The weather outside has been eerily lovely for the last week or so; Warm, clear, and bathed in gorgeous California sunshine.
The sunsets have been exceptionally tasty as well. Luckily. Francois Brahic, a local drone jockey, filmed one of those sunset recently, as seen from the top of Bernal Hill.
It’s a lovely little moment in time that captures the colors of the sunset and our new skyline in a very beautiful way. Enjoy:
The 20th Anniversary screening of Bernaltown: The Movie that took place at the Bernal Heights Library last Tuesday night was a classic Bernal event. The film sold out two screenings on Tuesday night, and the audiences were a friendly mix of Bernal neighbors, old and new.
That’s probably because Bernaltown is such a sweet film. Clocking in at about 30 minutes, Bernaltown was written and produced in the mid 1990s by Gregory Gavin, who at the time was running a youth program that taught local kids how to build wooden go-carts for racing on Bernal Hill. The kids and the go-karts ended up with starring roles in Bernaltown, which was first shown in 1997.
Twenty years later, Bernaltown remains a work of delightful, uninhibited fun that showcases Bernal’s quirks and characters. It shows us how far we’ve come in some ways, reminds us what we’ve lost in others, and celebrates the oddball creative spirit that still clings to Bernal Hill’s chert.
A few celebrity guests from the Bernaltown cast were on hand Tuesday night, including the dastardly, diabolical Dealer Dan (Nic Griffin), and Shila Evanchak, who played a superhero version of her childhood self in the film:
Berntown celebrities Shila Evanchak (left) and Nic Griffin (as Dealer Dan) were on the red carpet Tuesday night
The Bernaltown screenings at the library sold out quickly, which meant a lot of Bernal neighbors were sad because they weren’t able to see the film.
Until now.
Now, all Bernalese can partake of the joy that is Bernaltown through the magic of our 21st century Interwebs. Yes, Bernaltown is now on YouTube!
So load it up and gather around your favorite screen with friends and family.
Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, dogs and cats… Welcome to Bernaltown:
A shrine erected near the spot where Duby Ortiz-Guardado was killed on Jan. 23. (Photos: Courtesy of Emperor Norton)
Two suspects have now been arrested in connection with the Jan. 23 shooting in southwest Bernal Heights that left one man dead and a woman badly wounded.
Duby Ortiz-Guardado, 20, was walking with a woman near the intersection of Richland and Leese at 5:13 pm when gunfire rang out. Both Ortiz-Guardado and the woman were hit; Ortiz-Guardado later declared dead at San Francisco General Hospital.
Two men have been arrested in connection with the homicide. San Francisco residents Oscar Guadron-Diaz, 18, and Jorge Howard, 19, were taken into custody.
A statement from SFPD Ingleside Station detailed the arrests:
An investigation by the SFPD Homicide Unit led to the identification of the suspects. On January 25, 2018 at approximately 2:30 PM the SFPD Special Investigation Division (SID) officers located and arrested Oscar Guadron-Diaz, an 18 year-old San Francisco resident, and Jorge Howard, a 19 year-old San Francisco resident, on the unit block of Laura Street. Guadron-Diaz was booked into the San Francisco County Jail on murder, attempted murder, mayhem and numerous other gun related charges. Howard was booked into the San Francisco County Jail on felony reckless driving and accessory charges.
CBS Bay Area adds that Guadron-Diaz is being held without bail:
Guadron-Diaz, a stocky man with dark-framed glasses and dark hair in a crew cut, postponed entering a plea Monday and is scheduled to return to court on Thursday. He was ordered to remain in custody without bail pending a bail hearing.
According to a Facebook profile, Ortiz-Guardado and the female victim both previously attended Mission High School.
Police on the scene of the shooting on Richland at Lesse. Photo: Neighbor Chris
One person was killed and another wounded during a shooting near Richland Avenue and Leese Street in southwest Bernal Heights on Tuesday evening.
The gunfire erupted at 5:13 pm yesterday.
This morning, SFPD Ingleside Captain Jack Hart sent shared this with the Bernal community:
The shooting happened up at Leese and Park Streets and involved a couple who preliminarily appeared to be targeted by the perpetrator. Officers were on the block, heard the shots (nearly on-viewing the incident), and began rendering aid within seconds. Even though the suspect is outstanding, there is no reason to believe that residents or merchants are at any increased risk moving forward.
In an abundance of caution, our school car has been notified of the incident and are going to make their way over to [Bernal Heights] first thing in the morning to assuage fears and answer any questions.
I have a two and one-year-old myself, so these incidents are certainly matters of great concern. It’s also for these two reasons that I am up most of the time through the night. So, please don’t hesitate to reach out on email <Jack.Hart@sfgov.org> with any questions or concerns moving forward; I will promptly reply and do what I can to address them.
UPDATE, 26 January: The victim killed in the Jan 23 shooting was Duby Ortiz-Guardado, 20. The injured victim was a female. According to the San Francisco Examiner, the SFPD has made an arrest in the case:
Officer Robert Rueca, a San Francisco police spokesperson, said officers spotted a wanted vehicle around 2:34 p.m. near Alemany Boulevard and Regent Street. A pursuit began when the driver refused to stop for the officers. Rueca said police arrested the suspect when he pulled over near Laura Street and Huron Avenue.
Rueca would not say why the suspect was wanted, but a source with knowledge of the arrest told the San Francisco Examiner that the suspect was arrested in connection with a fatal shooting Tuesday.
This week, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Board approved a plan to implement a residential permit parking (RPP) scheme along select streets in northwest Bernal Heights. The vote on the SFMTA Board was unanimous.
Under the new RPP, which will be the first permit parking zone in Bernal Heights, residents who live on designated streets will be able to obtain permits allowing them to park their vehicles on the street throughout the day.
Parking for people without permits will be limited to 2 hours maximum from Monday to Friday between 8 am and 6 pm.
The Bernal Heights RPP will be the first in the City to reduce the number of permits each resident is eligible to receive. Under the new system approved this week, each RPP household can receive one permit per driver, with a maximum two permits per household.
Permit parking will go into effect along 16 blocks in Bernal Heights where more than 50 percent of residents signed a petitions to join a permit parking system. The Bernal streets that will have RPP include: Coleridge (1- 199), Coso (1 – 199), Fair (1-99), Lundy’s Lane (1-29), Mirabel, Montezuma, Powers, Precita (1 – 299), Prospect (00-199), Shotwell (1400 – 1599), and Winfield (1 – 99).
Under the RPP system, permits are issued only to people who live at addresses on streets within the permit parking zone. SFMTA surveys indicate that 77% of the vehicles currently parked on the streets in the new RPP zone belong to people who live within a half-mile of the zone, an indication that many those vehicles likely belong to other Bernal residents.
Bernal residents who live on streets adjacent to the RPP zone are not eligible to receive permits and will not be able to park legally in the RPP zone during daytime enforcement hours.
The SFMTA’s petition system had been criticized by some Bernal neighbors who said the process was marred by irregular deadlines and poor communication on the part of SFMTA staff.
At Tuesday’s SFMTA Board meeting, some members of the public expressed concern that RPP will make it harder for teachers at Leonard Flynn School in Precita Park and workers at nearby nonprofits to find daytime parking. Precita Park is not in the new RPP zone, so teachers and nonprofit workers do not qualify for parking permits. To address these concerns, SFMTA may alter its rules to issue permits to some teachers and nonprofit workers outside the RPP zone.
Permits will become available and signs will be erected to designate the RPP zone within a few months.
Customers wait to enter the Harvest dispensary on 29th Street in Bernal Heights on Saturday afternoon.
Last weekend, Harvest off Mission at 33 29th Street became the first dispensary to offer legal, recreational cannabis sales in Bernal Heights.
It took Harvest off Mission a few days to line up their permits, so recreational sales didn’t get underway until last Saturday, Jan. 13. Anyone over 21 years and older can now enter the store with a government-issued ID.
The legal sale of recreational marijuana began in California on Jan 1. The first dispensaries permitted to sell recreational marijuana opened in San Francisco a few days later, on Jan. 6, owing to a delay by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. California voters approved Prop 64, which legalized recreational marijuana sales, in 2016.
The dispensary on 29th Street is not new, of course. Harvest, the current occupants of the storefront, have been offering medial cannabis at that location since December 2016. Before that, the space was used by another dispensary called Bernal Heights Collective.
First-time customers at Harvest may feel the most remarkable thing about it is how rather unremarkable it seems. The interior of the store is airy and modern, with curated selection of cannabis edibles and flower products arranged neatly on the shelves. (The menu is available online too.)
At a glance, it looks like the kind of shop that might sell fancy desserts, or fresh-pressed juices, or artisanal coffee. But here, in 2018 San Francisco, it’s the first store permitted to sell legal, recreational marijuana in Bernal Heights.
Here’s a fact sheet Harvest shared with Bernalwood:
Next Tuesday, Jan 16, the SFMTA Board of Directors will hold what may be the final hearing on a controversial proposal to implement a Residential Parking Permit (RPP) program in northwest Bernal Heights.
Tuesday’s hearing about the Bernal RPP will include a public comment period. If the SFMTA Board then votes to approve the Northwest Bernal RPP plan, residential permit parking will likely go into effect on the specified blocks within a few months .
SFMTA’s announcement about the hearing says:
NORTHWEST BERNAL HEIGHTS RPP HEARING
Residents of northwest Bernal Heights have petitioned the SFMTA to form a new residential parking permit area to better manage and find parking closer to their homes.
The proposal will be heard by the SFMTA Board of Directors on Tuesday, January 16, 2018, at 1:00 P.M., at San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B Goodlett Pl, San Francisco, CA 94102, Room 400. Interested parties are invited to attend and comment on the proposal.
The following blocks are proposed for residential permit parking: Coleridge (1- 199), Coso (1 – 199), Fair (1-99), Lundy’s Lane (1-29), Mirabel, Montezuma, Powers, Precita (1 – 299), Prospect (00-199), Shotwell (1400 – 1599), and Winfield (1 – 99).
The proposed RPP area will have the following policies for the number of permits that may be issued per address:
- One permit per driver; two permits per address
- Permits for medical care and child care providers do not count towards the two per address limit
- Additional permits may be issued to an address if parking is available in the immediate area and the permit is for additional licensed drivers in the household
More information about the parking planning efforts in NW Bernal Heights can be found at www.sfmta.com/northbernalrpp or email InfoRPP@sfmta.com.
For those who can’t attend the hearing on Jan. 16, comments to the Board can be submitted via email at MTABoard@sfmta.com.
The proposal to introduce RPP in northwest Bernal has been deeply divisive, pitting Bernal neighbor against neighbor, and block against block, over the question of whether or not permit parking is appropriate for the neighborhood.
In addition, multiple changes to the proposed RPP rules and irregularities in the SFMTA’s petition process have prompted some Bernal neighbors to question the accountability and competence of the SFTMA’s permit parking program staff. Additional question have been raised about the integrity of SFMTA’s vehicle census data.
Advocates for the Bernal RPP say permits are needed to prevent daytime workers, commuters, and air travelers heading to SFO from occupying scarce parking space in northwest Bernal Heights.
Critics point to SFMTA surveys which show that 73% of the vehicles currently parked on the proposed RPP streets belong to people who live within a half-mile of the zone, an indication that many those vehicles likely belong to other Bernal residents. SFMTA’s survey indicates that 19% of the vehicles parked in the RPP zone today belong to people who live more than 2 miles away.
If the parking plan is implemented. Bernal residents who do not live at a designated address within the RPP zone who will no longer be able to park on streets in the RPP zone for more than 2 hours between 8 am and 6 pm, Monday to Friday.
If approved, the annual permit fee will be $128 per auto and $96 for each motorcycle.
A billboard for Bernaltown appeared across from Good Life in 1997.
FINALLY, after a loooooong hiatus, Bernaltown-The Movie is returning to Bernal Heights on Jan. 30!!
We’ll get to the details about the where and when in a moment. But first, a brief history: What is Bernaltown?
Bernaltown was a delightful short film produced in 1997 by a group of Bernal Heights neighbors and kids. Making movies was a nontrivial thing to do in the late 1990s, because at the time, tape-based camcorders were still the prevailing technology and the era of digital video and YouTube was still a decade away.
Nevertheless, Bernaltown was glorious. Produced in the playful spirit of the 1960s Batman TV series, Bernaltown tells the story of a group of superhero kids who use high-tech go-karts to battle a diabolical developer who’s scamming to build a a hotel-casino complex on the top of Bernal Hill.
Musician and Bernal Neighbor Joshua Brody contributed the music for Bernaltown, and here’s how he remembers it:
A little over 20 years ago, good friend Sheila Balter invited me to donate my services to a fund-raiser for a film her friend Gregory Gavin was finishing up, so I did. Once I met Gregory and saw the trailer he’d put together, I fell in love with the project: A half-hour story called Bernaltown.
Gregory had been running workshops for kids in Bernal Heights to learn how to make their own go-karts and wanted to do some documentation on it, but rather than do a dry non-fiction talking heads piece, he decided to craft a narrative featuring the kids as superhero crime-fighters, other neighborhood regulars playing more-or-less themselves (eg. the beat cop as “the chief of police”) and throwing in a fictitious — but entirely plausible — subplot about an evil gambling syndicate’s real estate grab.
It was charming as f–k, and I instantly offered my services as composer, which Gregory just as instantly accepted, sound unheard. I think my terms — free — helped clinch the deal.
The film premiered in the schoolyard behind the Bernal Public Library (where it will be shown again… to commemorate its 20th anniversary). The showing was successful enough, but what really moved me was the aftermath: neighbors strolling up and down Cortland wearing Bernaltown paraphernalia and greeting each other kill it was the small town portrayed in the film, not just another big city neighborhood.
Maybe that kind of magic can repeat itself.
The trailer for Bernaltown is lost in the analog mists of time, but this KRON report from 1997 captures the spirit of it:
So, with all that established… Bernalwood is thrilled to share the news that finally, at long last, the Citizens of Bernal Heights will again have an opportunity to see Bernaltown again.
The 20th Anniversary screening of Bernaltown – The Movie will happen on Tuesday, Jan. 30 in the main reading room of the Bernal Heights Library (500 Cortland) beginning at 7 pm.
The screening is free, but tickets are required; reserve your seats here — and you’d best hurry, because space is limited.
PHOTOS: All images via Bernaltown20 on Facebook
For the last few years, JaVonne Hatfield has delighted motorists stuck in traffic on Highway 101 by dancing on the 18th Street pedestrian overpass, just north of Hospital Curve.
Along the way, he’s become something of a San Francisco celebrity, even if most people only know him as “That Dancing Guy on the Overpass.”
JaVonne Hatfield on the overpass. Photo by JaVonne Hatfield
Recently, JaVonne appeared in a fun little video that celebrates life in San Francisco. The video is structured as a comedic chase across town, but it culminates on Bernal Hill, in a kind of a rapturous coming-together that’s totally uplifting, and totally Bernal.
See for youself, and feel all the feels:
Hat tip: Neighbor Rebecca
Hillside Supper Club chefs Tony Ferrari (left) and Jonathon Sutton.
Oh, how the time flies! The lovely and delicious Hillside Supper Club at 300 Precita (at the southwest corner of Precita Park) is approaching its fifth anniversary. With that, Team Hillside is unveiling a new set of weekly specials and events.
Hillside Supper Club chef, co-owner, and Bernal resident Tony Ferrari tells Bernalwood:
Happy New Year! With the new year comes some fun changes at Hillside Supper Club. We’ve decided to do some things to even make it more of a tight neighborhood gathering place.
Our producer/collaboration dinners have been going really well, and we will continue to do them on the first Wednesday of each month rather then the third, these dinners will start back up in March.
Some other fun additions we are adding: On Monday nights we’re waiving all corkage fees on beer and wine that guests bring in. On Friday and Saturday nights from 10-11pm, all wines by the glass as well as all appetizers will be 10 bucks. On Sunday nights, in addition to the menu we will have an option to choose 3 courses (app, entree, dessert) for 40 dollars.
We will celebrate our 5 year anniversary on Monday January 22nd with a 4 course set menu, in the theme of 40’s 50’s jazz supper club, with live music. We encourage all guests to come dressed as we would of in that time period. An after party will follow.
For all the years of success and support from our community, and to give a token of appreciation, will implement these changes starting this Friday, Jan. 5.
We look forward to another great year at Hillside Supper Club and again want to thank everyone who supports who we are while allowsingus to do what we love most — nourish our community with great food and wine!
Sparky the cat, on his perch in front of the cactus house on Precita. Photo courtesy of Ryland Moore.
This article was written by Bernalwood’s cub reporter, Miel Lappin, age 10. This is her first Bernalwood story.
Sparky was the “sidewalk cat,” the cat everyone looked forward to seeing, the one who just stood there, unafraid of the dogs and people who loomed over him. Sparky was the brown and black striped cat who lived in front of the cactus house. I remember when I first met him.
“This is the cat I told you about!” my step-mom exclaimed. “But, I thought his house was the green one with the cacti” she commented.
“I’m going to try to lead him back home,” I said, determined. Sparky was lying in front of a house up the street. I bent down, and let Sparky sniff my hand, he didn’t really seem to care about it. I decided to try petting him. He purred. That’s when I slowly started walking away, and to my surprise, he followed! I walked him all the way back to the cactus house, and he seemed to recognize it. He jumped onto his banister, content.
The first time when Bernalwood’s cub reporter met Sparky.
When Sparky died, it was devastating. His owners made a beautiful R.I.P sign, hung it on a tree outside their house, and told people to write notes on the little card hanging below.
There are so many nice notes, ranging from “He made my walk to work fun,” to “Best and most handsome mayor of Precita Avenue.” Who knew Sparky was so well known?
Sparky’s owner, Neighbor Leslie, told me Sparky was born in the cactus house, in a dresser drawer with four other siblings, and he lived there his whole life. Sparky died after he was attacked by a dog. The dog was being walked, and when he saw Sparky, he lashed out. Sparky died at age 16.
Neighbor Leslie says she knew it was a risk letting Sparky hang out on the sidewalk, but she also knew Sparky needed to be outside in order to be happy. “Sparky was in the world, 100 percent,” she said.
It was my dad who pointed out the Lost Cat signs a few months ago, the first time Sparky went missing. That’s how we learned Sparky’s name. Luckily, he came back that time.
The second time though, we weren’t so lucky.
Sparky was like a neighbor you often see, but don’t know very well. Most people just enjoy having him there, they don’t need to know about his personal life. When Sparky died, it was like that neighbor who you were friendly with, moved out. Mornings are never going to be the same, because there is no neighbor to greet, and no Sparky to pet.
This postcard, from 1909, was mailed to an address in Bernal Heights
This article is by Vicky Walker from the fabulous Bernal Heights History Project.
In the fall, while working at the Vintage Paper Fair in Golden Gate Park, I took a break to rummage through a vendor’s 25-cent boxes. I always read the backs of the cards to look for San Francisco addresses, so I was delighted to find a Bernal-related card.
The image on the front was a New Year’s greeting from 1909, but the address on the back revealed that it had been sent to Mrs. M. J. Hills at 15 Patton Street in Bernal Heights.
As it turns out, “Mrs. M. J. Hills” was Mercy Jane Watts Hills (1854-1918), the paternal grandmother of John Hills, with whom I have been corresponding for a few years now about Bernal, and whose family played an important role in the history of San Francisco. Mercy’s husband, Charles E. Hills Sr. (1854-1947), was one of the four Hills boys who started a grocery store in San Francisco in the 1870s that eventually developed into the world-famous Hills Brothers Coffee.
Family lore has it that Charles bailed out his investment of $500 in the coffee company as he needed the money for family purposes, and he thought the business would go nowhere.
The Hills house at 15 Patton was built around 1892, according to water records.
The first owner was George D. Mayle, who ran a couple of coffee parlors in the city. Charles Hills, who later worked as a ship’s carpenter, and Mercy bought the single-story house in 1899 and that’s where they raised their children Fannie, Helen, Jennie, Charles, and George (1890-1967).
In recent years I’ve been corresponding with John Hills, who was one of George’s son. John kindly shared some family photographs.
Here’s Mercy, the recipient of the postcard, in a photo taken in the 1890s:
Mercy Jane Watts Hills in the 1890s. Photo courtesy of John Hills.
John says: “Looking stern in pictures in those days, as you know, was usual. My father always told me that Mercy was the loveliest woman: saintly, happy, secure, and pleasant, a Baptist and stern-looking notwithstanding.”
John’s father George Hills married Ellen I. Jones in November 1913; around that time he and his father added a second floor to the house on Patton Street, creating a flat at 15a for George’s new family.
John Hill’s parents, George (seen in the 1920s in the backyard of 15 Patton, wearing his leather work apron) and Ellen (photo taken in 1915). Photos courtesy John Hills.
George and Ellen had three sons. George Jr. was born in 1918, Jim was born in 1921, and John was born in 1922. The Hillses always referred to the street as Patton Alley.
The Hills family on the front porch at 15 Patton St. during the 1920s. Photo courtesy of John Hills
John adds, “A point of interest and somewhat ironical: my father, George W. Hills Sr., not in a direct line of the three sibling coffee founders who accumulated truly great wealth from the bean, actually became an employee of Hills Bros for fifty years, from the age of 20 through 70 (1910-1960 approximately).”
“He worked primarily as a boxmaker and ultimately, as he became older, in a semi-retirement job as yard superintendent, checking cars and trucks in and out and generally providing some security for the parking/dispatch yard.”
George Hills, with a Hills Brothers delivery truck he drove in the 1930s. Photo courtesy of John Hills
John recalls an outhouse in the backyard – there was no indoor toilet for a time at least.
John Hills (left) and his brother Jim playing cowboys in the backyard at 15 Patton, circa 1930. Photo courtesy John Hills.
The Hills family moved away from 15 Patton in 1931, probably around the same time the Board of Supervisors ordered a public auction of the buildings at 5-15 Patton, 161-177 Highland, and 102-180 Appleton so the land could be used for “school purposes.” The city-owned land was instead used to build the Holly Courts public housing project, which was completed in 1940.
John thinks the house was moved round the corner to Highland Avenue, but it may have been demolished in the years since. (If anyone wants to help solve this Bernal mystery, we’d love to know for sure where 15 Patton ended up.)
I don’t know how I magically ended up with this post card, but I sent it on to John — after all, it’s technically a family heirloom. We both wonder where it’s been for the last 108 years.
A late-night residential fire badly damaged a home at 254 Prospect Avenue (near Eugenia), at around 1 am last night.
The blaze also spread to two adjacent homes, prompting the SFFD to issue a second alarm.
There were no injuries, but four Bernal neighbors were reported displaced.
Bernalwood will provide additional information as it becomes available.
Bernalwood 
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