Ooh. Tasty.
According to the sign in the window, the new Little Bee Bakery from Bernal neighbor (and Chez Panisse alum) Stacie Pierce is set to open for a soft-launch starting today in the former Rock Candy Shop space at 521 Cortland.
The interior has received a thorough renovation, and a sign in the window says Little Bee will begin flight testing on October 11-13 from noon to 6 pm.
PHOTO: ellagarto75
Natt Nathanson, Bernal’s friendly neighborhood rockstar next-door, has been away from home a lot lately. He’s on tour to support his new album, although he was back on-hill recently for a local swing to headline a glamorous show at the Fox in Oakland:
Somewhere around Portland, Neighbor Matt started taking selfies during each show, and sharing them on the Instagram. It’s kind of become a thing. Here’s one from that Oakland gig: 
This was Wednesday night in Denver: 
Helloooooo Spokane! 
You get the idea. Of course, as much as Neighbor Matt makes it all look like party fun woo-woo, we all know he would much rather be here with us, earnestly sipping double-shot locavore lowfat organic soy latteccinos on Cortland and searching in vain for a shopping cart at our Taoist Safeway.
Instead he’s hard at work rocking America and rolling from city to city in a custom tour bus like the one in that wistful Journey video. We understand that he’ll be back sometime around Thanksgiving, at which point Bernalwood suspects he’d be very happy to take a selfie with you on the Good Life checkout line… Just like us!
PHOTOS: Matt Nathanson on Instagram
Fast Company Design carries a story about a new map of San Francisco that happens to include a particularly tasty representation of Bernal Heights:
In San Francisco Contours, a topographical print by Abe Bingham … urbanity has been stripped away to highlight the hills of the city.
The piece was inspired by a combination of San Francisco’s unique landscape and the general failings of traditional topographical maps, which are, on one hand, a triumph of data visualization, and on the other, very difficult for the average person to decipher. As a fix, Bingham built his maps in full 3-D, exaggerating altitude by 2.5x to simulate the view of a pedestrian rather than a flyby.
The map is gorgeous, but the exaggerated proportions make it somewhat difficult to orient yourself to the image of Bernal Heights shown above. So here’s an annotated guide:
Abe Bingham is a SF-born graphic designer, and he wants to sell images of his maps, so you can find out more (and buy a copy) on his Kickstarter page. A $50 contribution qualifies you as a “Bernal Hill Level” donor, which is actually rather flattering.
IMAGES: Via Abe Bingham
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
If you drove along the south side of Bernal Hill yesterday afternoon, you might have noticed this pile of illegally dumped trash at the east end of the park.
The pile of trash probably made you feel sad.
The pile of trash probably made you feel angry.
The pile of trash probably made you wonder: Who were the wretched asshats who left that pile of trash there?
Well, wonder no more. A Bernal neighbor photographed two men in the act of dumping their refuse on our lovely hill at 1:45 pm yesterday. Check it out:
Here’s a nice head-on view of the perps in-progress:
Let’s zoom and enhance to vector in on one of the men’s faces, shall we?
Unfortunately, there’s no license plate on the front of the van. But that’s okay, because the van had a handy-dandy U-Haul vehicle number on the bumper. Another zoom and enhance:
Ah. Nice and clear: U-Haul Vehicle # BE 7747 N
So, in theory, it should be a relatively straightforward matter to track down the records which show who had custody of U-Haul vehicle BE 7747 N on Oct. 8, 2013 at 1:45 pm, and bring them to justice. Right?
Well, maybe.
Bernalwood really really really hopes the SFPD will follow up on this incident, because the last time we provided the City with direct evidence of an illegal dumping, the Assistant DA never pursued a prosecution in the case, even though Bernalwood had photos of a hauling truck with a frikkin’ phone number on the side going up and down the hill in the middle of the night (which we withheld from publication at the DA’s request).
Which made us sad.
And frankly, rather angry.
So here’s more evidence of a dumping incident on Bernal Hill.
Take it away, Assistant DA.
UPDATE: A quick reminder by Neighbor Sarah from the SFPD Beat:
Obvious question: did anyone report it to SFPD? Remember: crimes in progress, even things like dumping, mean you should call 911.
The former Stray Bar is reopening tonight, under new ownership, with an all-new interior, and a brand-new name. Your Bernalwood editor snapped the photos you see above during a speedy drive-by visit last week.
From here on out, the bar shall be known as Holy Water.
Hmm. Yes.
Micheal Goebel, one of the co-owners of the new establishment, has kindly extended an invitation to all Citizens of Bernalwood to stop by this evening for a special Bernal-only soft-launch celebration:
We thought it would be a cool idea to host a neighborhood-only soft opening for everyone. We will do some hosted beer and wine for a couple hours.
For those who are so inclined, you will be pleased to know that Holy Water is already on the Foursquare, for your check-in convenience.
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
A Bernal neighbor shared this sad story about a violent incident that happened over the weekend in Holly Park. Unlike the sanitized reports we receive from the SFPD, this provides the victim’s perspective on a very upsetting street crime:
Just to let Bernalwood know, my kid and some friends were violently assaulted and robbed at Hollly Park on Saturday night (October 5) at 10 PM. It was on the north side of the park, up where the little tables live along the third base side of the ball diamond at Bocana & Holly Park Circle
A bald white male was seemingly just walking by, and then all of a sudden, he punched my kid in the nose (two fractures), then asked for his backpack, wallet and phone. He was accompanied by a woman who actually was pleading with him not to do it, but didn’t or couldn’t stop him. He also took another kid’s skateboard. The kids were all 17-18 years old. They said he seemed hopped-up or drunk.
A police report was filed and my kid ended up at Davies Medical Cener via ambulance.
I just think there is some bad mogambo brewing over there lately, after the hit and run and all, and I feel people should be aware of it — and that this crazy guy is on the loose.
The amateur gumshoe in me thinks he is from around here, as it wasn’t gang-related, nor did it seem related to the near-by projects. Plus, the phone tracking thing lead to a scary-looking house on the 300 block of Richland for a few hours before the battery went out.
The main thing is that this was a seemingly random, and for-real violent episode that happened in our neighborhood.
Need a tasty dinner option tonight? Miss Dana from the Precita Park Cafe invites you to “Gay Pasta Night”:
We are hosting a “Gay Pasta Night” at the cafe on Tuesday, October 8. We’ll serve homemade pasta, and portions of the proceeds will be going to Project Open Hand. This is in response to Barilla Pasta taking a stance against the GLBT community.
Bernalwood and our Cub Reporter are fans of both pasta and gay rights, so we plan to dine at PPC tonight. We will also try to ignore the fact that “Gay Pasta Night” feels a little like the title of a “Portlandia” sketch.
PHOTO: Precita Park Cafe sign by Scott Schiller.
It looks completely great, and Neighbor Amanda captured it.
We had some friends over for dinner last night, so I couldn’t sneak up to Bernal Hill to shoot last night’s amazing sunset. But I watched it with a drink in my hand from the back yard — an awe-inspiring explosion of rich pinks and yellows, with rich textures created by a layer of high clouds.
Fortunately, Brian Hollinger was in position to get the shot you see above, while Rachel Balik Instagrammed the one below:
UPDATE: Our friends at @VisualSF shared this bonus photo, with is super-pink and super-textured. Wowzilla:
When he’s not fomenting insurrection, agitating for territorial autonomy, or weaponizing Mexican food, Burrito Justice, Chief Rebel Spokeblogger for the La Lenguans, also likes to dabble in cartography and map-making. He usually deploys these skills to foment heated arguments about micro-hood territorial boundaries, but recently he applied them in the cause of art… and bicycling.
Working with City Lights Bookstore, Burrito Justice created a Bikes to Books map to celebrate the 25th anniversary of City streets renamed after San Francisco authors and artists — and plot a route for cyclists who want to visit them all.
He invites all Oppressors Citizens of Bernalwood to join in the fun on Sunday, October 6 for a bike ride and/or map party at City Lights:
Bikes to Books
October 6, 11 am bike tour, and 2 pm reading/anniversary partyCity Lights books, Nicole Gluckstern, and Burrito Justice announce the publication release party for their collaborative bike map/tour: “Bikes to Books,” Sunday October 6 at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, celebrating with a bike tour and a reading in Jack Kerouac Alley.
Combining San Francisco history, art, literature, cycling, and urban exploration, “Bikes to Books” began as an homage to the 1988 street-naming project spearheaded by City Lights founder and former San Francisco Poet Laureate, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, in which twelve San Francisco streets were renamed for famous artists and authors who had once made San Francisco their home. Twenty-five years after the street-naming proposal was passed by the then the Board of Supervisors, local author and city cyclist Nicole Gluckstern devised a bike route connecting all twelve streets into a comprehensive bike tour, and enlisted avid amateur historian Burrito Justice for the creation of an interactive, multi-functional map, recently published in an abridged form in The San Francisco Bay Guardian. The two-sided, full color map published in collaboration with City Lights, is appropriate for use as a navigational tool, a history lesson, and a unique work of art in its own right.
Bike Tour details for October 6:
Meet on the North side of Jack London Street at South Park from 10:30 am.
Tour will commence at 11:00 am sharp.
Tour will end at approximately 2 pm outside City Lights Bookstore, at Jack Kerouac Alley in North Beach.
Cost = Free! (bring your own water/snacks)Reading details for October 6:
Meet in Jack Kerouac Alley from 2-4 pm for a celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Street-naming project and a release party for “Bikes to Books” map, sponsored by the City Lights Foundation.
Cost = Free!
IMAGE: Bikes to Books map detail, via Burrito Justice
It’s that junior-rockstar time of year, as the parents from J. Serra Elementary School on Holly Park will hold their annual RockaPalooza benefit again this Saturday, Oct. 5.
Neighbor Karen tells Bernalwood:
This is our third annual fundraiser at Thee Parkside (17th and Wisconsin in Potrero). This year we have Gone to Ground headlining. Gone to Ground is fronted by iconic Mia Simmons of legendary SF all-girl punk band Frightwig.
We also have a band called the Seagulls, fronted by our own Bernal dad, Jon Brooder (otherwise known as Martha Brooder’s husband/ George and Sydney’s dad). Finally, our opening band is Demon Dogs: One James Lick (Gaby) and two Buena Vista 6th graders; Strummer and Mateo, all Bernal kids.
This should be a fun event! This is a “happy hour” show, TOTALLY KID-FRIENDLY We will have arts and crafts on the tables out on the patio, the kitchen will be serving up tater-tots and mac and cheese, burgers, etc. We will have a bake sale to help raise additional money. Good times for all.
4 p.m. to 7 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 5.
The vigil for Christy Svanemyr that took place yesterday was sad and powerful.
Held on the very ground in Holly Park where she was killed by a Recreation & Parks pickup truck on the afternoon of Sept. 5, the vigil celebrated Christy Svanemyr’s life, mourned her passing, and reiterated calls for accountability and improved park safety.
There were six or seven TV news trucks there, and several dozen people attending the vigil — a mix of Bernal neighbors, friends of Christy Svanemyr, and city officials.
A woman who had been a good friend of Christy spoke of the appreciation Christy brought to each moment in life. D9 Supervisor David Campos spoke movingly about the impossible difficulty of loss. Neighbor Lucy expressed quiet outrage, calling for the City to do the right thing.
Christy’s husband, Vegar Svanemyr, also spoke.
Vegar said hadn’t planned to come to the vigil; He said it seemed “overwhelming.”
Yet in the end he decided to come, because he felt called to speak about his own grief, and the depth of the love he shared with Cristy. Originally from Norway, Vegar said Christy had helped teach him how to open up his heart, and that she would have wanted him to attend the vigil, and embrace the spirit of what it represented. So he did.
His speech was halting, simple, deep, and honest.
It was heartbreaking.
Supervisor Campos tells Bernalwood he will hold a hearing on Rec & Park safety practices next Thursday, October 10 10:00 am, before the Neighnorhood Services & Safety Committee, in the Board of Supervisors Chamber.
In the meantime, you can read this piece from ABC-7 for an update on how the legal case against Rec & Park employee Thomas Burnoski is developing.
PHOTOS: Vigil, by Telstar Logistics
Bernalwood 