Antonio Abadia recently had one of those “OMG! I just discovered Bernal Heights!” moments, so he made a (very) short film about it.
I went to explore I bit around my neighborhood, and I find out that just about 10min biking there is cool park called Bernal Heights where you can see such a nice view of San Francisco.
His video is swell, even though it feels like the opening montage for an entire, luscious film about Bernal… which, alas, it isn’t. Yet.
Ever wonder how those sneaky succulent thieves operate? How DO they abscond with plants from the front yards of green-thumbed Bernal residents? Wonder no more, because Bernalwood has obtained footage that shows exactly how one such theft unfolded.
[Insert Drudge-like **Exclusive!! Must Credit Bernalwood!!** stipulations here]
Yesterday a tipster sent Bernalwood a security camera video that shows a guy stealing succulents from the front of a house on Prospect Avenue. (Thank you!) In the video, the theft was a drive-by; The perp parked at the corner, captured the unsuspecting plant, then sped away with the stolen goods in his getaway car.
But before you go calling Officer Elton with a hot tip, remember: This video was taken in 2010, which means the trail on this particular caper has likely gone cold. Yet this video is satisfying nevertheless, because it strips some of the mystery from Bernal’s Succulent Stealing Crime Spree.
UPDATE 3 Aug, 2011: Corroborating the “drive-by” plant theft technique shown in the video, a Bernal neighbor emailed a more recent witness report to us this afternoon:
We live on Nevada St. right off of Cortland and a few nights ago my dad while parking our van saw a red car (he could not tell what model and make) that stopped in the middle of our block and dropped a tall male off who proceded to walk down the block where there was a pot with a bougainvillea plant. My dad said the man picked up the potted plant and the red car drove down to the corner of Cortland and Nevada and picked the guy up. My dad who was parked in front of our house honked the moment he saw the guy pick up the plant but by the time my dad could yell or something they were gone.
I realize my headline sounds like some sort of Google-bait keyword nightmare, but I really can’t think of a more accurate way to describe this seasonally appropriate video of fog rolling through Sutro Tower created by La Lengua rebel spokesblogger Burrito Justice. My only complaint is that I want a version that lasts for about an hour!
In cased you missed it, sunset on Saturday evening was crazy off-the-hook for serious. Bernal Hill provided (per usual) an excellent vantage point from which to view the madness, which was caused by the same whack-job storm system that give us last night’s record-setting June (!!!) rainfall. (Sing along: “Kooooyaaaaaaanisqatsiiiiii”)
This weather front is bonkers, but it is also extremely well organized, spinning out in a spiral-shaped pinwheel that put Bernalwood in the eye of the storm right around sunset:
It’s even nuttier in the animated satellite view.
The setting sun lit up all those spiralling cloud loops as they surrounded our City, providing amazing texture and color. This was the scene:
Lord Sutro looked dazzling:
The ridgeline just below Twin Peaks was glowing pink:
One Rincon and the Bay Bridge were a colorful couple:
South Van Ness looked exceptionally arterial:
Our own Microwave Tower seemed rather rakish:
The Spaghetti Bowl was a tangle of colors:
And Bernal Heights Boulevard was delightfully apocalyptic:
Lastly, here’s a 360-degree video, to help put it all in perspective. (Add your own “Double rainbow all the way!” soundtrack):
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
Added bonus: Sunset over Sutro Tower:
Warm weather isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, rain in May can stave off a tragedy. Here’s a cautionary tale from a time in the recent (ok, distant) past.
There’s a lot to love in this brand-new and (until now) undiscovered video by Stefano Caprile and Alejandra Cano announcing the opening of a Lomography gallery in San Francisco, but hats off to the location scout for making Bernal Hill look so good. (PS: Loved the ending.)
It’s that time of year, when you break out the rake and shovel (or whatever it’s called) and bring in the crops you worked so hard to grow during the last few months.
Today is the 105th anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. So what was the big event like here in Bernal Heights?
Rather uneventful, actually. Bernal itself suffered relatively little damage — thank you, chert! — and the fires that ravaged much of the rest of the City never made it this far south. (As you can see above, Bernal Hill proved an excellent vantage point for gawking the disaster as it unfolded.) Later, parts of the neighborhood — most famously Precita Park — were used as encampments to shelter displaced City residents, which in part explains why the quake ultimately turned out to be a boon to Bernal Heights development.
To put all this in perspective, enjoy this video produced by Vicky Walker of the Bernal History Project. It tells the tale of what the Great Quake was like here in Bernal Heights:
PHOTO: via Bernal History Project
We’ve had mice, we’ve had rats, we’ve had raccoons living between the house and the neighbor’s house, we’ve had a falcon standing on our back deck, we’ve had friends who just hang around too long at the end of a party… but maybe I’ve said too much.
Here’s our latest run-in with a frequent visitor to our backyard who likes us so much he’s taken up residence in our crap-filled garage. I hope you can learn something from this.
Did anybody notice how the temperature rose 10 degrees on Wednesday afternoon?
One minute, I’m sitting in the shade at the Giants’ game thinking that I should put my jacket on, then suddenly there’s a warm wind blowing in my face. (No, I wasn’t at the hot dog stand.) Anyway… that, and other signs, can only mean one thing.
This video captures Antonino Musco moving the Hill during an improv session with a Yamaha Tenori-On earlier this month. Sweet!
Bernalwood 