Yesterday at dusk, Bernalwood contributor Joe “Jobius” Thomas captured a terrific time-lapse video of the moon rising behind Mount Diablo, as seen from his Observation Post on the eastern slope of Bernal Hill.
It was an exceptionally large moonrise, in many different ways:
As part of his ongoing series of video profiles about creative people in Bernal Heights, Neighbor Steve Sisler recently released a new piece about Lisa Moro of the Inclusions Gallery on Cortland:
Lisa Moro began curating shows at the Inclusions Gallery in San Francisco’s eclectic Bernal Heights neighborhood in 2007, with the aim of becoming embedded in a community where she could make a difference.
The results have been successful and positive: a comfortable, inclusive space in the midst of a vibrant, creative neighborhood – where the gallery acts as a strong connector within the community, building bridges between local artists, neighbors. And this is never more apparent than during the annual show of Bernal Heights artists.
In Moro’s words, “The community supporting the gallery gives me the opportunity to support the artists in the community.”
Very Special Thanks to Bernal’s Ralph Carney for providing the soundtrack for this film.
Neighbor Ralph lives a few doors down from me in Precitaville, and he’s been here for a long time. His father bought the house he lives in now back in 1943 with money he made working as a laborer at Fort Mason.
Ralph remembers the years after World War II, when San Francisco’s population swelled with returning soldiers and sailors who decided to stay. Everyone had work, he recalled, particularly at the shipyards.”Hunter’s Point was going 24 hours a day,” he says.
Ralph worked for the SFPD as a policeman. He started on the beat, but then spent most of his career “inside” at the Hall of Justice before retiring.
He pointed to my house. “Sam lived there,” he said. That jogged my memory about the census records from 1940. Sam? Sam Piazza? “Yeah, Sam Piazza.” Ralph knew him.
In Ralph’s earliest memories, Bernal Heights was Italian and Irish. Then he remembers Mexicans and Filipinos moving in, and now Ralph notices that the neighborhood is changing again.
This is Neighbor Ralph’s thumbnail history of the last 45 years of Bernal Heights history:
PHOTO: Neighbor Ralph by Telstar Logistics
Amazing things are happening these days when people combine inexpensive drone technology with inexpensive compact video cameras.
OverSF.com reached out to Bernalwood this week to share a stunning aerial video captured over Bernal Hill on a recent morning from a 500mm QAV quad-copter equipped with a stabilized camera system, wireless downlink, and full GPS to maintain position and altitude:
What does all that mean? It means you get to soar over Bernal Hill in a brand-new video. Go full screen, pop the headphones in your earholes, and fly:
Special thanks: OverSF.com
Something magical happened on June 28, after a few clever people got the clever idea to haul a piano to the top of Bernal Hill and stage an ad hoc hilltop recital on a (blessedly) warm and welcoming evening.
The event was entered into the history books as “The Great Bernal Heights Renegade Piano Recital,” and now director Darryl Kirchner has released “Piano Heights,” a lovely little documentary that captures the recital as it unfolded at sunset. Enjoy:
In case you missed it, this short film was one of my favorites at the Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema screening in Precita Park on Sunday night:
The Artist & The Angel (9 mins) by Paul Anthony Mazzio
An aging artist gets a surprise visit from a dark and mysterious stranger. Starring renowned San Francisco artist Richard L. Perri.
Bernal Heights is glamorous, but our neighborhood is often stereotyped as a quiet haven for crunchy people with dogs and families with kids.
Of course, we know there is a grain truth to this stereotype, even if — as with most stereotypes — there’s more to the picture than meets the eye. After all, Bernal also has a naughty side, and if you don’t believe us, then we would submit the following video as evidence of our deep, Dionysian tendencies.
The video was made by Ajapopfilms, and it was filmed at El Rio on Mission Street during Pride Weekend in June.
The video is very fun.
The video is very sexxxy.
The video is NOT recommended for viewing in the presence of your co-workers, your children, or your pets.
But when you do watch the video, you will shake your groove thang, and you will smile, and you will feel proud, because you will know that this is part of the essence of who we are:
Awesome.
Nathan Shipley just earned his wings with the Bernalwood Air Force.
Specificially, Nathan just established his credentials to lead the BAF’s Division of Drone Cinematography and Surveillance (BAFDoDCaS), and he did so in fashionable style by sharing some amazing footage he filmed over Bernal Hill while piloting a radio-controlled camera-copter:
Thought I’d share a quick video I shot over Bernal last week with my quadcopter drone. I was out shooting again this morning for the Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema intro credits, and someone I met suggested I get in touch.
We’re glad he did, because this footage is gorgeous. Now we know what it feels like to be one of those red-tailed hawks we jealously admire gliding overhead:
Following up on his wonderful profile of Bernal artists Joseph Branchcomb and Toby Klayman, Neighbor Steve Sisler has released his next piece in his “Bernal Heights Conversations” video series: A video about Brett Thurber and Karen Wiener, the glamorous couple that created the newfangled New Wheel electric bicycle shop on Cortland.
Neighbor Steve writes:
Can you believe two of the nicest kids that I have ever met are selling and servicing quality electric bikes right here in Bernal? I wish I could say The New Wheel is a mom & pop shop, but Karen and Brett need a few years before we can expect children from them. Until then Bernal is lucky to have another fine family business.
Frankly, we’re also rather lucky to have Neighbor Steve cranking out these terrific videos. Go fullscreen, your feet up on the desk for a few minutes, and get to know Brett and Karen:
Vine is a new online video sharing service created by our friends at Twitter. It’s nifty little service that makes it easy to create and share short, six-second videos that loop endlessly.
In theory, that makes Vine an ideal tool for Burrito Justice wannabes the world over.
In practice, there is a critical difference: whereas Burrito Justice creates animated GIFs to serve the cause of La Lenguan independence, Vine has become notorious as a haven for short-form porn and exhibitionism. Oops.
Thankfully, Bernal Heights serves as the backdrop for a VSFW demonstration of Vine’s potential, in a video created by Bill Couch that’s called “Bernal Fireworks”
Welcome to the Future… you saw it here first.
Earlier this week, Bernalwood contributor Joe Thomas created this rather awesome time-lapse video that captures a dance of moon and fog taking place around Bernal Hill. It’s beautiful.
Joe didn’t add a soundtrack, however, so might we suggest pairing his video with a song? Your audio sommelier has selected “Sandusky” by Uncle Tupelo, and it compliments the visuals rather nicely. Start the song below, then start the video above, and enjoy the ride.
I’m grateful to creator Jeremy Williams for including a brief (and foggy) Bernal Hill cameo in his amazing amazing amazing new tilt-shift video of San Francisco, because that provides the excuse I need to share the video with you here. Here’s what he did:
I captured 30,000 photos over ten months of everything I love about San Francisco. The end result required 750 hours of rendering to generate 62 tilt shift timelapse sequences.
The finished piece is very WOW. Put the headphones on, and enjoy!
Hat Tip: SFCitizen
We’ve seen some rather fantastic time-lapse videos filmed from Bernal Heights before, but I don’t recall seeing a fantastic time-lapse video that looks at Bernal Heights. Until now.
This new time-lapse by Gregg Marks gets more and more dramatic as day fades to night. It’s silent, however, so please bring your own soundtrack. (I tested it with “Alone in Kyoto,” with pleasing results.)
Bernalwood 