Wow. Check this photo of the view to the east from atop Bernal Hill. The image is practically a metaphor for the experience of living in Bernal Heights — and our relationship with the rest of the world.
Reader Isaac captured the pic with his iPhone, and he just posted it to the Instagram. Well done, sir!
It’s shaping up to be a lazy summer day here in our Big City small-town neighborhood. In other words, a perfect Fourth of July! Hope you’re enjoying the holiday.
UPDATE: Reader JJ San captured some of the action at night:
PHOTOS: Houses on Precita Avenue, by Telstar Logistics. Fireworks by JJ San
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
Do 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:
Toby also took this next one, which is extremely revealing psychologically because he chose to photograph it in GatsbyVision:
PHOTOS: Bob Horowitz and Toby Tuper
The view from Nob Hill, 1878
Our bloggy hipster friends in the Mission like to make fun of Bernal Heights because of our obsession with lesbianism, dogs, child-rearing, and backyard gardening. That’s fine, because in return we like to make Mission hipsters’ heads explode by announcing: “WE ARE YOUR FUUUUUTTUUUUUURE!” (Johnny O from Burrito Justice pioneered that reply, and it never fails.)
Privately, Bernalwood appreciates those proto-self kids in the Mission, and a geeky interest in local history is a friendly touchstone we all share. So thank you, Uptown Almanac, for turning me on to a series of panorama images taken from the top of Nob Hill in 1878.
The resolution of these photos is amazing, especially when you recall that in 1878, they didn’t even have the Pano app to use with their iPhones! Right? Also amazing is the fact that most all the buildings you see in these photos were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire.
Here’s a detail of the view to the north, looking toward Alcatraz:
Now, let’s look south, to take a closer look at Bernal Heights. Grab the photo, then we’ll zoom, sharpen, and enhance. What do we see???
That first light-grey hill in the background is Bernal Heights. There aren’t many buildings to speak of in 1878 Bernal, nor any trees or large-scale vegetation. But what they did have then that we don’t have now are the two Lost Peaks of Bernal Hill, which are clearly visible just to the east of the present-day summit:
As we learned previously, the Lost Peaks were excavated into oblivion sometime during the 1940s. To reprise:
Bernal Heights had two other major peaks to it, to to the north east of the current peaks – roughly under what is now the flat planes that lie between Peralta, Rutledge and Franconia Streets . Vicky Walker of the Bernal History Project sent me a couple of their aerial survey maps that show that these two peaks were removed sometime between 1938 and 1948. Terry Milne said that they have been trying to find records which usually exist for 1900’s large excavations, about where all that hillside was dumped, but so far to no avail. Note that the peak between Rutledge, Massasoit and Brewster was not just chopped off, but gouged out from the Bernal hillside
Way cool. If you want to explore some more, check out the entire collection of 1878 Panorama Photographs, and prepare to get lost in time.
Driving home along Bernal Heights Boulevard tonight, the Cub Reporter asked me to pull over so she could look at the sunset. Then she unbuckled from the carseat, stepped out of the car, and her own tiny way, paused for a moment to appreciate the scenery.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
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
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.
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:
Lord Sutro looked dazzling:
The ridgeline just below Twin Peaks was glowing pink:
One Rincon and the Bay Bridge were a colorful couple:
South Van Ness looked exceptionally arterial:
Our own Microwave Tower seemed rather rakish:
The Spaghetti Bowl was a tangle of colors:
And Bernal Heights Boulevard was delightfully apocalyptic:
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
Regular readers of Bernalwood might have noticed a beautiful trend: Folks are taking some amazing pictures these days, using nothing more than their mobile phones (and a pocket-sized arsenal of photo editing apps). A few shutterbugs are pushing the envelope with this technology, and Bernalwood contributor Troy Holden happens to be one of them.
Troy is also contributing to a new blog called Objective Scenes that’s devoted exclusively to iPhone photography. (“We knew him when…”) Here’s a snippet from the mission statement:
When I bought my first iPhone, I quickly became obsessed with documenting everything around me, but it wasn’t until Instagram came around that I started to think more aesthetically about my photos. I loved seeing great shots that other folks were taking with their mobile phones and got inspired to improve my skills. When I decided to start a photoblog, I knew I wanted to work with other photographers whose shots I was digging on Instagram.
So welcome to Objective Scenes, a group blog dedicated to mobile photography (aka iPhoneography). I’m excited to watch the blog grow and can’t wait to see the work my co-contributors (Troy, Tyson, and Victoria) post in coming weeks.
It’s great stuff, and there’s obviously lots more great stuff to come. Check out Objective Scenes!
Oh, and that photo at the very top? Troy took that one here in Bernalwood:
Seen early this morning in Bernal Heights while waiting for the bus, a neighbor waters her plants.
Here’s some more goodness from Objective Scenes:
PS: If you’re using Instagram, Troy is @troy and I am @telstarlogistics. And don’t forget to share your favorite Bernal Heights photos with Bernalwood right here.
PHOTOS: From Top: Troy Holden, NicoleTBN, Victoria LeBlanc, DocPop
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
It’s raining! In June! Holy Koyaanisqatsi!! Totally nuts! But as I headed over the hill last evening, I noticed that this odd weather is also darkly beautiful.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
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