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Bernal Heights Preservation/Bernal History Project forthcoming meetings:
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Wednesday, July 19, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Future and Ongoing Events

Bernal History Day -- Saturday, June 23, 2007

Come to the Bernal Heights branch library on Cortland Avenue at 2 p.m. for our second annual History Day. See home page for details.

Neighborhood Exchange: Sharing of Local Histories: Bernal Heights/Potrero Hill/Visitacion Valley
On Saturday, June 30, come to the Neighborhood House in Potrero Hill (953 De Haro) at 2:30 p.m. for a joint history-related event. We'll share short films, stories, and images of three vibrant San Francisco communities.

There will be an open discussion and exchange of ideas on historical projects and resources in each of the neighborhoods, plus light refreshments and intriguing insights.

ONGOING: Cortland Avenue History Walk -- cosponsored by the Cortland Merchants Association

Cortland Avenue was already a busy commercial street at the time of the 1906 earthquake and fire, with a number of neighborhood-serving retail businesses. As Bernal Heights developed after the earthquake, these businesses grew to serve the new residents.

Throughout April 2006 and beyond, shops and businesses along the Cortland corridor will be displaying banners and posters that show the history of the buildings. Learn more about the butchers, bakers, barbers, and plumbers of a hundred years ago by following the posters and the walking map (available in Cortland stores and at the Bernal Library).

Past Events

February 21, 2007: Book Committee Meeting - Bernal Library, 7 p.m.

March 21, 2007: BHP Meeting - Bernal Library, 7 p.m.

April 18, 2007: BHP Meeting - Bernal Library, 7 p.m.

We're putting together photos and artifacts for our Arcadia book -- come along to see what we have so far!

Wednesday, May 17: Meeting -- Bernal Library, 7 p.m.

We learned that the deadline for our Arcadia book has been moved up, which is very exciting! Now we need to compile photos and stories of Bernal as soon as we can. We established an editorial committee, but are still looking for volunteers.

Wednesday, April 19: Centennial Planning Meeting -- Bernal Library, 7 p.m.

Help us finalize the details for our centennial celebrations! Want to volunteer and help with the walking tour or set-up in Precita Park? Let us know! It's almost upon us -- the centenary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Bernal Heights Preservation wants to celebrate the history of the buildings constructed in the aftermath of the quake. Elegant Victorians, simple farmhouses, earthquake shacks -- anything built after the earthquake in 1906 (or even into 1907) should be honored appropriately. Even houses that were moved to Bernal from someplace else can join in the festivities. While the rest of the city is honoring the disaster that changed the face of San Francisco forever, Bernal Heights can participate as one of the first neighborhoods to be rebuilt after the fire -- and as the home of the largest surviving collection of earthquake shacks in the city.

We would like to hear from everyone who has a home built in Bernal (or knows it was moved here) in the appropriate year. (If you receive a BHP flyer, your home is a centennial candidate!) Centennial parties and ceremonies will ensue. A library display and reception are planned, along with a dress-up picnic and walking tour.

If you have old or not-so-old photographs of houses and people, we invite you to supply that little piece of the story of the neighborhood. We know that there was mass emigration from the rest of the city to settle on our bedrock hill. Especially interesting would be old pictures of businesses, churches, and schools.

Saturday, April 22: Walking Tour of Bernal's Earthquake Homes -- 11 a.m. Ice Cream Social and History Talk -- Bernal Library, 2 p.m.

Sponsored by Bernal Heights Branch Library and Friends of the San Francisco Public Library

Join Bernal Heights Preservation and the Library and learn about some of the houses that sprang up on our hill after the 1906 earthquake and fire. We've mapped more than 600 homes that were built in Bernal immediately afterward, and will be leading a guided tour of more than forty of them. We'll be awarding plaques and banners to these homes and inviting their owners to tell us some stories! Maps and brochures will be provided -- take the tour yourself, or follow our knowledgeable guides.

The walking tour begins at 43 Carver Street -- meet there at 11 a.m.!

After the leisurely walk up and over the hill, join us at the Bernal Library for an Ice Cream Social at 2 p.m. We'll be displaying archival photographs and other materials and inviting everyone to talk about the history of our hill. Bernal historians will have plenty of stories. (Talkative residents are especially welcome!) Ice cream will be kindly provided by Maggie Mudd of Cortland Avenue.

Saturday, April 29: Family Centennial Party in Precita Park -- Noon

Dress in Edwardian or Victorian clothes, if you like, and come to the park to help us celebrate the centennial! We'll be displaying the framework of two "earthquake shacks," exact architectural copies of the hundreds of temporary refugee homes that filled the park in the months following the earthquake and fire. We have 1906 artifacts, including original timber from earthquake shacks and wallpaper fragments. We'll provide refreshments, buttons, and entertainment, and will have Bernal experts on hand to help you with any historical queries you may have. We'll show our extensive collection of Bernalobilia -- come on down!

We'll also have a raffle featuring 1906-related items and goodies -- you needn't be present to win.

Wednesday, March 15: Greg Gaar Talk and Slide Show, 7 p.m.

This was a one-two punch for the super learning experience of everything natural about our neighborhood. Greg Gaar, SF archivist extraordinaire, showed selections from his thousands of slides and presented a show specifically targeting the natural history of Bernal. The grasslands, the creeks, and the basic bedrock of the hill are all subjects for extensive study.

February 15, 2006 A "working" meeting focused on BHP plans for the 1906 Earthquake Centennial.

November 16, 2005: An Author Speaks

by Palladio

The two best times in the history of San Francisco are the 1930s and today, according to Bernal resident and Chronicle staff reporter Carl Nolte. The 1930s were when the modern image of the city was set. The bridges were built, the skyline was built, labor conflicts arose, and SF became a big city. Today the city is actualizing 21st-century industrial progress, achieving cultural diversity, and acknowledging its neighborhoods. Nolte's book, The San Francisco Century, covers the city's history since the 1906 earthquake and fire with hundreds of photos and learned commentary. He said that despite more than forty years as a journalist he was not sure that he was an author. The fourth-generation San Franciscan recounted Bernal's place in the city, along with other little-known facets of history. After speaking at the BHP meeting, Nolte was peppered with questions, some about Bernal, some about San Francisco. And then he signed his books, just like an author.

BHP was represented with a table at Fiesta on the Hill in October. Many neighbors and former neighbors enjoyed looking at the historic photograph scrapbooks. BHP considered it a successful day because 82 people signed up and expressed interest in contributing to Bernal's history.

The California Historical Society (357-1848) cosponsored this author appearance. BHP meets the third Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Bernal branch library (no meeting in December). The next meeting will be on January 18.

June 15, 2005: Meeting

May 18, 2005: Palladio wrote this summary for the May meeting which also appeared in June's New Bernal Journal:

The clang and rattle of electric streetcars careening down Cortland and Richland was heard again in Bernal Heights for one night only at May's BHP meeting. Three dozen people gathered in the library to hear a presentation by railway expert and historian Phil Hoffman, who is the coauthor of San Francisco's Market Street Railway (Arcadia Publishing), the definitive picture book about the "White Front Cars."

On Mission Street, a car house was built in 1894 where the Big Lots store is now. Streetcar lines into Bernal came after 1900. Folsom St./Precita Ave., Cortland Ave., and Richland Ave. at various times carried the 9, 23, 24, 27, and 36 lines. The last streetcar ran in Bernal Heights on Richland in December 1949. The audience got the gamut, from bloody strikes and lockouts in the early 20th century to harrowing tales of accidents and wrecks on the lines. Bernal is the proud location of a "target house" (one that has been hit by a runaway streetcar more than three times) on Andover Street. There was a short film clip of cars hustling up Cortland, and photos of "Carville," where the streetcars went to retirement as funky residences out by Ocean Beach.

Afterwards, some people straggled off to Skip's to relive the memories and get their tickets punched.

April 20, 2005: Meeting

March 16, 2005: Meeting

February 16, 2005: Meeting

January 19, 2005: Meeting

December 15, 2004: Meeting

November 17, 2004: Meeting

October 20, 2004: Earthquake Shack Presentation
Special guests Jane Cryan and Woody LaBounty discussed history, identification, and preservation of these unique relics - Details and photos.

September 15, 2004: Meeting

August 18, 2004: Meeting summation

July 21, 2004: Meeting

June 23, 2004: Meeting summation

June 5, 2004: History Day
at the Bernal Heights Branch Library - Details and photos.

June 4, 2004: BHP Victory in San Francisco Superior Court
BHP wins its first preservation case!- Details and photos.

May 22, 2004: Stairway Walk on the Eastern Slope
Celebrating the anniversary of Adah Bakalinsky's book Photos.

May 7, 2004: BHP has a table at Jazz in the Park
at Precita Park Photos