Open Studio This Weekend at Recycled Glassworks

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RecycledGlassworks.set

As if Bernalwood’s Last Minute Locavore Christmas Gift Guide didn’t provide enough inspiration, Neighbor Lauren is having a last-last-minute open studio event at her Recycled Glassworks workshop on tony Bonview Street this weekend:

All my products are made in Bernal, typically from window glass reclaimed in SF and surroundings.

Apparently, the was quite a bit of house remodeling over the last year – that gave me plenty of materials to divert from their way to the landfill, to a beautiful reincarnation on someone’s dinner table.

Doors will be open from noon – 5pm at 238 Bonview St, just up the hill from Cortland, on Saturday and Sunday, December 22 and 23.

PHOTOS: Recycled Glassworks

Visualizing Bernal Heights After Lots and Lots of Sea-Level Rise

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SF.200foot.E

Burrito Justice, chief spokesblogger for the La Lengua separatists, recently joined forces with Brian Stokle to provide a detailed examination of what San Francisco would look like following significant sea-level rise caused by global climate change.

As you may recall, Burrito Justice took an initial pass at this project earlier this year, with a whimsical map that envisioned the “San Francisco Archipelago” following a colossal 200-foot sea-level rise. The new maps add a detailed street grid, as well as a visualization of what Our Faire City would look like following a somewhat less apocalypic (and somewhat more Sandy-like) 25-foot surge.

The resulting maps of the City are both hilarious and alarming. Yet because we are very vain here in Bernal Heights, let’s just focus on what they tell us about potential scenarios for the future of our own neighborhood.

Let’s start with the eminently possible 25-foot scenario:

SF25_riseBernalE

As you can see, Bernal fares relatively well in this scenario, with fashionable views to the east overlooking Islais Bay. Bayshore Avenue simply becomes part of the bay, which means that Lowe’s, the Silver Crest Restaurant & Bar, and the (New) Old Clam House are lost to us.

Things look very different if the waters rise by 200 feet:

BernalIsle.BurritoE-1

In this scenario, Bernal Heights is an island. The issue of La Lenguan sovereignty becomes moot, since all of La Lengua is underwater. My house on Precita is underwater too (but lives on via an eponymous marina). Happily, the Cortland retail strip survives, no doubt having morphed into a string of Nantucket-style boutiques selling nautical art, chocolate fudge, and nostalgia-themed t-shirts.

I’ve been giving some thought to how Bernal might adapt to the 200′ scenario, and I’ll have more to say — and show — about that in the new year.

Save the Owls: Why You Should Not Use Rat Poison in Bernal Heights

/ Todd_Lappin / 12 Comments

great horned owl, now appearing daily in bernal heights

Sad news from our neighborhood neighbors in Glen Park: A Great-Horned Owl that lived in their park died suddenly in November. An autopsy revealed the beautiful bird died after eating a rodent laced with rat poison:

Examined at WildCare and necropsied (autopsied) at/by the California Animal Health & Food Safety Laboratory System, his body was found to be reasonably nourished (he had part of a rodent in his stomach), but was otherwise internally toxic, diffusely discolored and badly hemorrhaged throughout. He had died of “presumptive AR intoxication,” anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning. That meant that he had eaten poisoned rodents. Great Horned Owls consume 10% of their body weight every day, equal to approximately five medium rodents. A Great Horned Owl family with babies will eat considerably more.

It is very sad to have lost this owl. The people who found Patient #1709 generously paid for the necropsy. They and their neighbors are particularly concerned about a pair of Great Horned Owls who live in the same neighborhood, and have watched them nest there every year for ten years. They are worried that deceased Patient #1709 may have been one of that pair.

Commonly available rodenticides are consumed by rodents, the basic food source for a number of different predators all the way up the food chain. These poisons kill by making whatever animal eats them bleed to death internally – slowly and painfully. While the poisoned animals – targeted or not – are still alive, they can be consumed by other predators. It is a terrifying prospect; to kill many animals while targeting only one.

For the purpose of this release we include not only San Francisco media, but also the specific neighborhoods of Glen Park (where Great Horned Owl Patient #1709 was found), West Portal, Diamond Heights and Noe Valley to help them protect the remaining owls – and any other animals that could eat poisoned rodents there.

It’s strange that Bernal Heights wasn’t included in the alert, because Great Horned Owls have settled on Bernal Hill too, and not all that long ago. It would be swell to have them again. So the lesson stands: Please don’t use rat poison, unless you like killing magnificent owls at the same time.

PHOTO: Great Horned Owl on Bernal Hill, 2007. Photo by Art Siegel

A Jewish Guy’s Guide to Last-Minute Christmas Gifts for Under $30 in Bernal Heights

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Holiday Stroll

Hanukkah is over. Luckily for everyone else, I stumbled upon lots excellent, inexpensive gifts offered by several of our Bernal Heights merchants while finishing up the last of my holiday shopping last week. So never mind that my shopping is done; yours may be just beginning! Here are some last-minute gift ideas I found around the neighborhood:

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Drinking Cups and/or Succulent Planters
Where: Succulence on Cortland
Price: Beginning at $27
It’s for humans! No, it’s for plants! It’s a drinking cup for tea! No, it’s a small planter for your countertop! Actually, according to the staff at Succulence, it’s both! These lovely pieces from Jennifer Fisher look great no matter how you use them.

 

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Wooden Toy Sports Cars
Where: Chloe’s Closet on Cortland
Price: $7
Matchbox or Hot Wheels are always popular among the under-10 set, but these wooden toy cars jack-up the style quotient. The bodies are made from sustainable bamboo and the vehicles themselves are powered by clean, abundant, and eco-friendly momentum. Sound good? There’s one catch: Prolonged exposure to these toys may turn your child into a future recruit for the Bernal Dads Racing Team.

 

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Totally Frikkin’ Amazing Pickles
Where: Paulie’s Pickling on Cortland
Price: $8 per jar
Our family had our annual “vodka and latke” party last week — a seasonal ritual that embraces the Eastern European tradition of downing ice-cold vodka shots with a sliced pickle chaser. (Try it! Yum!) My job was to buy the pickles, so I loaded up at Paulie’s. Even if you’re not celebrating in St. Petersburg style, pickles from Paulie’s will bring a smile to any foodie’s face.

 

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Old Skool Bicycle Bells
Where: The New Wheel on Cortland
Price: $11 to $27
If they ride a bike in the city, they definitely need a bell. These Crane bicycle bells from Japan all offer classic styling, and they’re available in a variety of metal finishes. Ring-a-ding-ding!

 

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Artsy, Awesome Bernal Heights Photographs
Where: Inclusions Gallery on Cortland
Price: $25 each
I found these hiding in the back room of the Inclusions Gallery. They’re wonderful. This series of photos by Erin Malone shows a variety of images around Bernal Heights and Bernal Hill. They’re small format, but each comes mounted in a generous mat for that über-artsy look. There’s a nice selection to choose from too, so it’s easy to find a perspective that captures Bernal as you love it most.

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Make Your Own Gummies Kit
Where: Rock Candy Snack Shop on Cortland
Price: $15
I would have bought one of these for Bernalwood’s Cub Reporter, except we’re still digging our way out from under a pile of surplus sour worms left over from Halloween. Too bad, because this DIY gummy candy kit looked like a ton of fun, and it’s a whole lot more wholesome than our unholy Halloween leftovers. The kit uses natural seaweed as a gummy-agent, and it comes with an extended geek-out on the story of carrageenan, as well as everything you need to make some sweet treats.

 

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T-Shirts From the World’s Second-Most Glamorous Zip Code
Where: Secession Art and Design on Mission
Price: $28 and up
We’re cool, here in Bernal Heights. We don’t brag. We don’t boast. Our style is understated jet-set chic, and that extends to the clothes we wear as we wander the world. These sporty t-shirts tell everyone that you’re representing the 94110, and if some people don’t know where that is — well, then those are people you probably didn’t really want to know anyway. The shirts available in sizes for infants to adults, and I’m sad to report that Bernalwood’s Cub Reporter just outgrew the one I gave her a few years ago. Bonus: The names of our world-famous local streets are embedded in the numerals, for extra graphic-design pizzaz.

 

gifts.logpillows Versatile Throw Pillows That Also Happen to Look Like Logs
Where: Heartfelt on Cortland
Price: $17
True Story: I bought one of these pillows a few months ago. I got it because I thought it would look fun on our living room sofa — and it does. But turns out these compact pillows (which are sold in a variety of woodgrains) are also good for so much more. For example, while packing for a car-camping trip last summer, I grabbed the pillow off the sofa and stuffed it in my bag to use as a head rest inside my tent. It was ridiculously comfortable, and I got a great nights’ sleep. Then I came home from camping, unloaded my gear, and flopped the pillow back on our living room sofa — where it continues to look good as new. Indeed, I’m sitting on the sofa as I write this now, with my log-pillow perched behind me to provide lower-back support. Quirky, comfy, fun, and so much more.

PHOTOS: All photos by Telstar Logistics, except for the 94110 shirts, which came courtesy of Secession Art and Design

Early-Rising Neighbor Witnesses Blazing Red-Hot Sunrise of Awesome

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redhotsunrise

Thank goodness Neighbor Anita continues to work the dawn shift on the south side of Bernal Heights, so the rest of us can get just a little more sleep. That means she’s on duty to watch for interesting sunrises, even while you and I are still looking at the inside of our eyeballs.

She spotted this sunrise last weekend. It’s an intense kaleidoscope of early morning magic — and I didn’t see any of it.

PHOTO: Marriedwithdinner

Newfangled Electric Bike Hauls Xmas Cheer Up Bernal Hill

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

In days of yore, Bernal Heights residents brought their Christmas trees home either by recruiting teams of reindeer to haul the trees up Bernal Hill or by strapping the trees to the roofs of their internal-combustion vehicles.

But that was then. Today, we have The New Wheel, our newfangled electric bike shop on Cortland, to introduce a retro-futuristic mode of transport for getting Christmas trees to Bernal Heights.

This video from the New Wheel shows how it’s done — with a seasonal soundtrack, and without even breaking a sweat. Ho Ho ho!

Safeway Chic: An Elevated View of Our Local Supermarket

/ Todd_Lappin / 9 Comments

SafewayChic

When shopping at our Taoist Safeway, I always find it comforting to look up through the windows from the checkout line to see Bernal Hill smiling at me from on high.

Now Instagram user @kslatz312 has done me the favor of capturing the view one sees from Bernal Hill when looking down at the Safeway. Do you see me waving back from the Express Checkout? Peekaboo!

Bonus: This view almost (almost!) makes the building look stylish.

PHOTO: @kslatz312

Bernal Heights Gets High-Profile Cameos in New Google Maps and Flickr Apps

/ Todd_Lappin / 8 Comments

GoogleMaps.BernalShot 2

Right now, tens of millions of desperate Apple iPhone and iPad users are rushing to download the brand new, just-released Google Maps app for iOS. They are doing this because Apple Maps has some trust issues, which makes the arrival (or, reprise) of Google Maps on iPhones and iPads a very big deal.

And when those tens of millions of lost map junkies click on the iTunes Store link to score a copy of the Google Maps app, they are each greeted with a screenshot that gives Bernal Heights prime placement.

Look closely:

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Even more closely:

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Boom.

Now, Google is a company with deep pockets. A company that knows what it wants, and it knows how to get it. Google could have shown anyplace in the world on that map. They could have given a shout out to glamorous neighborhoods in New York, London, Paris, Milan, or Tokyo.

But they didn’t.

They gave a shout out to Bernal Heights.

Oh, and this isn’t just a Google thing, either.

Did you hear about the new Flickr app? The one that was also released yesterday? The one that’s also supposed to give the world a taste of how Marissa Mayer plans to save Yahoo? Well, it’s showing off some screenshots too.  And guess what so hot right now neighborhood scored a major cameo on Flickr’s stylish app promo page?

Flickr.BernalEyes

Let’s zoom and enhance for an even closer look:

Flickr.BernalEyes.Zoom2x

That’s right, the whole thing is practically a Bernal Heights valentine.

Obvious Conclusion: Bernal Heights r00Lz the Internets.

UPDATE: In the comments, we learn that Neighbor Markus lives in Bernal and also heads up the product team at Flickr. So if you see him on the street, you can say hello, welcome him to the neighborhood, and insinuate your Flickr feature requests into the conversation. In the meantime, here’s the clean version of the photo shown above:

San Francisco in Steffi's sunglasses

Confirmed: The Stray Bar Is For Sale, Announces Plan to Close in January

/ Todd_Lappin / 10 Comments

StrayBarListing

There’s been a lot of buzz around Bernalwood concerning this real estate listing, and now Miss Karen from the beloved and canine-friendly Stray Bar on Cortland has posted an announcement to explain what’s going on:

To our Friends, Customers & Neighbors:

YES! The rumor is true and Stray Bar (and building) are on the market as of this week.

I realize this saddens many of you who have come up to talk to me this past week and it was not an easy decision process by any means. This has been a year with some personal family tragedy – a year that has made me reflect on my goals and dreams for the future – and it is a year that has brought me opportunity to grow further as a small business owner.

There is absolutely no doubt that I have grown, learned, and benefitted from my relationship with so many of you, with this neighborhood, and as a small business owner in San Francisco. Running a business in this city has its challenges and is not for the faint of heart but I encourage anyone with a dream and the ability to pursue that dream to do just that – life is short and opportunities do not present themselves every day. When they do – grab and don’t let go!

Please keep in mind that the process of selling Stray Bar will take some time – licenses, permits, and all that is involved takes some time. During that time we hope you will join us at the bar for a drink, to dream about future endeavors, laugh about past memories, and to continue on with the friendships that we have built over this nearly seven year period.

Bernal Heights is an amazing neighborhood – I like to call it a little village in the midst of the city. We watch out for one another around here, we care, and nowhere have I seen that more than through the friendship, feedback, and support of our Stray Bar clientele.

We are here through January and we hope to see you soon! And please do not be sad – change is good and necessary to growth…

“20 years from now you will be disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the one’s you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

Respectfully & Sincerely,
Karen Opp
Proprietor / Stray Bar

UPDATE: Coming on the heels of the announced closure of Nervous Dog Coffee earlier in the week, celebrity Bernal Heights journalist Tim Dickinson observes: “This is a bad economy for dog-themed beverage establishments in Bernal.”

PHOTO: Redfin