No Photoshop retouching or color-enhancement here; This is a straight-from-the-camera photo of an intensely colorful Bougainvillea on Crescent Street that’s currently broadcasting to the entire neighborhood in intense, Technicolor purple.
Strap on your sunglasses as we zoom in for a closer look… if you dare:
Whoooooa.
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
Wow. Wow! WOW! If ever there was a story that epitomizes the spirit of Bernalwood (apart from our collective obsession with celebrity, glamour, and haute couture), it is this…
As you may recall, last week Bernalwood published a post about The Ugliest Spot in Bernal Heights, a barren patch of east slope hillside overlooking Highway 101 and the Spaghetti Bowl. Well, upon reading that post, a few of your Bernal neighbors decided to do something about it, and they volunteered to spend time on Saturday cleaning up the hillside mess. Yup, that’s right: They stepped up to clean the mess!
Neighbor Mia talks about the cleanup effort on her blog:
This Saturday, me and Josh headed over to give it a quick clean up, which took about an hour. You can see the rest of the results in my flickr stream.
There was a fair amount of trash strewn around, and a real mess of broken wood and bits of concrete and stone. It looked like most of this junk may have come from a nearby fence renovation project.
First we removed the graffiti from the sign, with a spray cleanerthat worked surprisingly well. We then used the discarded building and fence supplies to make a bench (where one can sit and contemplate “progress”) and couple of cairns/shrines/ompahli (depending on what you like to call a pile of rocks).
Here’s a photo of that ad hoc new bench:
So if you see a tear rolling down my cheek right now, please know that I’m not existentially bummed out like that sad Native American (who was really Italian-American) in the “Keep America Beautiful” commercial. No, these are tears of pride and admiration for the infinite awesomeness of the Citizens of Bernalwood.
THANK YOU to Neighbor Mia and the rest of her Cleanup Crüe for a job well done.
PHOTOS: Neighbor Mia
Fellow Bernalwoodians, we have our first Blackberry Alert of the season.
Reader Leslie sent along this photo, which was taken at approximately 6:54 this morning. She reports the blackberries were spotted in a bramble alongside Folsom Street, at the foot of the park portion of the Hill. Leslie said “the texture was firm and the flavor was tart, but still delicious,” adding that “it’s not a full situation yet, but definitely worth watching.”
Koan: If a tree falls on Eugenia Street when all the neighbors are home, does it still make a sound?
Answer: Absofrikkinlutely!
Reader Danny sent us this dramatic tale of gravity-induced mayhem and neighborly solidarity that occurred last night, along with the essential post-disaster photograph:
Sorry for blurry night-picture, but rest assured the entire United States of Eugenia and Bonview were out taking more pictures for quite some time after it fell. Hopefully somebody managed to take a pic that conveyed the majesty of the fallen giant, which is currently blocking both theoretical lanes of Eugenia.
It’s actually just one of the bigger branches of the eucalyptus trees that line this block. One neighbor, who was heaving an axe at the obstruction within minutes, and who gave his name as “John Bunyan,” said the trees were planted in the seventies by another long-time Bernal resident, “who was feeling civic-minded.”
The eucalypti still mostly tower over the houses here, but they have a bit of a reputation for sudden falls from grace. Last halloween the same tree shed another branch, falling on a (fortunately well protected) pick-up truck.
This time was even luckier. The branch, which was about forty feet long and pretty hefty, managed to fall neatly into the one open parking spot on the block. Even though Eugenia is blocked, no-one was hurt, and the top fronds are only lightly draping themselves on the car parked on the other side of the road. Still, somebody is in for a shock when they wake up tomorrow.
In case you want a little warning when a tree falls near you, here’s the sound it makes, as heard by most of the street. First it sounds like “somebody stepping on cardboard boxes,” then “a bunch of firecrackers going off, but a bit too quiet.” Then comes the crash, and the impromptu block party when everyone comes out to see what the hell just happened.
The 311 case number is 906301. Not sure if it’s this the final death-knell for the rest of the tree, but we’re all looking a bit more cautiously at what remains.
PHOTO: Reader Danny (top), Reader Jason (below)
There’s lots more goodness where this came from — and always great stuff — at the My Back 40 (Feet) blog, published by another one of your astute Bernal Heights neighbors. Most definitely worth a bookmark.
PHOTOS: Chuck B
Contrary to the way it may appear, that spiffy area of freshly landscaped land on the northeast corner of Bernal Hill (on Bernal Heights Boulevard between Carver and Bradford) is NOT part of the new house that sits right behind it.
Rather, it’s a new public park on public land created by a group of volunteers called Friends of Bernal Gardens. The project is called Vista Pointe Gardens, and after months of unpaid hard work, the build-out is complete.
Readers who are not native to Bernalwood might be forgiven for saying, “Yeah. Cute. Nice lanscaping. Whatever.”
That would be a mistake, however, because the locals all know the tip: Our new Vista Pointe offers a multi-billion dollar view of downtown San Francisco, in a comfy parquito that will provide a nice alternative to the unmanicured wilds of Bernal Hill. Put another way, this is a superb new location for simple picnics, sunset Happy Hours, or hipster weddings.
So Vista Pointe is pretty fabulous. Savor it, enjoy the view, protect it, and THANK YOU to everyone who helped make this happen.
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
Hat Tip: @MrCleanSF
The BIA’s Agent Aaron has either discovered a classic example of the Bernalwood creative impulse, OR a mutant form of hybrid Bryophyta-Homo Sapien life that could earn him a National Enquirer cover story… if not a Nobel Prize.
Aaron writes:
Spotted this creative use of the meter reading hole on the corner of Bocana & Eugenia today and thought we would share it — this is what we love about Bernalwood!
Take a closer look, and here’s what you see…
Now, let’s peek inside… IF YOU DARE!!!!
Prediction: Mossquatch is embraced as folk hero by Bernal Heights vegans, becomes raw food spokesmonster, develops political aspirations, defeats David Campos (the “rumored omnivore”) for D9 Supervisor’s seat, serves two terms in Board of Supes, runs for Mayor of San Francisco, and, after hard-fought campaign, elected by mudslide in 2019.
You heard it here first.
PHOTOS: Agent Aaron
Last week’s post about succulent theft prompted many Bernal residents to report that they too had been the victims of larcenous pruning. But who are the culprits? What kind of person steals plants from residential yards???
The guy shown above is a prime suspect. Reader X of the Bernalwood Intelligence Agency photographed this man shortly after he clipped a plant from a West Bernal yard last week. Our agent writes:
I witnessed this older man cutting succulents at the intersection of Coso, Montezuma and Mirabel at 8:50am. I asked him to stop, took his photo and watched him walk home to a yellow 4 story apt building on Cesar Chavez, 4 buildings east of Mission and next to the red building with the “Chicken John” mural. Provided all this info to the Ingelside police station but they refused to send a car and after 20 minutes finally gave me an email address so I could send the photo. Said they would look into it starting on Monday!
If you have any other info about the thefts please call Ingelside at 404-4000 and email Inspector Philips at shawn.philips@sfgov.org
Photo: Reader X
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Keep an eye on your yards, everyone. A western slope resident reports that someone recently hacked off a number of the large succulents she had been lovingly tending in her front yard for the past five years.
“This reminded me of when I lived in the Mission and my next-door neighbors had chained and padlocked their front doormat to their house,” she said. “I can relate now.”
It’s not the first time Bernalwood has been hit by larcenous pruning. Seven months ago, flyers were posted around the neighborhood by another horticulturist victim. As Joe Eskenazi reported in SF Weekly’s blog The Snitch, Ingleside Police Station Captain Louis Cassenego noted succulent thefts in both Bernal and the Excelsior in his “Captain’s Message” to the public:
“If you see a stranger in your or your neighbor’s front yard in the middle of the night, it would be advisable to call the police and have an officer check it out,” writes Cassanego. “Many residents take pride in their yards and put in many hours of hard work, so let’s help them out.”
Still true now.
PHOTO: Bronwyn Ximm
Martha Stewart would be so proud, because here in Bernalwood, it’s the attention to detail that makes each day a good thing. Reader Ed shared this photo of a wooden post up on the hill:
Walking onto Bernal Hill from the small parking lot at the base of the road, there’s a post. There are always a few stones there, but now and then someone adds flowers.
PHOTO: by ejbSF
Don’t let the recent rains fool you: Winter is over and we’re in store for longer, drier days. There’s no more sure sign of this than Bernal Hill itself, which is slowly making its seasonal color migration from green to brown, as visible in this photo taken last Sunday.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, and wildflowers have been making a lot of seasonal cameo appearances in the Bernalwood photo group over on the Flickr. Let’s gawk:
Twin Peaks from Bernal Hill with an abundance of yellow flowers that are not Ranunculus californicus. by chuck b
Dropshadow by Zendritic
Untitled by scathac1961
View from Bernal Heights Park by Beth Goldman
Holly Park by sftrajan
So, how are you feeling today? Kind of happy? Somewhat euphoric? Yet are you also experiencing a heightened awareness of the ephemerality of beauty — and life itself?
Don’t panic… this is all perfectly seasonal. It’s cherry blossom time, after all, and as every sakura-seeker knows, cherry blossoms are the quintessential expression of Mono no aware (物の哀れ) — the Japanese aesthetic concept that highlights awareness of the inherent transience and impermanence of all things.
There is no mortal cure for mono no aware, but if you find yourself slipping into excessive mawkishness, Bernalwood recommends some traditional self-medication with a good bottle of cold sake.
PHOTOS: Top, sakura tree alongside Red Hill Books on Cortland. Below, fallen sakura blossoms at Cesar Chavez and Shotwell. Photos by Telstar Logistics.
Bernalwood 
