I’d never noticed it before, but in this rare “twin tower” perspective taken from the southeast, it seems pretty clear that Bernal’s humble microwave tower has something of a “Mini-Me” relationship with the almighty Sutro Tower.
Which in turn makes me wonder… has anyone ever gotten a Bernal Microwave Tower tattoo?
Photo: Telstar Logistics
San Francisco blogger, photographer, and design maven Victoria Smith — aka sfgirlbybay — visited our neighborhood last weekend, and (as is her wont) she created some beautiful images along the way:
I think it’s rained here something like 19 days out of 24 or something really sad like that. and it always seems to be raining on sunday, which means the flea markets get rain checked, too. boo hiss. but this sunday in the city, the sun popped out for a little bit, so i drove as quickly as is probably deemed safe, and hit the alemany flea market. then, i put the top down and took the scenic route home, through bernal heights, snapping pics of the pretty little houses on those hills.
Photos: SFGirlByBay
It drove! It raced! And kind of well, even. Last weekend at Sears Point Raceway, our neighborhood’s own Bernal Dads Racing team tore up the track during the 24 Hours of LeMons in The Molvo (No. 243), a mutant crossbreeding of a Mazda Miata and a Volvo 240 wagon. They also brought their older car, The Whale (No. 245) a Volvo wagon emblazoned with stickers that make it look like a junkyard Who’s Who of Cortland Avenue.
I wandered up to Sears Point on Saturday with my 3.5 year-old daughter, and together we watched the Bernal Dads on the race course and in the paddock, where the team’s cars returned from time to time for maintenance, driver changes, camaraderie, and… bacon!
BDR team member Ben brings the final race results…
The Whale:
At the end of Day One, the car had to go under the welder to fix a broken exhaust pipe located under the middle of the car. It was also in 3rd place in Category C so there was a concerted effort to make the pits stop as efficient and speedy as possible.This worked well and in the mid-afternoon the Whale was first in class. This was short-lived, however as about two hours from the end of the race, the bottom-end of the engine suffered a catastrophic failure. The car was pulled into the pit and it was quickly determined it was “Game Over” for the Whale.
The Molvo:
Also in Category C, the Molvo was just behind the Whale in the standings. During the afternoon it made a similar climb through the group as the Whale. Shortly after the Whale was retired from the race, The Molvo’s exhaust system suffered from a major leak which the race officials wanted rectified before it could return to the track. The rear section of coffee cans were dismantled and the Molvo returned to the track. If continued to finish the race but could not make any ground to unseat the winner of Category C (#8, a Yellow Opal Manta)Going to the awards ceremony at the end of the Race, BDR took home the Judges Choice award for the Movlo. The innovation and execution of the concept was embraced by the organizer Jay Lamm as well as the other LeMons Judges.
Congrats to BDR for a race well raced, and a prize well earned!
I took lots of photos during Saturday’s race; you can view them all here.
Photos: Team with trophy, by Alex Zepeda. All other photos by Telstar Logistics
Once again, it’s Friday. Please stow your brain in the locked and upright position, then sit back, relax, take advantage of our complimentary beverage service, and enjoy this visual tour of our neighborhood… courtesy of the Bernalwood Flickr group.
Happy Hour by RossTupy
Hilltop Dream, by Patrick Boury
Schnitzel and Lola, by Rat Mice
Untitled, by Alexes Bowyer
Do you take pretty pictures of our neighborhood? Do you want to show your pretty pictures here? We’d love that too. It’s easy: Get in the pool!
Bernalwood has all kinds of awesome creatures and plants all over the place; you just have to look a little bit, and learn how to figure out what you’re seeing.
It also helps if you have an awesome camera or lens. I don’t know anything about cameras, but luckily, Logan Bartling seems to have one. Also luckily, in addition to writing an excellent blog about birding on Alcatraz, he lives in Bernal Heights, and kindly shared some recent photos with us.
The very top photo is a Western scrub jay. This shiny guy is an Anna’s hummingbird. They have a funny little wheezy squeak, like an over-loved dog toy. I hear it all the time on Bernal Heights Blvd., and can usually find the source sitting on a sunny branch.
Red-tailed hawk. You know when there’s a movie set in a crazy jungle or somewhere super-exotic and wild and you hear the high-pitched terror-inducing cry that tells you, “this is a crazy location?” That’s a red-tailed hawk.
A pocket gopher. Gardeners and dogs know these guys.
The fearsome Jerusalem cricket. Ew!
A pair of kestrels. Logan claims that the kestrels follow him. My hunch: he just knows when and where to look for them. He says he’s seen them lately along Bayshore and up on Powhattan and Bernal Heights Blvd.
Photos: Logan Bartling of Maganrord.
‘Bernalwood’s own Troy Holden shot this photo of Bernal Heights Boulevard late last month.
Art Siegel took this photo exactly one year ago today. Are the flowers still as pretty? Is the sky still as blue? Where were we then, and where are we now? These are all questions that are probably best to avoid. But the photo? Wonderful.
UPDATE: Amasonbrink took this Instagram photo today on the hill, one year to the day from the photo above. It looks like those flowers are right on time:
Oh my. This is the spectacle that greeted me when I walked into Avedano’s last weekend.
They don’t mess around in that place.
Photo: Telstar Logistics
J. Thoresen recently uploaded a photo of this not-so-little fella hard at work outside her home in Bernal Heights. Miss Thoresen generously called the critter a “dreamcatcher orb-weaver.” I call it one damn big bug.
Many thanks to Bob Horowitz for passing along this swell photo of Ripley Street, and something kind of like the axiom above, via the Bernalwood Flickr group.
Bernalwood is known known for many things — glamour, haute couture, and a certain jet-set languor, to name but a few. But rare are the instances when our neighborhood is synonymous with badassitude.
Yet like steep hills, arrogant canines, and giant insects, badassitude also resides among us, and I happened to catch a glimpse of it not long ago when this gentleman drove past in his unmistakably badass Dodge Challenger while I was standing on Cortand.
Photo: Telstar Logistics
Yesterday Brady Lea captured the improbable perfection of the balmy January weather we’ve enjoyed during the last few days. If only it was this balmy in July!
The wheel of karma made this inevitable: Since Sunday was so sunny and glorious, Monday must bring the fog. Luckily for us, both are beautiful.
Photo: Bernal Heights at 5:38 pm on January 17, 2011, by chuck b
Bernalwood 
