Miss Andrea from the fabulous Cafe St. Jorge on Mission (near Cortland) invites you to a historic, first-ever Trivia Night tonight, with bonus beer specials. Andrea says:
We will be hosting a Trivia Night tonight at Cafe St. Jorge with our very own, Ashley, as host. The event is from 6-8PM and we will be offering $2 off all bottled beer and wine. We also have beer on tap – $3 pints, $12 pitchers.
During a brisk constitutional on Second Street in SoMa yesterday, your Bernalwood editor stumbled across a rather gorgeous photo exhibit in the parking lot across the street from the (so classic) Adolph Gasser Photography store at 181 Second.
It’s a series of photos wheatpasted onto the parking lot’s brick walls, and it looks fantastic. The show is called “City at Large,” and wouldn’t you know it… Bernal neighbor and superstar street photographer Troy Holden, a resident of Cortlandia, has a few images on display.
That’s Troy’s work, in the photo above. Beautiful!
Check out Neighbor Troy’s photos if you’re taking a constitutional on Second Street, or peep his feed online.
PHOTO: Troy Holden’s photography on display in City at Large, by Telstar Logistics
Last night’s 7-1 victory over the Royals in Game One of the World Series was a great moment for all Giants fans, but the scene was particularly sweet on Lundys Landing, where some of your neighbors projected the game onto the side of an adjacent house.
Neighbor Valjoy says the al fresco viewing party will happen again for Game Two tonight, and you’re invited:
PHOTOS: Top, @travis_schlafke. Below, @Valjoy9
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Secession Art & Design is a Bernalwood treasure. Part creative studio, part art gallery, part fashion boutique, owner Eden Stein’s has carved out a very special place for Secession’s store on Mission just across from our Taoist Safeway.
But Secession is also vulnerable to the winds of change, which now require a move up the street to 3235 Mission, the former SoCha Cafe/former Dell’uva Wine Bar space, a few blocks north near Valencia. Eden explains:
After 7 wonderful years, we are excited to announce that Secession Art & Design will be relocating to a new location. Our store, gallery and studio is moving two short blocks up the street, from 3361 Mission St to 3235 Mission St. Like many things in life, what began as a pretty daunting experience has turned into an inspiring opportunity.
When we heard in August of this year that our lease would not be renewed, we were somewhat shocked and taken aback, but we were determined that Secession Art & Design should remain in our current neighborhood. After two months of searching—with help from real estate brokers and support from friends and family—we finally found a space that we know is going to be the perfect fit for Secession.
But it’s going to need to be built from the ground up. […]
We are so heartened by your support throughout the years, and we’ve fought long and hard to stay in the Bernal neighborhood so we can continue to be a part of the health and wealth of our collective community.
To help fund the buildout of the new space, Secession Art & Design has created a fundraising page. Take a look, make a contribution if you’re so inclined, and let’s all say hurrah that Team Secession is staying in Bernal Heights.
PHOTO: Eden Stein via Secession Art & Design
Mark your calendars, planning people. Fiesta on the Hill happens this Sunday, October 26.
Fiesta on the Hill is a Bernal tradition — a bustling Cortland street party that also benefits the intensely important Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center. This year, the organizing committee decided to *cough cough* spice up the marriage a bit by rethinking the standard Fiesta on the Hill format.
Neighbor Genevieve is on the Fiesta organizing team, and she shared this preview of some sexy new attractions for Fiesta 2014:
Fiesta is now in it’s 26th year. 10 am to 5 p.m. Sunday, 10/26/14
The big news is that this year we’re really focusing local makers and movers!
- On Main Stage we’ll have big time children’s music musician (and SF resident!) Frances England playing from 12:30-1:30
- Lots of local musical acts: 30th Street Chorus, Manila Slim, Duo Pizzicato (plays regularly at what used to be Liberty Cottage)
- Salsa band Los Boleros to close out the festival
- City grazing goats (in lieu of the sometimes un-PC petting zoo)
- Food trucks from Off the Grid
- Bernal muralist and celebrity artist Amos Goldbaum will be selling his sexy shirts
- Bernal Dads Racing will have their race cars on display, including America’s Most Badass Volvo Station Wagon
- Savor tasty gourmet funnel cakes with bacon in agave syrup, from the folks at Endless Summer Sweets (a graduate of the La Cocina program).
- Cruise Cortand on a mechanized horse from Mission Ponies
UPDATE, 23 October: Neighbor Genevieve seeks some additional volunteers at Fiesta:
The job: guarding barricades and soliciting for donations for the BH Neighborhood Center
Hours: Flexible. But we are asking for 4 hour shifts, 10 am-2,pm and 2-6 pm
What They Get: Tee shirt, and redeemable tokens for lunch for Pizza Hacker and Frozen Khusterd, and free coffee from Philz!
Must Be: Friendly, able to stand for that amount of time
Neighbor Ashley is morbidly entertained by a new Craigslist rental listing in Bernal Heights:
I wish there were a good portmanteau for when something is very fun and very sad at the same time. If there were, I would use it to describe this posting.
Yes, this is a listing for somebody’s 200 square-foot, half-finished utility room, with a stove and a bed for $1400 a month.
Thank *God* for the bit about the hot tub. That part pushes it into the comedic zone for me.
For the benefit of future historians, here’s a snapshot of the full post:
Dr. Rick from the world-famous Farmhouse Mansion on the north side of Folsom Street is having a freaky Halloween costume fundraiser party this Saturday, Oct. 25. He asked us to let you know… because you’re so invited:
Hello friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, and assorted party-goers,
This year’s Halloween Costume Party Fundraiser at the Farmhouse Mansion has definitely surpassed all of our wildest expectations. With 6+ amazing bands, fire dancers, albino contortionists, tarot card readers, delectable food, full host bar, scary cinema, especially spooky gardens, an outstanding DJ driving the Rave Room, as well as an extra dash of zaniness for good measure, this year’s Nightmare-themed Halloween party will be a somnambulant smörgåsbord of delirious delights– whew.
Of note for parents: Yes, you can bring kids– but BEWARE.
YOU ARE FULLY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR CHILD’S SAFETY.
Parts of this party are scary and it can get pretty wild and fun and crowded especially later, so families with kids may want to come early (6-8pm) before things get out of control.
Happy Nightmares,
Dr. Rick
Large vehicles modified for mobile habitation tend to attract lots of attention when they’re parked on Bernal Hill. Last weekend your Bernalwood editor paid particular attention to a very large vehicle parked on Bernal Hill that was very clearly intended for mobile habitation.
But this was no ordinary house on wheels. It was a giant-ass overland truck, equipped with four-wheel-drive and substantial cross-country modifications. Specifically, it was what’s called an expedition vehicle — the kind of thing you drive when you’re doing a road trip, say, from Morocco to India. It even had French license plates:
So stylish. And so clever! Our Municipal Transportation Agency does not yet have an extradition treaty with the government of France, so French license plates are a handy accessory to avoid paying San Francisco parking fines. But we digress…
The graphic on the side of the truck pointed us toward the Martin autour du monde website:
That’s where we began to unravel why this apocalypse-ready intercontinental French RV was parked on the top of Bernal Hill. The introduction video provided a mission statement (in French):
A family. A house on wheels. Five years. Five continents. The world is theirs. In search of exceptional places, they cross deserts, oceans, lakes, and towns. On all their routes, they stay close to the people.
Well, at least that’s what I think it said — my French is a little rusty. The basic idea seems to be a kind of modern-day Swiss Family Robinson, only with a French family, a badass RV, an environmental education mission, and a video production contract.
Anyway, Bernalwood also found photos of the truck that’s parked on Bernal Hill, parked in some other rather exotic places. Like this:
And this:
At the very least, our new French neighbors are quite good at scenic parking. It was time to welcome them to Bernal Heights.
Bernalwood knocked politely on the side of the truck. Frederic Cébron opened the door, and welcomed us inside, where we met his wife Laure, their son Martin, age 9, and daughter Chine, age 6. The interior of the vehicle looked compact, modern, and efficient, like one of those tiny IKEA display apartments they set up inside the stores.
In the back, Martin and Chine were laughing and playing:
Laure was making some snacks.
Frederic said the family is in year four of their five-year tour. Along the way, they’ve been documenting innovative ways people are practicing good ecology and sustainable living. They came to San Francisco to visit Recology, our globally fashionable, zero waste-aspiring trash processing facility, as well as several other waste management and recycling initiatives in the Bay Area.
Frederic explained that the family’s journey began with a comprehensive tour of South America. Then they shipped the truck back to Europe, and drove it from Turkey to Tibet via Iran and India. From there it was off to Mongolia, then down to Laos, Cambodia, and Indonesia. In between they make videos like this:
There was a hop to Japan, and an arrival in North America at Montreal. From there they drove to Alaska, down to Vancouver, and eventually to Bernal Heights.
Bernalwood encouraged Frederic to call ahead next time they decide to visit Bernal Heights, so we can arrange a more proper welcome.
As things stand, Frederic said they had a nice stay here, that they’ve enjoyed their view of the I-280 Spaghetti Bowl, and that that only one Bernal neighbor warned the Cébron family that their planet-traversing home on wheels had been parked on Bernal Hill for more than the legal maximum of 72 hours. He also spoke very highly of the neighborly hospitality the family had received when they were parked in Teheran.
The Cébrons are overlanding to San Diego next. After that, they drive into Mexico and around much of Central America, before bringing their five-year journey to an end in Panama.
Against that backdrop, Bernal Heights might not be the most exotic place the family has been. But it may well be one of the most glamorous. Bon voyage, Frederic, Laure, Martin, and Chine!
PHOTOS: Cébrons in Bernal Heights, by Telstar Logistics
Here’s some hot hot hot Bernal celebrity-on-celebrity action action action!
You did know that David Pescovitz, celebrity blogger with the intergalactically famous BoingBoing blog, lives in Bernal Heights, right? Well, it’s true. He does.
And you already know that local music meta-star Jordan Kurland lives in Bernal Heights, too? It’s true. He does. Neighbor Jordan is the creative force behind many of San Francisco’s much-beloved music events, including NoisePop and this weekend’s gigantic Treasure Island Music Festival. His Zeitgeist Artist Management also manages bands like Best Coast, Bob Mould, The New Pornographers, Rogue Wave, She & Him, and Thao & The Get Down Stay Down.
Because they are neighbors, Neighbor David and Neighbor Jordan have become friends. This week, David interviewed Jordan to get an insider’s perspective on the state of the music biz. A local-flavored excerpt:
[Neighbor David]: As a manager, it seems like you’d be living in Los Angeles or New York City. But yet you came to SF and never left. Why?
[Neighbor Jordan]:I moved to San Francisco in 1995 for a job. I was nearly a year out of college and knew that I wanted to try to be a manager. I was living in Los Angeles and answering phones for the performance rights organization, ASCAP. It was the typical entry level music industry job and not easy to land. I went on four interviews before I was hired. If I had stayed on that path I would have answered phones for a year or so, then become an assistant, and then, eventually, a membership director. All of which would have been cool, it’s just that I knew based on my experience interning for a few different companies during college, that I wanted to try to be an artist manager. There was an amazing opportunity up in San Francisco to work for a company called David Lefkowtiz/Figurehead management. The roster was Primus, the Melvins, Charlie Hunter and a few other acts. I spent four years there, learned a ton, and began managing the acts that became the first iteration of my management roster. It was also during my time there that I met Kevin Arnold and began working alongside him on Noise Pop. Kevin founded Noise Pop in 1993 and the first festival I worked on with him was 1998.
I started my management company, Zeitgeist, in 1999 which was the same year the music and technology were beginning to converge. It was the year that MP3.com, eMusic and Napster, to name a few, started to make waves. It wasn’t good news for the music industry but it did justify my existence up here. All of a sudden I had a competitive edge by living in the Bay Area.
The reason that I never left San Francisco once I arrived is simple: I adore this place.
You’re active in the city with the music festivals, investments in numerous restaurants, and donating your time to 826 Valencia, Stern Grove Festival, and other arts and culture organizations. As you know, SF is experiencing its own culture war right now. Where do you stand and what can be done in your opinion?
To be clear, I’m not one of those people that rails against the tech industry. To the contrary, I think it’s pretty incredible to live in the heart of where these innovations which are being dreamed up and born. It’s not a coincidence that a creative, intellectual and way left-of-center city like San Francisco attracted the entrepreneurs that built these companies. With all that said, the city needs to do more to protect its creative community. A lot more. The Bay Area is incredibly expensive which does not bode well for an upstart musician or artist. I know some folks in the private sector that are starting to help but the city, as far as I can tell, has only made cosmetic offerings at best. The musical cultural history is so, so rich here: Summer of Love, Bill Graham, the Grateful Dead, the jazz scene of the 50s and 60s, the Dead Kennedys, Journey, Metallica … it goes on and on. But San Francisco does not do much in the way of supporting musicians and visual artists and film makers. And because it’s prohibitively expensive to live here fledgling artists are moving to Los Angeles or Portland where it’s cheaper and there’s a stronger, more inspiring creative community. Which leads the established artists who can now afford to live in the Bay Area to leave because they don’t have a strong community around them. I don’t pretend to know of a simple solution but it is clear to me that the city should be attacking the issue with much more urgency.
Read the rest of the interview here, and if you’re headed to Treasure Island this weekend, give Neighbor Jordan the secret Bernal Heights hand signal.
The donut days at Eagle Donuts at 3303 Mission (@ 29th Street) are coming to an end.
On Monday, Eagle Donuts will close for good.
The most remarkable thing about Eagle Donuts is that there is nothing remarkable about it. No seasonal ingredients, or delicate toppings, or clever combinations. Nothing involving bacon. Eagle Donuts makes essential donuts: glazed or old-fashioned, with different kinds of frosting-like stuff on top. Yesterday I bought a bag of a half-dozen for $5.50.
In other words, Eagle Donuts makes the kind of donuts that helped make America.
So when Eagle Donuts disappears, a classic kind of donut shop will disappear with it. After Eagle Donuts, your Bernalwood editor knows of no equivalent in Bernal Heights. (NOTE: The Silver Crest doesn’t count, because they also serve Ouzo.) If current trends continue, it’s a safe prediction that from here on out, Bernal’s donut future will likely be increasingly twee. We are confident it will be delicious, of course, but we also know it just won’t be the same.
It’s no one’s fault; Change is the only constant. Eagle Donuts opened in 1994, and Sherry from behind the counter — that’s Sherry, above — told Bernalwood she’s been here the entire time. She said rising rents weren’t so much of an issue. She said donuts just aren’t a very lucrative product these days, and costs keep going up. Milk prices, sugar prices, the minimum wage… all going up. Basically, Sherry said, after 20 years, it’s time to move on.
So on Monday, Eagle Donuts will close forever.
Stop in this weekend to get a final taste, and wish Sherry all the best.
Finally, for the benefit of future bloggers and culinary historians, Bernalwood also provides these supplementary detail photos of Eagle Donuts, as taken on October 16, 2014, which are here intended to illustrate what a typical late twentieth century donut shop looked like during the second decade of the twenty-first century:
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
Hooray Giants!
It’s become a bit of a ritual: Whenever the Giants have a big win — we’re talking pennant- or World Series-level stuff — crowds flow onto Mission Street in Bernal for a (generally) good-spirited festival of ad hoc anarchy and celebration.
Last night’s NLCS pennant victory was no exception, and this video shows the tire-spinning excitement that went down at the intersection of Mission and Valencia:
A few fans celebrate Giants win into the World Series by doing donuts in the intersection. This went on for about 15 minutes until the police showed up.
Something is going on in this corner of Bernal Heights. If it’s not renegade cattle stockyards and vile-smelling offal, it’s smoke and burning rubber in the late hours of the night.
Meanwhile, the inane TV news coverage of the festivities turned your Bernalwood editor into a NAMBY:
HT: MissionMIssion
Where were you when the last big earthquake struck?
On Saturday afternoon from 2 – 4 pm at the Bernal Heights Library, the Bernal Heights History Project and the SF Public Library are hosting a jello-fueled earthquake event called “Shaken Not Stirred: Your Story 25 Years Later”
It’s a neighborly remembrance of the October 17, 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. Share your earthquake stories. Learn how to prepare for the Next Big One. Talk about your deep fondness for chert in a supportive, like-minded environment.
The Bernal History Project brings this announcement:
In tandem with our friends at the Bernal Heights Branch Library, we’re proud to present “Shaken But Not Stirred: Remembering the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake”on Saturday, October 18. We want to hear what you remember about the earthquake that hit the Bay Area on October 17, 1989!
Come to the library at 2 p.m. for an extended slideshow of historical images of San Francisco earthquakes and earthquake refugee cottages (a large number of which survive in Bernal) in the downstairs meeting room.
We’ll give you a replica Red Cross meal ticket you can exchange for a Jell-O treat (our favorite shaky quakey snack!), and then you can visit a “ghost” refugee cottage and take a shelter selfie. We’ll be inviting kids of all ages to build shake-proof houses out of Legos. Meanwhile, SFPL volunteers will be standing by to record your memories of the Loma Prieta earthquake for our archives. We’ll have representatives from San Francisco Fire Department Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) on hand to talk about earthquake preparedness and what you need to do to be ready for the next big quake — because you know it’s going to come someday.
PHOTO: Top, Candlestick Park on October 17, 1989, shortly after the earthquake.
Solomon’s Stockyards, as illustrated by The San Francisco Call, 1893
Neighbor Vicky Walker from the Bernal Heights History Project shared this gem with Bernalwood. It’s an 1893 tale of angry Bernal neighbors, forlorn cows, miserable horses, “foul smells,” and “noxious odors.” Oh, and lots and lots of health code violations.
The story catches Bernal Heights at an awkward moment in the late nineteenth century, as the neighborhood is completing its transition from livestock pastureland to proto-gentrified residential enclave.
At the time, neighbors along present-day Coledridge Street (then called California Ave) were rather annoyed that several legacy property-owners nearby were continuing to operate livestock businesses, in clear violation of prevailing laws which, at the time, allowed no more than two cows to reside on any property in Bernal.
It’s sort of a Victorian version of squabbling over street parking etiquette and illegal sublets or soccer fields, only with lots more animal manure and rotting offal.
The noxious-smelling properties in 1893 were Solomon’s Stockyard on Mission at Fair Street (roughly the site of today’s Taqueria Cancun), and the Kahn & Levy stockyard at the corner of Mission and Cortland (approximately the site of Zante’s).
To help you get oriented, here are the approximate locations, annotated on an 1889 map of Bernal Heights:
And here’s the tale of “A Real Nuisance,” as it appeared in the Saturday, July 29, 1893 edition of the San Francisco Morning Call.
It’s an awesome read with some wonderful characters (viva Neighbor Seculovich! You go, Precita Valley Improvement Club!!) so… enjoy:
A REAL NUISANCE
Salomon’s Stockyard at the Mission
ITS INDEFINABLE STENCHES
The Owner Arrested Three Times for Violating a Provision of the Board of HealthThe Board of Health is determined to check the nuisance in the Western Mission known as Salomon’s stockyard. The proprietor has been arrested three times on the charge of menacing the health of the neighborhood, but still the foul smell place spreads its noxious odors itbout, and offends the nostrils of residents. The stockyard in question is situated on Mission street, and runs back along Fair avenue to California avenue. It has a frontage of about 200 feet on Mission Street, and presents an unbroken line on Fair avenue.
The large space is divided into corrals, and partially occupied by rickety sheds, while forlorn cows and distressed-looking horses wauder about the little spaces. Goats scramble over the fences and join in the general search for something to eat.
There are great piles of manure in the enclosures, and the contracted stalls are damp and odorous. In one of the small stables there were four cows crowded, while others ambled about the lot. The horses were confined in the lot that corners on Fair and California avenues, but the cows are directly on the Mission street front, nearly opposite the turn-table of the Valencia street cable road.
In spite of the unhealthful surroundings Mr. Salomon denies that the place is a nuisance, though he confesses that he has been arrested on such a charge. “It is all spitework,” he said, “and is caused by this man Seculovich, who lives right next my cow stables .”
An inspection of the premises of Mr. Seculovich showed that the rear end of Salomon’s cow stables was within a few feet of his kitchen door, and the stench of the offal was almost unendurable. Seculovich has a comfortable though unpretentious home, and his yard is filled with flowers and fruit trees. He says that the odor from the lining cowsheds has caused him no end of annoyance and that he proposes to insist upon the abatement of the nuisance.
Dr. Kseney, the nominal head of the Board of Health, said that Salomon was arrested the last time on the 26th inst., the charge being that he maintained a nuisance. “This is the third time Salomon has been arrested,” continued Dr. Keeney, “and we propose to continue our tactics, as defined by the health laws and the Board of Supervisors. The law very plainly prescribes that no person is permitted to maintain more than two cows within the city limits. There are exceptions to this law, inasmuch as the prohibitory district is not carefully defined. Its inner limits are far beyond the corner of Mission street and Fair avenue, and it is upon this definition of the law that we propose to make Mr. Salomon abate the nuisance created by his stockyard.”
The first time Salomon was arrested he’ was fined $100 by Judge Low. He appealed from this decision, and the case was carried to the Superior Court, but it has not yet been placed upon the calendar. Pending the appeal Salomon was again arrested, He was to have been tried on the 4th prox., but there was some question as to the legality of the complaint, and, upon the advice of our attorney, the case was dismissed. However, another complaint was properly drawn and he was arrested on the 4th inst.
“I have personally visited the premises and I am convinced of the justice of the complaints made against the place. The Precita Valley Improvement Club has also entered a protest against the nuisance, and we have received numerous complaints from individuals other than Mr. Seculovich.
“The slope of Salomon’s stockyard is a particularly bad feature. It drains directly into Mission Street and befouls the cellars and yards on the lower side of the street. On damp, foggy days the stench of the stockyards clings closely to the ground, and the breezes carry it directly into houses, to say nothing of offending the nostrils of every person within a radius of a mile or more. The place is a counterpart of the Seventh street dumps, though there is no occasion for its existence. The enforcement of the local health laws is all that is necessary to cause Solomon to seek other quarters, and we propose to compel him to vacate.”
I.L. Salomon, the son of the proprietor, said: “We only keep cows here occasionally. We buy ana sell and the stock is never here more than a day or two at a time.”
“But then you get fresh stock in its place, don’t you?”
“Oh yes, that’s our business. We buy and sell and use this yard as a place of inspection for purchasers. Our plane is no worse than lots of others, and I am going to fight the law in the Superior Court.”
Kahn & Levy, another firm of stockdealers, have a large yard at the corner of Mission street and Cortland avenue, about three blocks above Solomon’s place. It has precisely. the same slope of drainage and sends its filth and slime down to the residence portion of the Western Addition. Yesterday the yards were fairly filled with horses and cows, in plain violation of the sanitary laws. A sickening stench pervaded thn atmosphere, and the animals in” the corrals tramped about with a hungry air.
Dr. Keeney was asked about trie Kahn & Levy place, and he replied: “The owners have decided to lenve there, and in about two weeks the stock and buildings will all be removed. This course will practically abate the nuisance. That portion of the Mission is not very thickly populated, and consequently the complaints against this particular yard were not very numerous. However, we took prompt action when the first notice was served, and the owners at once concluded that it was to their interest to remove from the neighborhood. We will compel this man Salomon to reach the same conclusion.”
“Is there any special law against the I maintenance of stockyards in the city?” was asked of Dr. Keeney.
“No, not aside from the ordinance which I says that no person shall maintain more than two cows within certain limits. Residents at the Mission have been long enough annoyed by infractions of this law, and we propose io arrest and fine every person who continues such a course after a warning has been served. There are no exceptions inside the limits, and any person having a grievance in this respect should at once notify the Health Office.”
The hearing of the third charge against I. L. Salomon will be set this morning in Judge Low’s department of the Police Court.
ILLUSTRATION: Top: Solomon’s Stockyards, from the The Call
Bernalwood 
