Neighbors Anita and Chuck were up early this morning, in time to notice that Mother Nature decided to celebrate last night’s spectacular Giants win by giving Bernal Heights a spectacular orange sunrise.
We are fortunate to have such good friends in high places.
PHOTOS: @marriedwithdinner and @chuck_b
“Off the Beaten Path” is a new photo exhibit curated by the Harvey Milk Photo Center:
San Francisco Recreation and Parks presents Off the Beaten Path, a photography exhibition showcasing the city’s signature parks and hidden gems. Off the Beaten Path is a “collectively shared impression,” inspiring the viewer to stop, take a breath, and fully experience the sheer beauty and quiet stillness that San Francisco’s diverse range of parks has to offer.
For Off the Beaten Path, photographers from all walks of life were invited to capture and share their own quiet, personal moments in various local parks, such as Golden Gate Park, John McLaren Park, Mount Davidson, and many more. Each image from the exhibition conveys a sliver of tranquility, a distilled moment in time, right here in our own back yards.
With that as a mission statement, it probably comes as little surprise that Bernal Heights — and a few of our most glamorous photographers — are represented in the show.
Ed Brownson (who is no stranger to Bernalwood) took the two photos at the top of this post; the first is called “Bernal in Winter,” and the second is “Bernal Dancer.”
Meanwhile, as we mentioned last week, the “Off the Beaten Path” show also includes a piece by Bernal’s hottest new photographer, Sarabeth Spector. Check it out:
PHOTOS: Top, Ed Brownson. Bottom, Sarabeth Spector.
The sun rises in the east, and sets in the west, and both look rather fantastic from atop Bernal Hill. For example Arthur Chang took this stunning sunrise photo on the morning of October 8, 2012. It’s a very, very delicious image.
Then there’s this atmospheric sunset photo by New Neighbor Alex, who writes:
I just moved in above Liberty Cafe, and took this picture while running around the park the other night.
PHOTOS: Top, Arthur Chang. Below, Alex Bankoff
The 101-280 “Spaghetti Bowl” interchange is not the sort of feature that might be called beautiful… unless you have a taste for Midcentury Infrastructural Brutalism. Nevertheless, our ace local photographers have succeeded in making it look lovely time and time again.
Now, another photographer has accomplished that improbable feat. Neighbor Jillian writes:
My friend Winni Wintermeyer took this shot at night on the corner of Bradford and Jarboe, looking South over the Spaghetti Bowl. Thought it was an interesting P0V which most Bernalites may not recognize. Took me a while to figure out anyway.
Lovely, eh? Thanks for the share Jillian, and kudos to Winni Wintermeyer.
PHOTO: Winni Wintermeyer
There’s a hot new photographer in Bernal Heights, and her career is just getting started.
Neighbor Sarabeth Spector has been wowing me for months with her terrific photos of urban landscapes and the intimate details of everyday objects. Others have started to notice her talent as well: One of her pictures was selected by the Harvey Milk Photo Center for inclusion in the “Off the Beaten Path” exhibit that will open in McLaren Lodge tomorrow afternoon.
Oh, but here’s the thing: Neighbor Sarabeth just turned 12 a month ago.
In an exclusive celebrity interview with Bernalwood, I asked Neighbor Sarabeth what animates her photographic technique:
Contrast versus color: Especially in images I later change or colorize, I can see the contrast between what is really there and a scene where some element of the scene stands out if the surrounding colors are removed or turned down.
Detail versus noise: The camera allows me to slice away unnecessary clutter and frame detail that is easy to overlook otherwise.
I will be following along to see how Neighbor Sarabeth’s work evolves, and if you’d like to join me, look for her photos on Flickr and at @sbsf on Instagram.
In the meantime, and on behalf of all the Citizens of Bernalwood, we send robust congratulations to Neighbor Sarabeth on the opening of the Harvey Milk Photo Center show this weekend.
PHOTOS: Bernal Heights, as seen by Sarabeth Spector
Exciting news for Bernal Heights commuters: We just got a new cable car stop on Coso!
Neighbor Becky filed this report yesterday:
Cable cars on Coso street? Imagine my surprise to see a cable car running on Coso St. this morning. And what is this city coming to? it’s decked out in Christmas decorations but it isn’t even Halloween!
Either that, or it was a photo shoot, of course. Which would explain the photographers.
Indeed! Actually, it was a photo shoot, for a Holiday fashion catalog that our sources were not able to identify. And it was an actual, for-reals cable car — albeit a motorized cable car, which is transit geek-speak for a retired cable car mounted on an internal combusion-powered truck chassis. (This particular former cable car was converted by the late, great Arnold Gridley.)
But who cares how the thing climbs up a hill? The catalog shoot affirmed our glamour credentials, and the presence of the cable car affirmed that Bernal Heights would look rather stylish with our very own cable car line. Although, we already knew that.
PHOTOS: From top, Neighbor Becky, Mrs. @LeCornballer, and @Jobius/Joe Thomas
While you were enjoying the warm weather earlier this week, your neighborhood aeronautics and space agency was hard at work exploring the solar system. Neighbor Clifton, Chief of Astronomical Research for the Bernal Aeronautics and Space Administration (BASA), files this report on his most recent observations from the Bernal Heights Observatory:
The skies above Bernal Heights are ablaze with activity this week. The current heat wave and passing of the Fall Equinox has created a double whammy of astronomical delights. The constellation Orion has reappeared in the early morning, sporting “The Great Orion Nebula” or M42. Look for M42 just under the 3 star belt of Orion, it’s the blurry patch just under the belt which can be seen by naked eye and resolved brilliantly with just about any pair of binoculars.
The Autumn sky also brings the return of the king of planets: Jupiter — which I’ve been busy attempting imaging via the webcam method. This week’s waning Gibbous Moon has been an excellent target for Jupiter practice. I did a quick survey on Monday. The sky was so clear I was able to do a close-up of the lunar surface.
I also took a crack at Jupiter, with somewhat disappointing results:
Jupiter will raise earlier as the year concludes, there will be more opportunity. Look for Jupiter, or Jove as I like to call him, about 30 degrees following the moon towards the Eastern Horizon. Jupiter raises at about 12:00 AM this week.
This is your BASA astronomer, wishing you clear skies.
PHOTOS: Clifton Reed
Ahhhhhh… Indian Summer, here at last. And with a full moon to boot!
On Sunday night Bernalwood’s Cub Reporter and I headed up Folsom Street to savor the evening — and the view — from high atop Bernal Hill. As we sat on the warm dirt watching the twinkle of the lights, the Cub Reporter declared the shimmering skyline “the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” She’s a San Francisco kid, so that’s high praise.
Then, when we looked east to admire the giant moon, she noticed something strange…
There was bizarre vessel tied up at one of the piers on the waterfront. “It’s a ghost ship!” the Cub Reporter said.
Let’s zoom and enhance for a closer look:
Later research revealed that the ship was not, in fact, an oceangoing emissary from the afterlife, but rather a South Korean warship in town to ferry a delegation of diplomats to Our Faire City. Almost as good, I guess.
The Cub Reporter had insisted upon bringing her spiffy new LED flashlight on our nighttime micro-hike, so we decided to have some fun with it. With the camera set to take long-exposure photos, I urged her to wave her arm with the light turned on. This was the result:
“THAT’S AWESOME!” she declared after seeing the result in the camera’s view screen. “Let’s do more!!!”
So we did…
It was a free-form spectacle of creativity, but by morning, her proto-Pollock light paintings were gone without a trace. Luckily, we got a photo of the culprit at the scene of the crime:
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
Well, that was rather epic, wasn’t it?
When we told you yesterday that the pilot of the Boeing 747 carrying the Space Shuttle Endeavour would be thinking of Bernal Heights as he flew over San Francisco, we weren’t kidding. But we didn’t realize that meant he would actually fly the thing right over our neighborhood!
Yet that’s what happened (because Bernalwood is glamorous like that). A little after 10 am today, Shuttle Endeavour made a big sweeping pass over Sutrito Tower and the Dominion of Bernalwood, amid much rejoicing and clicking of camera shutters.
From atop the hill, Neighbor Charlie took this terrific shot of the shuttle floating past Sutro Tower:
Neightbors Jeanne and Taina enjoyed a Tomorrowland view from their Bernal Heights living room:
Anthony Brown, Bernal’s finest penguinologist, was on the Hill, and he captured this video of the fly-by, which may be the next best thing to having been there:
And since it was a day for star-sightings, it’s only natural that Endeavour’s arrival coincided with a cameo by another elusive celebrity: The Bikini Jogger!
But let’s back up for a moment. Your Bernalwood editor got to spend some serious quality time with Endeavour yesterday while it was at Edwards Air Force Base, courtesy of the very generous folks at NASA. So if you enjoyed the view of the Shuttle over Bernal Heights today, here’s a glimpse of what it looked like up close:
Wow. Quite a day to remember. Someday, you can tell your grandkids that you not only saw the Space Shuttle fly over Bernal Heights, but you also saw the Space Shuttle fly on the last day that any Shuttle took to the skies, ever. It was just another glamorous day of history-in-the-making here in Bernalwood… and you were there.
PHOTOS: Bernal photos, from top: Erin Veneziano, DenSF, Stephen Woods, Milk Dragon, Matthew Gilreath, Xtel, Wirednerd, Joe Thomas. Bikini Jogger by sfcitymom. Shuttle closeups by Telstar Logistics
It’s been a rather strange week, so let’s close it out with a few eye-popping photos to keep things real. Even better, both these pictures were taken from Noe Valley, which provides further proof of the Gatsby-like role that Bernal Heights plays for people who dwell in that part of The City.
Up above is a monumental photo taken from Goat Hill in Noe Valley by the mega-talented Bob Horowitz.
Then we get this spooooooooky image of a big moon over St. Paul’s Church and Bernal Hill, as captured by the eagle-eyed Matt Spolin:
PHOTOS: Top, Bob Horowitz. Below, Mathew Spolin
All the training. All the practice. All the hard work. It all comes together when the time is now, the situation is real, and all you have to go on is instinct and experience.
That time was last night, and the situation was an epic rainbow that erupted over Bernal Heights just as the sun was setting for the night. The skies turned pink, the light glowed orange, and a truly monumental Category Five double rainbow stretched across the sky from horizon to horizon. It happened fast. It was euphoric. But we were ready. The Citizens of Bernalwood mobilized their photographic imaging equipment, and the magic of the double rainbow was captured by many for all to see.
Neighbor Jean tells her story:
We were making tacos. Husband went out to take dog for walk, and the sky was pink! Neighbor Robin was running down Bocana in ecstasy… saying “Look at the east!! WOW!!” I ran back in and turned off all the burners and grabbed my Canon5D… Already the drama had toned, but I managed to capture this. Nature’s gift to Bernal tonight!
Here’s Neighbor Jean’s photo:
Neighbor Craig had a BIG view to the east:
At the Bernalwood Rainbow Monitoring Station, Neighbor Chuck zoomed in to conduct a full spectral analysis and confirm this was indeed a Category 5+ Rainbow Event:
Neighbor Lee traced the Rainbow Touchdown Impact Point to this Bernal Heights bedroom:
Neighbor Kent spotted a cosmic discontinuity:
Corroborated by Neighbor Ian…
… and Neighbor Naomi:
Neighbor Amar, one of Bernalwood’s agents in the La Lengua Autonomous Zone, shot this heroic Bernal Hill profile:
And where was I during all this?
Your Bernalwood reporter was northbound on US 101 near the Spaghetti Bowl just as the Rainbow Alert began to subside. But I’d seen the rainbow. All of Bernal saw it. Then I saw Bernal drenched in the afterglow:
PHOTOS: Top, DenSF and Neighbor Anita. All others by our vigilant Bernalwood neighbor-reporters
As you can see, last Friday’s first-ever Alemany Night Market was a smashing success. And just as you’d expect, everyone there was soooooooo stylish and glamorous. Check out this group of hipsters:
I was impressed by the woman wearing a drop-dead gorgeous haute-couture wrap. It’s Prada, I believe:
Star Sighting! I also saw Miss Anna from Anda’s Piroshki:
Naturally, the media was on hand to interview all the Bernal Heights celebrities:
Yet amid all the glitz and great food, I kept thinking one thing: A night market is a fantastic use of the Farmer’s Market site. It’s a fun way to take make the most of the facility, and I really really really hope that something like last Friday’s event can become a semi-regular fixture there.
Until then, however, enjoy these photos, and kudos to La Cocina for orchestrating such a terrific (and inspiring) evening.
Let’s do that again sometime!
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
Photographer Kim Steele spent 19 years in New York, shooting editorial assignments for glamorous magazines like Life, Fortune, Forbes, New York Times, Smithsonian, Paris Match, and Stern. He also saw his fine art photos added to the collections of glamorous museums such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Then, about 10+ years ago, he moved to Bernal Heights, where he says he “fell in love with the mix of people and architecture.” Neighbor Kim’s Bernalphilia comes through loud and clear in his newest collection of images, which is currently on display inside Locavore, the tasty restaurant on Mission at Valencia.
Stop in to take a peek, but in the meantime, enjoy the sampler of Kim’s work included here.
ALL PHOTOS: Kim Steele
Bernalwood 