The New St. Mary’s Pub: Was Scary, Now Awesome

/ Todd_Lappin / 12 Comments

St. Mary's Pub

St. Mary's Pub

St. Mary's Pub

St. Mary's Pub

As a Northsloper, I confess I don’t get down to the south side of Bernal as often as I’d like. Fortunately, Bernalwood readers have that covered.

Reader Sandy Cardoza writes to sing praises about the new and improved St. Mary’s Pub, on the corner of Mission and Crescent:

Though I’ve lived on College Hill for nine years, I’d only been into St. Mary’s Pub twice before its recent change in ownership.  The first time shouldn’t really count because I chickened-out before sitting down to order a drink by myself.  Instead, I ended up only asking to change a couple of dollar bills for quarters, since I was in the middle of doing laundry at the laundromat across the way.  The bartender was kind enough to give me change and I realized that I recognized her from Nap’s.  Months before at Nap’s, she had made me a margarita using only limes, sugar, tequila, a splash of water, and ice.

I wanted to order another margarita from her, but the indoor cigarette smoke and the rowdy 49er fans didn’t feel very inviting.

A few years later, my partner convinced me to give the place another try.  I went in hoping to see the same bartender as before, but I was out of luck.  It could have been the same customers at the bar, though: 49ers gear, missing teeth, chain smoking.  We ordered cans of Budweiser and went to the back room to play pool.  Walking through to the backroom, I noticed how the floors were warped in some places.

Fast-forward five years: Some friends mentioned that St. Mary’s Pub is under new ownership, and one of our favorite bartenders is now working there.  Finally, something cool in this part of Bernalwood!  The new owners have given the place quite a facelift, too. The floors are no longer warped. Plus, they raised the ceiling, which makes the ambiance more airy.  You’ll still find the old regulars there — but now they light up outside and watch trippy esoteric Japanese Sci-Fi rather than football games on the bar TVs.

Drink prices are still very reasonable and they offer some real Happy Hour bargains. Stop in and make yourself comfortable because St. Mary’s may soon to become your new favorite watering hole.  Don’t forget to ask your bartender what’s on special.

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

Mind-Bending Political Slogan of the Moment

/ Todd_Lappin / 10 Comments

Political Tautology

I don’t know anything at all about Cesar Ascarrunz other than what I read right here, but his campaign slogan got my attention — because it made my brain hurt.

Follow along: “You Always Have a Choice to Decide.” So if I choose not to decide, is that a choice too? Are there other choices? And what should I choose when I decide to make my choice? Or do I decide to choose what to decide? And aren’t a choice and a decision kind of the same thing? So isn’t this a tautological statement? And is tautology good political strategy?

Cesar Ascarrunz has chosen a slogan that spins your brain like a rhetorical Mobius strip — which suggests to me that he may actually have what it takes to succeed as mayor of San Francisco.

This Weekend, Drive in the 2011 Bernal GT

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

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Okay, so maybe it’s not quite as much fun as tearing up the track with Bernal Dads Racing. Nevertheless, if you’re up for a little family motorsport this weekend, then get on board to join the Bernal GT road rally that will take place on Sunday, May 22. All you need is a vintage car, a late-model kid, or some combination of the two.

Sorry for the late notice with this — my fault — but rally organizer Ben tells the complete details:

Note: This is simply a drive, not a race or competition for awards, trophies or bragging rights.  The organizers would like to encourage vintage cars to participate on the GT.

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When: Sunday May 22, 2011
Time: 9:30am into the afternoon
Where: A to-be-determined starting point in San Francisco and later returning to Bernal Heights.
Length: Somewhere between 80 and 120 Miles
Cost: Nothing

You are eligible by one of the following:
A) Car of 1980 model year or or older
B) Rare and/or exotic car 1995 model year to 1981 Model Year (must be approved for exotic status)
C) If you have kids 17 years or younger and/or kids in car seats, newer cars can be submitted for approval, No minivans or SUVs

There is no cost associated with this event but we want to get stickers made for the event so if you are planning on attending email the following information by 12:00pm Sunday, May 15 to:BernalGT100@gmail.com

Registration Information:
1) Drivers name, Co-driver or other passengers
2) Phone number
3) Kids along: Yes or No
4) Your vehicle’s Name
5) Vehicle info: Year, Make, & Model
6) Applying for Exotic Status (Section B)? Tell us what makes it rare/rarer than any of the cars we normally see on the streets of Bernal
7) New Car Approval (Section C)? Tell us is this your daily troop transport or your fun car.

PHOTOS: 2010 Bernal GT, by Rat Fink

House Portrait: Hidden Peralta Street iPad House

/ Todd_Lappin / 10 Comments

When you zip south on US 101 alongside Bernal Heights, it’s hard to miss the giant Apple iPad billboard perched alongside the freeway just beyond the Cortland Avenue overpass.

But what you may not have noticed is that there’s also a house hidden behind that big billboard, and considering the odd location, it actually looks rather charming:

The iPad House

UPDATE: Bernalwood contributor David Gallagher pointed us to this superb 1955 photo that clearly shows this same house (at bottom, center) … as well as the fact that it has been hidden behind a billboard for many decades:

Gee whiz, it sure would be swell to reprise that old TWA billboard with the Lockheed Constellation on it, eh? Here’s a close-up detail:

Other fun things to notice in the detail: Peralta Street is still unpaved. That warehouse in the background is now the (quite good) San Francisco Antique and Design Mall, which was originally built as the headquarters for the American Seating Company.

Photos: Telstar Logistics, Charles W. Cushman Photograph Collection

Update: Arrest Made in Fatal Holly Court Shootings

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

An arrest has been made in connection with the shooting incident that left two people dead at the Holly Court housing project last weekend. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

A San Francisco man has been arrested for allegedly killing one of two men slain during a brawl at a birthday party in the Bernal Heights neighborhood, police said Monday.

Keo Sobrera, 24, is suspected of fatally shooting Pacific Som, 21, of San Francisco, said Officer Albie Esparza, a police spokesman.

Som and Rathanak Chea, 26, were killed and Chea’s brother Pounloue Chea, 30, was wounded when gunfire broke out at the Holly Courts public housing project on the 100 block of Appleton Avenue at about 7:20 p.m. Saturday, police and family members said.

Neighbors said the shooting came as the result of a fight at a birthday party. Police said they had detained several people at the scene and were still seeking a second assailant who fired the shots that killed Rathanak Chea.

Here’s the SFPD press release about the arrest:
PHOTO: Screen grab from KTVU

Race Summary: Bernal Dads Get Results in Reno

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments

Equipped with a spiffy new set of lights that not both pierced the Nevada night and increased their car’s Road Warrior quotient by about 15x, Bernal Dads Racing had a successful weekend in Reno competing in the 24 Hours of LeMons.

Battling darkness, cold, rain, and the inevitable weirdness that results from grafting a Volvo station wagon body onto a Mazda Miata, BDR’s “Molvo” completed the entire race. Team Member Fiid Williams sent along this summary:

The Molvo finished it’s (and ours) first around the clock 24 hour race with very little in the way of problems!  We think we placed either 24th or 26th overall an around 4th or 5th in our class (B – Bad).  We started off around 32nd place and then dropped down to 49th shortly after and then started working our way back up into the top 30.  We had a few black flags in the beginning that yielded us the “build an art-project engine out of cardboard” penalty.  The chief race perpetrator, Jay Lamm was around at this time and we managed to mitigate the penalty by letting him drive our car while we were working on it!!  The car and it’s drivers held it together for the full 24 hours.  We sent Mason out last with a screw in the tire (we had no way to fix it) and it stayed inflated until the cooldown lap, so all in all; a very successful and extremely fun race!!

Indeed, the The Molvo crossed the finish line in fine form:

Team member Stephan Zuercher sent along this video of the moment:

Sneakily, Bernalwood mounted  a spycam inside the Molvo to capture the action during the race. Here’s an exclusive in-car photo we captured during a particularly intense segment of the competition:

Go Bernal Dads, Go!

PHOTOS: Molvo by Stephan Zuercher

Two Dead After Saturday Fight at Holly Courts

/ Todd_Lappin / 16 Comments

Very bad incident on Saturday evening at the Holly Court housing project. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

A brawl that broke out during a birthday party in a public housing project in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood led to the fatal shootings of two men and the wounding of a third, witnesses said Sunday.

The shootings happened about 7:20 p.m. Saturday on the 100 block of Appleton Avenue at the Holly Courts housing project. Police revealed few details, but neighbors said the incident had grown out of a fight.

A man was being beaten up by four men when a friend of the victim fired a gun into the air, presumably to scare the assailants, said a neighbor who declined to give her name because she feared for her safety.

Friends of the assailants then converged on the scene and began firing back, she said.

The SF Appeal reports the incident happened near 192 Appleton. KTVU suggests the shooting may have stemmed from long-simmering tensions between several residents of Holly Courts.

Over on Bernalsafe, neighborhood activist Buck Bagot writes:

Unofficial report. Very large Saturday night party, lots of outsiders. Homicide investigating. Expect greater understanding in a couple of days. Besides seeing the shooters convicted, a question for the Police and Bernal might be- was it an isolated incident, or is that area an ongoing problem? Are any units a base for criminal and violent activities? If so, we could and should work to have the residents of those units – private or public – removed. The BHNC Bernal Public Housing Work Group meets on a regular basis with SFPD and the Housing Authority, and might provide a place to develop and pursue a strategy. It looks like the Captain will appoint a couple of Bernal residents to the Ingleside Community Advisory Board. We could also pursue any strategy there as well.

UPDATE: The victims have been identified as Pacific “Jerry” Som, 21, and Rathanak Chea, 26.

Good Luck in Reno, Bernal Dads Racing!

/ Todd_Lappin / 4 Comments

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24 Hours of LeMons

Yesterday Bernalwood’s own road warriors, Bernal Dads Racing, loaded The Molvo on a trailer and headed out to Nevada for the weekend, where the team will compete in “Goin’ For Broken” at the Reno-Fernley Raceway as part of the 24 Hours of LeMons racing series. This will be a true 24 hour, nonstop racing event, so our mechanized gladiators (and their mutant race car) will surely be put to the test.

Happily, team member Stephan Zuercher reports the Bernal Dads got a heroic send-off on their way out of town:

Someone needs to dub a Bernal Dads remix of this, but in the meantime, this one is for the home team….

PHOTOS: Rat Finkand Telstar Logistics

Cocktail Confidential: The Backstory Behind the Royal Cuckoo

/ Todd_Lappin

The Royal Cuckoo

EaterSF tells the creation tale of The Royal Cuckoo — the much-welcomed new cocktail bar at the intersection of Mission and Valencia — and its founder, Paul Miller:

Miller was stretched after the purchase, so to fill the bar he essentially moved his entire apartment into it—furniture, pictures, trinkets, most all of it. Then, with the help of long-time pal Brian—whom Miller worked with over the years at Bruno’s, Foreign Cinema, and Chez Spencer—he gutted it, painted it a deep maroon, and added wooden wall sidings to antiquate the aura. To accent the darker colors, he added 1960’s-era lamps, alternating them with blue, green, and yellow bulbs, and he pushed the mood further with stain glass candleholders and flowered vases about the place. Taking it in for the first time, you might get the feeling you’re at a heady saloon in a mountain town, or in what you’d imagine to be a 1950’s jazz club in New York, ‘round 52nd street. Comparisons make for wasted words though, because Royal Cuckoo isn’t really modeled after anything. It’s just a collection of things that Miller and his friends like—old leather armchairs, salvaged church pews converted to benches and booths, nature paintings in old frames, antlers, vinyl. It’s the red carpet leading you to Cuckoo’s heart and soul—music and cocktails.

Along the way we also learn that The Royal Cuckoo is named after a bar in Long Beach where Miller’s grandfather loved to tie one on, that most of the records on the turntable pre-date the Carter Administration, and that there’s a Hammond organ hidden behind the bar. The EaterSF piece is a good read.

PHOTOS: giggie larue and Telstar Logistics

Off the Hill: Ten Great Restaurants, Mayor Ed on Wheels, Transbay NIMBYs, and Sea Lions in the Mission

/ Todd_Lappin / 5 Comments

Found on the 27: Jack Sparrow

Now that passport and visa restrictions have been waived for residents traveling beyond the confines of Bernalwood, there’s a whole City for us to explore! Here are some things that have been happening around town:

Ten Interesting Restaurants to Try ASAP (Tablehopper)

Transbay NIMBYs Oppose Treasure Island Development Plan (SF Examiner)

Sea Lion and Giant Rat Street Art in the Mission (MissionMission, Uptown Almanac)

Mayor Ed Lee Bikes to Work Wearing a Sporty Helmet (StreetsblogSF)

Tourists Go on “Human Safari” in the Tenderloin (The Tender)

PHOTO: Capt. Jack Sparrow Rides the 27 Bryant, by isaylike via SFist