re got another meetup coming up on the Hill this Saturday, July 28.

We had our very first meetup on Bernal Hill because I thought no-one would come, and I figured that if I was feeling lonely and miserable, at least it would be a short walk home.

Much to my surprise, a bunch of people turned up — and they’ve kept on coming. The meetup group currently has 223 members and the meter is ticking over steadily as new ones come in. Fortunately they don’t all come at once: for any given meetup 5-10 people will actually show — just about the ideal number because you can fit that many people around a cafe table to share sketchbooks at the end.

You can read more about this Saturday’s meetup or go see the sketches posted by the group for each of the 21 meetups we’ve had so far. I try to make sure that one event is scheduled each weekend (last weekend we had 3 events, but that’s unusual). This is not a class, but it’s easy to learn things from seeing what other people are doing. There is a wide range of artistic skill and experience; the only requirement is that people have figured out that they want to do this.

IMAGE: Watercolor by Neighbor Laurie

Bernal Writer Hosts Tasty Event for New Cookbook at Heartfelt, Tomorrow

/ Todd_Lappin

Neighbor Juliana is a certified member of the Bernalwood Writer Corps, and she’s having an event at Heartfelt tomorrow to discuss her tasty new book, The Lazy Gourmet: Magnificent Meals Made Easy. She says:

I am very excited to be able to share with you, and hopefully my fellow Bernalwood readers, the news of this event that I’m doing at Heartfelt on July 21. I’m an SF native who moved to Bernal about 6 months ago, and of course I already love it and feel right at home.

My coauthor, Robin Donovan, and I will be at Heartfelt (436 Cortland) on Saturday, July 21st at 2pm. We’ll be talking about our cookbook, The Lazy Gourmet, and we’ll bring snacks, too. I’ve been wanting to do a Bernal event ever since my move and can’t wait to meet some more friendly neighbors.

PHOTO: Julliana Gallin (left) and Robin Donovan

How to Win Two Free Tickets to The Noisette Festival

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Noisette is a “culinary concert block party” that will take place in the Mission District on August 4. Combining food from glamorous local chefs with music by glamorous musicians, Noisette is a pop-up extension of the annual Noise Pop Music Festival that has become a mainstay of the San Francisco alt/indie music scene.

What you may not realize however, is that both Noisette and Noise Pop have deep roots in Bernal Heights. Long story short, these festivals are organized in collaboration with  Zeitgeist Artist Management, and the brain trust for Zeitgeist lives right here, among us, in Bernal Heights — which only confirms Bernalwood’s longstanding contention that everyone in Bernal Heights is a rockstar. Here are the details about Noisette:

WHAT: Presented by Noise Pop and Finger on the Pulse, Noisette- a culinary concert block party- will kick off the inaugural event in San Francisco on August 4th. This delicious summer feast and dance party will feature some of the city’s best up-and-coming chefs and a variety of indie bands and DJs.

WHEN: Saturday, August 4th from 1-5 p.m. VIP hour: 12-1 p.m.

WHERE: Public Works (Mission) 161 Erie Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

WHO: THE CHEFS-Noisette will host eight of the hottest chefs from the Bay Area’s highly influential culinary scene. Each chef has been tasked to create a unique dish inspired by seasonal summer cuisine. Confirmed chefs: Adam Dulye (The Monk’s Kettle and Abbots Cellar), Jason Fox (Commonwealth), Dennis Lee (Namu Gaji), Ian Marks (Beast and the Hare), Ryan Pollnow (flour + water), Mike Selvera (Bar Crudo), Arthur Wall (Garcon!), and Blair Warsham (graffEats).

THE MUSIC- Noisette’s diverse lineup of bands from the alternative and independent music scenes reflects Noise Pop’s mission of bringing innovative, quality music to a discerning and passionate audience. Confirmed talent: Dodos, Pillowfight – featuring Dan the Automator, Emily Wells and Kid Koala, Craft Spells and Taken by Trees. Confirmed DJ’s: Snacky Tunes, Nanosaur and Chad Salty will spin from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. and between sets.

You can buy tickets to Noisette here. However, if you act now, Bernalwood has a pair of Noisette tickets that we will give away to a lucky Bernalwood reader. But like a true rockstar, you will have to work for it. Here’s the gig:

Bernalwood will award a free pair of Noisette tickets to the person who sends us the best photograph of themselves playing air guitar somewhere on the streets of Bernal Heights.

Got that? It’s pretty simple: You and a pal pair up to take a photo of one of you playing air guitar somewhere on the streets of Bernal Heights. You rock, your pal takes the photo. Or vice versa. Make it awesome, and you’ll win the pair of tickets to Noisette.

Rules and Caveats: Send your photo to us at bernalwood *at* gmail *dot* com. Along with your photo, please tell us your first name, and where you were in Bernal Heights when you took your photo. Mobile phone pictures are just fine; please send images at least 900 pixels wide. Air guitar style is more important than photographic excellence, but the ideal winner will combine the two. Any photo submitted for this contest may be published on the glamorous pages of Bernalwood. Energetic air guitar preferred; wan singer-songwriter types participate at their own risk. Contest ends at noon on Monday, July 30, 2012. Images from the winner, and select runners-up, will be published on Bernalwood.

Work on your style, find a scenic spot in Bernal Heights, pair up with a photog, and send us your photo by 12 noon on Wednesday, July 25, 2012. Rock on, Bernalwood!

UPDATE: Photo deadlines deadline has been extended until Monday, July 30. Send your pics to win two free tix! 

Super-Chic Art Opening at Inclusions, Saturday

/ Todd_Lappin

Miss Lisa from the Inclusions Gallery on Cortland brings word of a glamorous art opening on Saturday evening:

Bay Area artist Sawyer Rose uses glass, metal and LED lights to create glowing, textured lightboxes. Painting with a soldering iron like a brush, she allows hot solder to set organically over thick architectural glass. Behind the glass, layered ink paintings are lit by tiny lights that shine like fireflies or stars. Rose’s current project is a series of lightboxes entitled “NATIVE: California Plants in Glass, Metal & Light.” The show also features a website with details about the California native species in the series. Rose will be donating 5% of proceeds to the California Native Plant Society from pieces depicting endangered species.

Sawyer Rose

NATIVE: California Plants in Glass Metal & Light
July 14 – August 12, 2012
Opening reception: Saturday, July 14 / 5:00-7:00 pm
Artist talk: thursday July 19 / 7:00 pm

Sell Your Extra Stuff at the 2012 Bernal Hillwide Garage Sale

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

Neighbor Lynn from the glamorous Bernal Business Alliance wants to give all the Citizens of Bernalwood a heads-up about the upcoming 2012 Bernal Hillwide Garage Sale. If you’ve been looking for an excuse (or an exogenous kick in the butt), this will be an excellent opportunity to declutter your crib:

We are just getting set up for the Hillwide Garage sale scheduled for August 11th, 2012, and we wanted to give Bernal residents advance notice that they can now get their garage listed on our super-duper Google Map – to avoid some of the last minute rush.

All of the details are on the BBA website. including the flyer and instructions on how to get their listing in place, which are as follows:

If you’d like to get onto our Hillwide Google map please email the following details to bernalbusiness AT gmail DOT com, no later than noon PT on Friday August 10th. Send us:

• the street address of where people can find you
• a short description of what you’ll have at your location (max 140 characters!)

There are no registration or listing fees, but we’d like to suggest that you make a donation of $5 (and up) to the BHNC using the donate button here.

Photos of the July 4th Fireworks as Seen from Bernal Hill

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Ah, the rituals of summer in San Francisco: BBQ, fog, more fog, and then some fog, punctuated by the annual Fourth of July fireworks show, which is rather fabulous from atop Bernal Hill. Even in the fog.

The fashionistas at 7×7 magazine published a glamorous online gallery of the 2012 Fourth of July fireworks displays (both officially sanctioned and not), as seen from our always-fashionable vista atop Bernal Hill. Note also: Fog.

H/T: Neighbor Rebecca
PHOTOS Joseph Schell

The 2012 Summer Solstice Stroll on Cortland, TOMORROW

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Cortland Summer Stroll 2011

Tens of thousands of years ago, an ancient tribe of druids gathered in the area that we now know of as Cortlandia for an annual event to mark the longest day of the year. During this yearly ceremony, our proto-Bernalese ancestors celebrated the arrival of the summer season with a gala festival of food, music, fermented drinks, and handicrafts.

Fast forward to 2012, and our local merchants have opted to revive this prehistoric ritual by inviting all the Citizens of Bernalwood to gather on Cortland Street during the longest day of the year, tomorrow evening, June 21st, to enjoy the glamorous 2012 Summer Solstice Stroll!

The Bernal Business Alliance and Bernal Bucks invite you to the second Summer Solstice Stroll on Cortland Avenue:

Thursday, June 21, 6pm – 9pm on Cortland Avenue

Summer Solstice Stroll in Bernal!

The evening will include food tastings, business promotions, shopping, drinking, performances, and music!

If this year’s Stroll is anything at all like last year’s, it will be good clean fun for modern druids of all ages.

PHOTO: 2011 Summer Solstice Stroll, by Telstar Logistics

Beastly Babies and Fun for Kids at Heartfelt, Sunday

/ Todd_Lappin

Miss Darcy from Heartfelt on Cortland tells us that her store will host a kid-centric event at 2 pm on Sunday, with a a few special guest stars: two chickens, a duck, a rabbit… and maybe even a baby goat. Oh, and they all live in Bernal Heights.

The event is a celebration for the newest book in the Mrs. Mustard oeuvre, Mrs. Mustard’s Beastly Babies. And just like the chickens, the duck, the rabbit, and maybe the baby goat, Mrs. Mustard herself — aka Jane Wattenberg — also lives here in Bernalwood.

Here’s everything you need to know: