You Have Another Month to Taste the Bernal Supper Club

/ Todd_Lappin / 12 Comments

Last week, I finally made it to the Bernal Supper Club, that Monday night pop-up restaurant created by a close-knit group of Bernal Heights foodies.

It was delicious. I started with the roasted beet salad, served with ricotta stuffed blossoms, basil puree, and pine nuts:

For my main, I chose the duck leg with wild rice, pickled cherries, and fennel salad. Also great:

No less great were the big smiles on the faces of chefs Tony Ferrari, Jonathan Sutton, and Miles Carnahan. “I spend all week looking forward to Monday!” Ferrari said when I grabbed him for a moment to say hello. The restaurant had a healthy crowd, and the gents were clearly having a blast in the kitchen. Their enthusiasm was palpable.

Indeed, they’re having so much fun, they’ve decided to extend the Bernal Supper Club for another month. So every Monday evening from now through the end of September, you can dine BSC-style in their pop-up home in The Corner, on Mission Street at 18th.

And after that? With a little luck, they could end up in a restaurant spot back home in Bernal Heights. They’ve already started looking…

PHOTOS: Courtesy of Bernal Supper Club (because my pics really sucked)

Interactive Map Enables Bernal Heights Time Travel

/ Todd_Lappin / 9 Comments


Get ready to spend the next few minutes immersed in blissfully satisfying distraction. There’s a new website called OldSF that combines interactive maps with geolocated historical photographs to create an easy-to-navigate history tour of San Francisco. Co-creator Dan Vanderkam explains:

Several years ago, I searched for my cross-streets on the Library’s San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection […]. The image was mislabeled — the intersection in the foreground is actually Waller and Fillmore, not Waller and Webster. Which meant that this photo from 1945 was taken from my roof!

I put together a now-and-then shot, but it always bothered me that the mislabeling of the image was so crucial to my finding it. This led to the idea of putting the images on a map.

And now, years later, we have that map!

It’s awesome. It’s geeky. It’s deep. And it’s got Bernal Heights covered. Kiss your productivity goodbye.

Bernalwood Editor Writes Article for Some Newspaper in New York; Encourages You to Report for Bernalwood

/ Todd_Lappin / 9 Comments

 I have an article in today’s New York Times about iPhone photography as an emerging art form. The article focuses on Mission-dweller Doctor Popular, who has established himself as an innovator in the medium.

ALSO, this is probably a good time to remind all our readers that if you have an iPhone, Android, or Blackberry smartphone, you have all the tools you need to become an ace reporter for Bernalwood. As my article demonstrates, that device in your pocket is a powerful photography insutrment, so please use it whenever you see *anything* fun, interesting, or important in the neighborhood. Capture the moment, then send it to us at the address shown on your screen: bernalwood *at* gmail *dot* com.

Reader Amy did it when she found that spooky pentagram on Bernal Hill. Another Tipster did it when he photographed that loose-screw guy defacing the mural at Emmy’s. And Reader X did it when he snapped that succulent thief making off with the goods.

You can do it too. And if you feel like making your photos a little more artsy-fartsy, my article may help. But if not, that’s fine too. Just send us your photos with a brief description of whatever you see, please!

Our email address again:

PHOTO: Top, iPhone photo by Telstar Logistics (aka Todd Lappin)

Bernal’s Battle-Scarred Race Car Returns Home for Repairs

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Recovering the Whale

Recovering the Whale

Recovering the Whale

Last weekend I took part in an unusual rescue mission. Our task: Recover a race car used by the Bernal Dads Racing Team from the suburban jungles of Davis, California, and haul it back to Bernalwood so it can be prepped for a 24 Hours of LeMons race coming up in late October.

The car itself is a battle-scarred Volvo 240 that’s been dubbed “The Whale,” and it’s adorned with sponsorship decals from many of your favorite Cortland merchants. The body is a mess, but the real disaster lies under the hood: After it seized up during a race earlier in the year, the entire engine may need to be replaced. Can those racy Bernal Dads get the job done before October?? Stay tuned!

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Our Seismologist Evaluates Last Night’s Earthquake

/ Todd_Lappin / 6 Comments


So, did you feel last night’s earthquake? I sure did. Heard it too. Good times.

Julian Lozos, Bernalwood’s Senior Seismologist, wasn’t here for the shake, but after it he tweeted up a storm from his high-tech monitoring post. Here’s some of his seismo-punditry:

Yaaaaay, chert!

Meet Darren Samuelson, Large Format Photographer

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

DSC_0033

Darren Samuelson

Here in Bernalwood, we like to go big. From our sprawling McMansions to our hulking Chevrolet Suburbans, life in the ‘Wood is all about living large. So it’s fitting that the Inclusions Gallery on Cortland is currently hosting an exhibit by Darren Samuelson, a San Francisco photographer who uses an ultra-large format camera to take big pictures of America’s  most beefy landscapes.

On Thursday night, August 25 at 7 pm, Inclusions will host a Q&A with Samuelson, to discuss his work. Inclusions tells us:

Darren Samuelson built an ultra large format camera as a tool to experiment with 14×36 inch x-ray film. Seventy pounds of carefully constructed red oak, steel, and 6-foot bellows, along with an entire set of custom made film holders, processing and printing tools make both shooting and developing a photo a laborious task that results in a truly unique image. The prints showcased in this exhibition were gathered from trials on his back porch, San Francisco landscapes, and a road trip across the U.S. The character of these images comes from both the experimental nature of the camera and the orthochromatic register of x-ray film, which more closely aligns with film before the 1920s. In their iconic subject matter and aesthetics, these photos reach back to the first applications of photography. Darren is a self-taught photographer, freelance designer, and part-time chef. He works with many camera sizes–medium, large, and ultra large, and always with film. He is a Bay Area native who lives and works in San Francisco.

This terrific video shows how the magic happens:

Once again: Q&A with Darren Sameulson at Inclusions Gallery, Thursday night, August 25 at 7 pm. If you can’t make the event, do sees the exhibit of his work — and his supersized camera — on display be at Inclusions until September 18.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

New New Mural at Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

Remember when that loose-screw-guy defaced the new mural at Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack back in May? The whole incident was unfortunate, but there’s now a replacement mural to fill the void. Several readers notified Bernalwood that the new mural was up (thankyouverymuch!), and Laura Muhlhammer sent us a few great snaps. Laura says:

I just walked by Emmy’s and got a look at her colorful new mural.  It’s gorgeous if I do say so myself!

Nice. The folks at Emmy’s told Bernalwood the mural was painted by Nathan Tan, aka Nate1 MPC, who sells some of his sporty duds via Secession Art and Design just a few doors south. Poking around, I found this sweet little video of Nate1 in action. Visualize it:

PHOTO: Laura Muhlhammer

Fog and Sun: Two Flavors of Bernal Hill Time-Lapse Video

/ Todd_Lappin / 17 Comments

Joe Thomas lives in Bernal Heights, and from his house he’s got a nice view of the tower atop Bernal Hill. He recently used that to good advantage by creating this chiaroscuro time-lapse video that shows the tower coming in and out of view amid the all-encompassing fog that is our fate this time of year.

For something a little warmer, Joe also made a sunny-day video taken from the same spot:

Also, following up on our previous post about how Bernal’s microwave tower needs a name, Joe proposes that we call it “Sutrito.” I quite like that, actually. “Sutrito Tower.” (The mini-me resemblance is undeniable.) Thoughts?

UPDATE: 23 Aug 2011

Rebel La Lenguan Burrito Justice shot some superb time-lapse video recently that shows Sutro Tower (aka Sutro Grande) floating in a river of fog. Behold: