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Off the Hill: Best Cheap Eats in the Mission, Carnival Parade on Sunday, Beach Chalet Blues, and a Market Street Makeover

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

It’s time for Bernalwood’s Friday buffet of warmed-over nibbles from around The City:

The 20 Best Dishes Under $10 in the Mission  (7×7 via MissionLoc@l)

Design Unveiled for New SFMOMA Addition (SF Chronicle)

Don’t Forget the Carnival Parade on Sunday Morning!! (FunCheapSF)

Let’s Roll: Best San Francisco Food Trucks of 2011 (SF Weekly)

The Odyssey of the Original Beach Chalet at Ocean Beach (The Richmond Blog)

Planning Underway to Make Market Street Not Crappy (Streetsblog)

PHOTO: Carnival 2009 in the Mission, by Telstar Logsitics

Indie Rock Star or Bernal Heights Civilian?

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments


An analysis of the photos from that recent Bernal Hill video shoot by The Cool Ghouls and some other pictures in the Bernalwood Flickr Group prompted an important insight: Bernal Hill can make anyone look like an indie rock star.

Consider: The photo above shows The Cool Ghouls, a San Francisco music group. The Cool Ghouls have a myspace page, which means they are ACTUAL indie rock stars.

Now, for comparison’s sake, consider that all the people shown below are NOT indie rock stars (as far as we know) — but they look like it anyway.

Bernal Heights

bernal heights park II

beacon-ing

Sophie Isabelle Iribarren

New Street Art Outside Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack

/ Todd_Lappin / 8 Comments

Street Art by Haculla

Street Art by Haculla

Street Art by Haculla
There’s some new street art to ponder while you wait for your pasta at Emmy’s Sapghetti Shack, across from the Taoist Safeway.

We’re told that both pieces are by l’artiste qui s’appelle Haculla, and both were commissioned by Emmy herself.

If there’d been one of those dorky Facebook thumbs-up “Like” buttons on the side of the building, I definitely would have pressed it.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

San Francisco Declares War on Radish

/ Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

Bernal Journal shared this photo taken near the south gate on Bernal Hill.

Though a quiet and seemingly humble foe, it seems our City has been overrun by marauding hordes of feral radish. To combat the Radish Menace, park maintenance officials today reached for the nuclear option.

Sources tell Bernalwood that in closed-door meetings, Fleet Admiral Alice Waters had vehemently opposed this proposal. Instead, Waters favored the use of a counterinsurgency technique that she called “The Salad Strategy.” But in the end, her plan was overruled.

Meanwhile, Bernal Journal is not pleased:

PHOTO: @bernaljournal

Three Recent Bernalwood Mysteries, Now Solved

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

One of the most fun things about editing Bernalwood has been watching the speed and (collective) intelligence of this blog’s readership. Simply posing a question or highlighting an unknown usually results in someone chiming in with the answer to the question we’ve all been asking.

It happened yesterday, for example, when a Bernalwood reader quickly provided an explanation for Sunday morning’s police activity on Coleridge. It also happened a few other times recently, but you might have missed the updates if you weren’t following the comments. So let us now highlight some useful knowledge provided to us by the BIA (Bernalwood Intelligence Agency):

MYSTERY 1: What was Tony’s Trade Winds?

Toni's Trade Winds

What’s the story behind the old sign on Cortland, and the business it once advertised? Reader Patrick D says it was a breakfast joint, and he paints a vivid picture:

In the early 80′s we dropped in twice or three times for breakfasts. Hearty, solid, with some fine banana pancakes, known as a specialty. Was open, as I remember it, only intermittently – maybe only in the mornings? Inside felt like an old Provincetown Cafe I used to go to in the 60′s: low ceiling, wooden tables, wooden chairs, cups continually refilled with hot, boiled coffee.

MYSTERY 2: What is the Proposed Name and Business Plan for the New Cannabis/Coffee Shop at 3139 Mission Street?

3139 Mission Street

What will they call the proposed new dispensary/coffee shop? And will it really be like a coffee shop in Amsterdam? According to Reader L, a board member with the nonprofit that will operate the dispensary, the facility will be called “Herbal Mission” and it will be much less fun than Amsterdam:

To clarify alot of misconception the proposed [medical cannabis dispensary]/coffee shop at 3139 Mission st will not be one entity. The coffee shop will occupy the front of the building creating a storefront with outdoor seating for people to enjoy high-end coffee and pasteries and in no way will serve any cannabis products. The MCD will occupy the back of the building and have a seperate entrance from the coffee shop and only qualified patients will be able to enter the Dispensary. The Dispensary will not allow any smoking or vaporizing on site.

MYSTERY 3: What Will Become of Al’s Cafe Good Food?

Al's Cafe

The elderly sisters who ran Al’s recently closed down the venerable cafe, and a sign in the window says the place will be back under new management. What does that really mean? Reader Otto was on the case:

We walked by there a week or two ago while a cleaning crew was working on the place, and the new manager was standing outside talking to someone. After getting over our shock at the place being closed and the front window display being empty, he told us that Jean and her sister had sold the place to someone who worked there, he’d be managing it for the new owner, and they planned to fix it up and clean the space top to bottom. They said they might eventually try to open for dinner and add some new equipment to expand the menu, but mainly they plan to keep it a diner with the same low prices. We’ll see…

Thanks to one and all for your memories, your insight, and your gumshoe sleuthing. Bernalwood is community-powered, so you are encouraged to chime in anytime with tips, breaking news, or oddball photos of sightings of strange things in the neighborhood. Either use the comments, or our direct email hotline at <bernalwood *at* gmail *dot* com>. Thanks!

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Documenting the (Lost?) Blues Scene at Skip’s Tavern

/ Todd_Lappin / 24 Comments

This is the trailer for Joshua Weaver’s a documentary-in-progress about the now-silent Skip’s Tavern on Cortland Street:

From the outside, Skips Tavern looks like any working class bar. Slightly out of place in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Bernal Heights, Skip’s Tavern is a vestige, a throwback to an earlier version of this community. This place is well established and has a large following. In fact any night of the week the place is jamming. The flavor is blues, pool, and cheap drinks, and it attracts a diverse crowd.

The Tavern is a movie about Skips. We visit, listen to the music and mingle with the patrons’. Also we will look into why this place exists, what has made it work the way it does, who made this happen, and why it attracts such a cross section of the San Francisco community. We will hear personal stories and through this we will find out about the man named Regi, who passed last year. We will find out about his legacy, and why he is missed so much that there is now a permanent altar to his memory across from the small stage.

We will also hear about the struggle with the neighborhood. As the area gentrifies, Skip’s has had troubles with noise complaints.

At end we will have a deeper under standing of this cultural icon, the people who built it, and those who will keep it going. We will see Skips as a model for society, a place where people so easily look past differences to come together for the love of music.

Happy Motoring During the 2011 Bernal GT

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

2011 Bernal GT

2011 Bernal GT

2011 Bernal GT

2011 Bernal GT

I had such a great time on the road last Sunday driving in the 2011 Bernal GT.

Organized by the überdudes from Bernal Dads Racing, the Bernal GT started at Fort Funston, meandered to Pescadero (via just about every twisty-curvey road between here and there), and then concluded at our own Holly Park.

There were 25+ glamorous cars on hand for the event — including two Ferraris, several classic Volvos, a rare Dinalpin, a 1964 Alfa Romeo, a 1956 Jaguar, a DeLorean (sans flux capacitors), and one mutant Porsche 914 repowered with an engine from a Subaru WRX.

Meanwhile, in true Bernal fashion, the GT was extremely kid-friendly, and many of the above vehicles came tricked-out with kiddie car seats — and young’uns to warm them. A favorite moment: Watching a pack of kids pile into a Ferrari to gobble down a box of donuts in the back seat. (Somewhere, Enzo Ferrari was rolling in his grave.)

There was another so-Bernal aspect to the rally as well: The warmth and hospitality of the participants. For example, one gentleman from BDR actually loaned me a 1972 BMW 3.0 CS to use for the day. (“I can’t go, but my car wants to,” he playfully explained.) The car was a dream to drive, but the gesture itself was the best part. Sweet! So this was my ride for the day:
2011 Bernal GTAnd here is what it was like to drive the BMW up a winding, wooded hill near La Honda while chasing Ben Buja’s Volvo 124:

Lots more photos in the 2011 Bernal GT slideshow right here.

Special thanks to Armando, Ben, and Fiid for organizing the 2011 Bernal GT!

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

This Weekend’s Cocktail Is Yesterday’s Tom Collins

/ Todd_Lappin / 8 Comments

This week, our neighborhood cocktailian at Underhill-Lounge has gone deep into the history of the Tom Collins via the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, which included this Friday-friendly recipe:

Tom Collins Whiskey.
(Use small bar-glass.)
Take 5 or 6 dashes of gum syrup.
Juice of a small lemon.
1 large wine-glass of whiskey.
2 or 3 lumps of ice.

Shake up well and strain into a large bar-glass. Fill up the glass with plain soda water and imbibe while it is lively.

Tom Collins Brandy.
(Use large bar-glass.)
The same as Tom Collins Whiskey, substituting brandy for whiskey.

Tom Collins Gin.
(Use large bar-glass.)
The same as Tom Collins Whiskey, substituting gin for whiskey.

PHOTO: Tom Collins by Underhill-Lounge

Yet Another Glam Fashion Shoot on Bernal Hill

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Bernalwood’s glam-quotient just keeps going higher and higher. Lindsey from the Clothes Captioned blog recently did a fashion photo shoot atop Bernal Hill:

Kaitlyn & I did a shoot on Bernal Heights a few weeks ago. We timed it so the photos were taken at sunset. If you are not familiar with Bernal Heights, it offers the most astounding views of San Francisco. Luckily, it is only a 20 minute walk from my house. In fact, I can see my house from the top.

The dress in the above photos is from Wasteland on Haight Street in San Francisco. $24!! Hell yeah!

In the next two, I’m wearing a vintage childrens party dress. Yes, I’m that girl.

PHOTOS: by Kaitlyn