Thursday: Elves and Bernal Neighbors Invited to the 2016 Cortland Holiday Stroll

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

Holiday Stroll

Tens of thousands of hundreds of many years ago, in the time of our mystical ancestors, a joyous community of elves lived on these Bernal Hill lands. Each year, during the winter equinox, these proto-Bernalese would gather in the meadow we now call Cortlandia to celebrate the arrival of the rains and the season of lights.

Today, the Bernal Business Alliance carries on this hallowed tradition, in the form of the glamorous Cortland Holiday Stroll. The 2016 Stroll happens this Thursday, December 8, from 6 to 9 pm, and all Modern Bernalese are invited partake of the many spectacles.

The shamans from the BBA tell Bernalwood:

7th Annual Bernal Heights Holiday Stroll, Thursday, December 8th, 2016

Join your neighborhood in supporting small businesses for Bernal Height’s 7th Annual Holiday Stroll, this Thursday night, December 8, from 6:00 – 9:00 pm on fabulous Cortland Avenue.

Your favorite local stores are extending their hours for family fun and holiday shopping. Many shops are offering discounts, music, tasty treats and beverages to make your evening even sweeter.

Come support your community and don’t forget to donate a new, unwrapped toy or monetary contribution to our Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center Toy Drive at 515 Cortland Avenue.

Thanks everyone, see you Thursday, rain or snow, from your friends at the Bernal Business Alliance.

12 Small Things, 513 Cortland – In addition to supporting fair trade artisans, we will be collecting spare change for UNICEF and donating 10% of our sales to victims of the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland.

Arts of Balance, 406 Cortland – Come on in for chai tea!

Bernal Beast, 509 Cortland – Toys and treats will be 20% off and will be serving Chocolate Cake!

Bernal Homeopathy, 406 Cortland – Limited number of homeopathic cold & flu remedy kits for sale $40

East West Bernal, 406 Cortland – We will be serving chai and offering 15 percent off gift cards.

Epicurean Trader, 401 Cortland – We will be having a free Wine Tasting from 6-8pm.

Good Life Grocery, 448 Cortland – We will have hot apple cider and several samplings inside the store from various suppliers. And just out that day, we will have our 2017 calendars to give out with the wonderful pictures of Bernal Heights and Potrero Hill from local photographers.

Healthy Spirits, 249 Cortland – We will be sampling our famous house-made hummus, hosting a wine tasting and have lots of fun freebies!

Heartfelt &, 409 Cortland – Brian Belknap the Cajun One Man Band will be playing refreshments will be served!

Inclusions Gallery, 627 Cortland – Celebrating our 9th year with our annual Retrospective show, featuring the work of 14 local artists. Live music with jazz duo Gary Zellerbach & Carl Herder and lots of holiday cheer!

Little Bee Baking, 521 Cortland – Surprise!

Paulie’s Pickling, 331 Cortland – Surprise!

Pinhole Coffee, 231 Cortland – There will be Japanese Curry by Chef Michael Black, Jewelry by Oakland Based jeweler Holly Bobisuthi and crocheted goods by Pacifica based artist Samantha Baron. Our coffee bar will be open and we will be sampling peppermint hot chocolate! Also Mitsuko Siegrist of Tsuchikara Pottery will be selling her wares (she is the ceramicist behind all our cups and plates).

Recycled Glassworks, 231 Cortland, I’m also going to be at Pinhole for the stroll

Sandy Owens Massage & Healing, Gift certificates, discounts and other surprises!

State Farm Insurance, 399 Cortland – Serving hot apple cider and holiday cookies

Succulence, 402 Cortland – 15% discount on all store inventory, plus snacks and beverages, with music by JD Limelight.

holiday-stroll-2016-poster-horiz

Wall Collapses at Crescent Avenue Construction Project

/ Todd_Lappin / 7 Comments

wallcollapse

A wall collapsed yesterday at a home renovation jobsite on the corner of Crescent Avenue and Moultrie in South Bernal. Fortunately, Bay City News reports no one was injured:

The collapse was reported at 501 Crescent Ave. just after 10 a.m., according to a fire department spokesman.

The two-story residential building is currently under construction. No injuries have been reported, fire officials said.

The city’s Department of Building Inspection has been called to the scene.

A June 2016 Google streetview of the site shows what the project looked like before the accident.  Neighbor T. adds that the property has been — and remains — a magnet for drama:

The house at Crescent and Moultrie that collapsed Tuesday morning has been undergoing the most recent of MANY unfortunate renovations.  The crew that was working on it today scattered/disappeared just as it was collapsing.  Then, after hours of police investigating and photographs/red tagging it, they came back after dark and were demolishing more. At 7:30 pm there were 2 police cars on the scene with three guys face-down on the street, I imagine arrested for trespassing a red tag.

PHOTO: 501 Crescent yesterday, courtesy of a Bernalwood reader

Oakland Fire Victim Cash Askew Had Deep Roots in Bernal Heights

/ Todd_Lappin / 2 Comments
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Cash Askew

A few neighbors have alerted Bernalwood that one of the victims in last weekend’s horrific Oakland warehouse fire had roots in Bernal Heights. Cash Askew, 22, perished in the blaze.

Neighbor Paula says:

Cash Askew, one of the artists who perished in the Oakland fire, grew up in Bernal and also worked at Bernal Beast for a few years before she moved away to go to school.

Neighbor Jordan adds:

Cash Askew died in the Oakland fire. Cask was a graduate of Children’s Day School and she was in a band named Them Are Us Too.

Cash’s step-dad, Sunny Haire runs a dog-walking business and walks many a Bernal dog (including mine). Cash’s mom, Leisa Askew, owns Fix Studios on Valencia Street.

Neighbor Jordan adds that a memorial fund has been set up to assist Cash’s surviving family as they come together to recover. Bernalwood readers are encouraged to contribute.

The Washington Post published a profile of Cash Askew yesterday:

Cash’s stepfather, Sunny Haire, is a transgender man and skilled guitarist who for years worked as the manager of one of the last lesbian bars in San Francisco, the Lexington Club, he told The Washington Post. As a child, Cash would spend time with her stepfather in the Lexington Club, sipping cranberry juice and watching the clientele.

Since 2013, Cash had been performing in a musical duo called Them Are Us Too alongside Kennedy Ashlyn, whom she met while studying at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Some have described the group as “goth” or “synth-pop,” but the duo prefers to refer to its sound as “visceral,” “euphoric” or simply “feelings.”

Most of all, the two identified as “queer femmes” and connected most with underground, queer or transgender communities of young people in different parts of the country, Ashlyn told the Post.

“It’s our chosen family, our radical music community,” Ashlyn said, describing their circle as one of “creative, beautiful people who are not as highly valued in normative spaces as they should be.”

Them Are Us Too released its first album last year, and had since toured the country several times, Ashlyn said. Cash had been working on a new demo track for years, and the duo had hoped to finish writing a new album within the coming year. They planned to tour South America at the end of January, Ashlyn said.

This is “Eudaemonia,” from Them Are Us Too’s 2015 album, Remain.  It’s wonderful:

Once again, you can contribute to the memorial fund for Cash Askew’s family right here.

Wednesday: Meeting on Proposed Northwest Bernal Parking Permit Zone

/ Todd_Lappin / 35 Comments

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The days of unrestricted weekday parking in northwest Bernal Heights may be coming to an end.

Following a well-organized signature drive by some North Bernal neighbors, the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency is moving ahead with plans to establish residential parking permit (RPP) system in portions of northwest Bernal where a majority of residents signed petitions supporting the creation of an RPP zone.

The next step in the process is a community meeting, to be held on Wednesday, December 7, 2016 at 7 pm at Leonard Flynn Elementary School. From the SFMTA announcement:

RESIDENTIAL PERMIT PARKING
PROPOSAL FOR NORTHWEST BERNAL

The SFMTA and Northwest Bernal Heights Residents invite you to a public meeting to discuss the proposed Bernal Heights Permit Parking Area.

Residents on the following blocks have voted over 51 percent to move forward with residential permit parking in Bernal Heights: Mirabel and Montezuma, Shotwell (1400 – 1599), Coso (1 – 199), Precita (1 – 199), Coleridge (1 – 99), Winfield (1-99),and Powers.

Please join us to hear details about next steps in the permit process, which includes a discussion about how this will affect residents in the area.

Northwest Bernal Heights Community Meeting
Wednesday, December 7th, 2016, from 7 to 9 P.M.
Flynn Elementary – 3125 Cesar Chavez Street

Additional information about the Northwest Bernal RPP plan and the RPP program is available here on the SFMTA website.

Two Violent Crimes Plague Precita Avenue Over the Weekend

/ Todd_Lappin / 1 Comment

precitastabscene

Neighbors living near Precita Park are concerned about two violent crimes that took place in the area over the weekend.

Late Saturday night, a neighbor witnessed an assault in Precita Park, as a man on a bike attacked a man walking near the west end of the park. The witness says the victim was apparently beaten to the point of near-uncsciousness.

Then, on Sunday night, Precita Avenue was blocked off west of Shotwell, as SFPD investigated a stabbing that occurred on the steps into the big parking lot along the 100 block of Precita.

Bernalwood reached out to Captain McFadden from SFPD Ingleside this morning for comment. He said both of the weekend incidents are likely connected to the recent wave of gang-related crime. Capt. McFadden told Bernalwood:

All are related to the same gang activity of a few individuals. The [stabbing] victim will be ok. The Gang Task Force is handling the investigation, and hopes to make arrests in the case soon, which should stop the activity completely.

PHOTO: SFPD investigating the scene of the stabbing on the 100 block of Precita Avenue, December 4, 2016, by Telstar Logistics

In Praise of Musical Friday Nights at Charlie’s Cafe

/ Todd_Lappin / 3 Comments

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charliessign

Charlie’s Cafe on the corner of Folsom and Precita on the west end of Precita Park is a neighborhood institution. Normally it’s a laid-back daytime coffee shop and deli, but on Friday nights Charlie stays open late to host live music.

Tonight, Friday, December 2, Charlie’s will play host to the Trance Mission Duo, a musical collaboration by Beth Custer and Steven Kerrit.

Neighbor Mary is a Friday Night regular at Charlie’s, and she shared this summary of the scene:

It’s becoming a tradition: For years when Charlie’s, the cafe on Folsom and Precita, holds musical events, neighbors come in droves, steam up the windows, crowd the doorway, spill out onto the corner, and peer into the windows if they can’t get in.

The warmth of Charlie’s Cafe brings a special sense ofbelonging to all of us in these dismal post election days. It’s an exceedingly bright spot on the dark north side of the hill.

The lights are bright food is hot, the music is from nieghbors who show off mighty talent. Yes, Paul Griffiths and Beth Custer, neighbors you have greeted over the years, or just know by face (or by dog) have hefty portfolios of music behind them and are well known original talents. You will be amazed.

Children abound and bound around, and there’s plenty of crayons to color with) as yummy plates of Steak Tacos pass under your nose.

You can come fill up on food at the friendliest place in town and hang with your neighbor friends.

Or you can stay home and watch the news.