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Time-Lapse Video of Traffic in the Spaghetti Bowl (and More)

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

Remember Peter West Carey, the visiting photographer who took that eye-popping interactive panorama image from Bernal Hill? He’s returned home to Seattle now, but he’s still processing the archive of material he amassed during his visit to Bernal Heights.

His new work includes a few Jobius-style time-lapse videos, including one of traffic zipping through the Spaghetti Bowl 101/280 junction.

Bonus! A brief time-lapse of the stars over Bernal Heights

Double Bonus! Not to be outdone, Bernal’s own Jobius created a time-lapse video of the spectacular moonrise that took place on Wednesday night:

Bernal Hill Trail Restoration Design Meeting, TONIGHT

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Sorry for the late notice, but the City’s Department of Recreation and Parks is having a design review meeting TONIGHT at 6 pm in the meeting room of the public library on Cortland Street to discuss the plan to restore and upgrade the Bernal Hill trail network.

For additional background, visit the Rec and Park website about the Bernal Hill project, and click on the “Key Links and Documents” tab to view the project overview presentation as well as the notes from the January 25 kick-off meeting.

IMAGES: Department of Recreation and Parks

RIP: Rose Cliver, 109, Bernal Heights Earthquake Witness

/ Todd_Lappin

The San Francisco Chronicle brings us the obituary of Rose Cliver, a former Bernal Heights resident (from Gates Street) who watched the city burn from atop Bernal Hill after the Great Earthquake of 1906 struck:

Rose Cliver was 3 years old on April 18, 1906, when the quake and resulting fire killed more than 1,000 people and ruined more than 28,000 buildings. When she died Saturday at a residential care home in Santa Rosa, she was 109.

She attended an annual commemoration of the disaster in 2009, and “enjoyed her 15 minutes of fame,” said her son, Don Cliver of Santa Rosa. She told The Chronicle that day that she and her family, who lived in Bernal Heights, had climbed Bernal Hill after the quake and “watched San Francisco burn.”

Don Cliver said his mother wasn’t supposed to live long after her premature birth, but was the picture of health thereafter. One of 13 siblings, she lived an ordinary life – marriage, homemaking, two children of her own – and enjoyed traveling and quarter slot machines in her later years.

The Chronicle notes that Cliver’s death leaves four known 1906 quake survivors.

PHOTO: via Bernal History Project

Bernal Author Releases New Book, Does Glamorous Interviews

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

You heard about it here first (natch), but Bernal Heights author and Bernalwood contributor Elizabeth Weil’s new book, “No Cheating, No Dying,” is now available for sale at a bookstore near you.

In between, Liz has been engaged in an open relationship with the traditional media to help spread the word about the book. Let’s review some highlights.

She counseled 7×7 magazine:

Of course all couples are different, but what would you say are the most essential ingredients for a good marriage?
You have to like each other … and keep liking each other every day. And you have to remember that your spouse isn’t nearly as predictable as you think he or she is.

The San Francisco Chronicle said:

In “No Cheating, No Dying,” her astonishingly intimate, hilariously self-deprecating, vibrant and thoroughly modern memoir, San Francisco author Elizabeth Weil goes where no man and few women have gone before – deep, deep, deep into the quotidian agonies and ecstasies of a highly volatile yet solidly committed marriage.

In Slate, Liz said:

Slate: What was the most useful thing you learned from the marriage improvement project?
Weil: Our marriage is our marriage, and we need to have the best marriage for us. With a wedding, you sort of start down this road, from this more collective fantasy. But then ultimately there you are with the person you love in your little house, and you need to build the life that’s right for you.

Meet Bi-Rite’s Sam Mogganam at Heartfelt, Tomorrow

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

We do not suffer, here in Bernal Heights. We have fine food, deep glamour, and countless luxuries. Yet there is one thing that we do not have: Bi-Rite Market.

Oh sure, we get by with very solid approximations. Nevertheless, Bi-Rite is truly one of a kind, and those flatlanders on 18th Street are very lucky to have it. So if we can’t have Bi-Rite in Bernalwood, then at least we can have Bi-Rite founder Sam Mogganam come up the hill for a visit.

Miss Darcy from Heartfelt on Cortland says Sam will be at her store tomorrow night. And (bonus!) Bi-Rite will provide the nibbles. Darcy says:

I am having Sam Mogganam author of “Eat Good Food” in for a talk and book signing at Heartfelt on Tuesday, February 7th at 6pm.

Bi-Rite is making snacks and I am serving hot tea.

Sh*t Bernalites Say

/ Todd_Lappin / 23 Comments

Michael Costuros and Kim Iglinsky at the Liberty Cafe in Bernal Heights

Sorry, no video. It’s just a list. But we want to cash in on this whole “Shit BlahBlahBlah Says” meme before it goes supernova and collapses in on itself.  So without further excuses, here is “Shit Bernalites Say,” collected from submissions Bernalwood received via Twitter.

  • “I miss the OLD Moki’s”
  • “St. Mary’s? is that Bernal?”
  • “I’m straight, but I love Wild Side”
  • “Dinner in The Mission? Ugh, that’s too far.”
  • “South slope or north?”
  • “I harvested these blackberries and rosemary from the Hill”
  • “We only buy our children gender-neutral toys.”
  • “Have you seen the coyote?”
  • “We love Bernal Heights, but now that I’m pregnant again, we’re thinking of moving to Orinda.”
  • “The teachers seemed nice, but we’re looking for a preschool that focuses more on Krystyn’s EMOTIONAL needs.”
  • “Was this beef grass-fed?”
  • “I knew her when she was a he.”
  • “Have you seen the bikini jogger?”
  • “I only use mason jars now. *Everything* else has BPA.”
  • “I was vegan until I got pregnant with Jaymee.”
  • “That’s Tom. You know him; he’s Muffin’s owner…”
  • “I really miss the owls.”
  • “YOUR CAR IS BLOCKING MY DRIVEWAY”
  • “Sandbox is the new Tartine.”
  • “Someone stole my succulents!”
  • “They call it maternal heights now!”
  • “We hit it off really well, but unfortunately our dogs weren’t compatible…”
  • “I feel kinda bad saying this, but I sometimes I just don’t know what to *do* with all of the stuff in my CSA box.”
  • “Why can’t I get a burger on Cortland at night?!?!”
BONUS! Shit Mission Hipsters Say About Shit Bernalites Say:
  • “I can’t wait to revive a played out meme!”

Have more suggestions? Add ’em to the comments!

PHOTO: Patrons at the Liberty Cafe, by Thomas Hawk

Precita Park to Receive Glamorous Upgrades

/ Todd_Lappin / 10 Comments

Neighbor Demece from Precita Valley Neighbors brings some happy infrastructure news. It seems that the devotion and hard work of neighborhood volunteers has earned a grant from the City’s Community Opportunity Fund to pay for Precita Park upgrades.

Demece explains the details:

The Community Opportunity Fund Grant for Precita Park is in the $50-$75K range. It covers tougher seed for the middle of the park (where an underground stream makes the park a swamp), a patch up for the paved trail where the acacia tree roots have broken it up, and more signage (consistent with Dolores Park in style and language).

Also, for the Children’s Playground, we’ll have a **water fountain**, a community kiosk where non profit groups can post news/issues, fixed up play structures (yep, no more broken boards and cracked bolts), new sand (and here I thought all sand was old), solid rubber matting under the swing set and tire swing areas to replace the cracked open rubber gulches we have now, new paint for the play structure, disability access into the sand, and the satellite merry-go-round is **saved**.

We will volunteer to distribute the sand once the trucks come and we’ll help pick the paint colors and do the painting when the time comes.  As for start time, it looks like late February or early March, and the duration is about six months.

Since Demece basically made all this happen, we would like to extend our thanks to her, on behalf of all the Citizens of Bernalwood.

PHOTO: Precita Park, by Precita Valley Neighbors

Air Passenger Snaps Sweeping Aerial Photo of Bernal Heights

/ Todd_Lappin

We’ve told you about the Highways in the Sky, and how they traverse Bernal Heights from high above. And we’ve told you how to identify the airliners you might see passing overhead.

So it was fun to find this photo recently over on the Twitter. It’s a very clear view of San Francisco, looking north with Bernal Heights in the foreground. While we look up at them, they gaze down upon us. Here’s the annotated version:

PHOTO: @mrmeschi

Oops! Tow Truck Drops BMW on Steep Bernal Heights Hill

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

That Beetle on the right? It got hit. The car jumped on the sidewalk and took out it's passenger side.

The tow truck driver removed those little wheel things that were under the rear wheels which apparently allowed the car to roll down the hill.

Ouch! Reader Rusty captured the chaos last night on Treat Street:

Some guy was getting his BMW 335i towed back to his house near the top of Treat, above Precita Park. Unclear why it was being towed back. As the tow truck operator was unhitching it, it broke loose and rolled down the hill. It jumped on the sidewalk at some point, damaged the passenger side of a Beetle parked on the street, and then came to rest sideways in the driveways seen in the pics.

The sound was crazy: it was like a truck full of metal beams had dropped them and they were rolling down the street and then a big crash/thud.

I think the problem was that the tow truck operator hadn’t removed those mini wheels that they place under tires to tow cars when you can’t move the rear wheels. It’s actually amazing that more damage wasn’t done; the stairway of the house wasn’t wrecked, only the garage door and maybe some of the concrete retaining wall between the two houses.

The fire department didn’t arrive for a while, I had to leave and run an errand and when I came back an hour later the fire trucks were there. I suspect the police called the fire truck, they came out, looked at things, didn’t seem to do anything and left. After the (original) tow truck driver removed the car from the driveway, the SFFD came back and boarded up the smashed garage door.

PHOTOS: Rustymerin

Dissident Parrots Establish New Identity In Bernal Heights

/ Todd_Lappin / 14 Comments

The Bernalwood Intelligence Agency has received numerous signals recently about wild parrot sightings around Bernal Heights. Our Political Unit analysts have determined that the parrots are refugees from Telegraph Hill who fled to Bernal Heights to escape the stultifying NIMBYism and shrill politics of that part of the City in general — and Aaron Peskin in particular.

Naturally, Bernal Heights has welcomed the dissident parrots with the warmth and neighborly tolerance for which we are famous. And now, Joe Thomas has captured video footage of the colorful birds frolicking in our midst. Joe says:

I’ve seen these guys around on the east side of the hill occasionally, since at least last March.

Today, I was finally quick enough with the iPhone camera  to get a few shots of them. I heard them at about noon, outside my back door on Peralta. They were making kind of a “ha-ha-ha-ha” laughing sound, which you can hear in my video:

There were three of them, climbing around on a neighbor’s bird feeder and chattering. I’ve seen them in larger groups at the feeder, and in the trees next to the stairs from Esmeralda to Franconia. This was the first time I’ve seen them in 2012. I imagine they needed some extra calories after the cold night last night.

Next up, of course, comes the award-winning documentary: The Dissident Parrots of Bernal Hill.

PHOTO AND VIDEO: Joe Thomas

Meet the “Wild Old Women” of Occupy Bernal

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

Remember when that posse of self-described “wild old women” #occupied the Bank of America branch on Mission near Valencia not long ago? It was a clever stunt marred by only one agitprop oversight: No good photos of the occupiers were made available at the time. Doh!

Now, somewhat belatedly, Jasper Gregory published a webpage that introduces us to a few of the Wild Old Women, and (no surprise, perhaps) many of them came pre-steeped in social justice and progressive activism. For example:

Wild old woman, Ginny, 75, got involved in 1963 in the March on Washington. In seventies she helped the Gandhian Cesar Chavez labor movement.

Full gallery here.

PHOTOS: Jasper Gregory