Bernal Heights
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Bernal Heights ( ) is a residential neighborhood in southeastern
San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
. The prominent Bernal Heights hill overlooks the San Francisco skyline and features a microwave transmission tower. The nearby
Sutro Tower Sutro Tower is a unique three-legged tall TV and radio lattice tower located on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California. Rising from a hill between Twin Peaks (San Francisco), Twin Peaks and Mount Sutro near Claren ...
can be seen from the Bernal Heights neighborhood.


Location

Bernal Heights lies to the south of San Francisco's
Mission District The Mission District ( Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as the Mission ( Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name ...
. Its most prominent feature is the open parkland and radio tower on its large rocky hill, Bernal Heights Summit. Bernal is bounded by
Cesar Chavez Street Cesar Chavez Street (formerly Army Street) is an east–west street in San Francisco, California, United States. The street was renamed in 1995 in honor of American labor leader and Latino American civil rights activist, Cesar Chavez. It ...
to the north,
San Jose Avenue This is a list of streets in San Francisco, California. They are grouped by type: arterial thoroughfares, commercial corridors, and other streets. Arterial thoroughfares * 19th Avenue bisects the western part of the city, extending from Inter ...
to the west,
US 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a major north–south highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington on the West Coast of the United States. It is part of the United States Numbered Highway Syst ...
to the east, and
I-280 Interstate 280 may refer to multiple highways, all of which are or were related to Interstate 80: * Interstate 280 (California), a north–south freeway running from San Jose to San Francisco * Interstate 280 (Iowa–Illinois), part of the beltwa ...
to the south.


History

Bernal Heights was part of the 1839
Rancho Rincon de las Salinas y Potrero Viejo Rancho Rincón de las Salinas y Potrero Viejo was a Mexican land grant, largely within present day southeastern San Francisco, California, and extending to San Mateo County, California . It was given in 1839 by Governor pro tem Manuel Jimeno to J ...
, a Mexican land grant awarded to José Cornelio Bernal (1796–1842). By 1860, the land belonged to François Louis Alfred Pioche (1818–1872), a Frenchman and financier, who subdivided it into smaller lots. Its streets were laid out during the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
by Army engineers from the
Presidio A presidio (''jail, fortification'') was a fortified base established by the Spanish Empire mainly between the 16th and 18th centuries in areas under their control or influence. The term is derived from the Latin word ''praesidium'' meaning ''pr ...
, which explains why so many Bernal streets are named for military men. It was first populated primarily by Irish immigrants who farmed the land and ran dairy ranches. According to legend, a mini gold rush was triggered in 1876 when con artists planted the hilltop with traces of gold. Bernal Heights experienced a period of growth after the
1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...
as displaced people from San Francisco moved to the neighborhood for temporary or permanent residence. Built atop bedrock consisting largely of seismic-dampening radiolarian chert, many of the hill's structures had survived the tremor, and the sparseness of the development saved much of Bernal from the ravages of the firestorm that followed. The commercial corridor of Eugenia Avenue filled in with shops as the pastureland on the hilltop was developed for workers' homes during the rapid rebuilding of the city. Some of the tiny earthquake cottages, which the city built to house quake refugees, survive to this day, including three that were moved up to Bernal Heights. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the area saw another population surge. The new arrivals included many African-American families who worked at the nearby
San Francisco Naval Shipyard The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard was a United States Navy shipyard in San Francisco, California, located on of waterfront at Hunters Point in the southeast corner of the city. Originally, Hunters Point was a commercial shipyard established i ...
at Hunters Point. During the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
, the neighborhood was known as "Red Hill" for the anti-war activists in shared households and collectives who moved in among the working-class families. Since , the
Wild Side West Wild Side West is a historic lesbian bar, founded in 1962 and located in the Bernal Heights neighborhood in San Francisco, California. As of 2021, Wild Side West is San Francisco's last remaining lesbian bar, although the bar currently serves a m ...
, a queer and
lesbian bar A lesbian bar (sometimes called a "women's bar") is a drinking establishment that caters exclusively or predominantly to lesbian women. While often conflated, the lesbian bar has a history distinct from that of the gay bar. Significance Les ...
, has occupied space on Cortland Avenue. By the 1990s, Bernal's pleasant
microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often slightly but sometimes substantially. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square m ...
, small houses (some with traditional
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...
or Edwardian architecture) and freeway access to the peninsula and
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
led to a third wave of migration. Bernal has not gentrified to the extent of its neighbor
Noe Valley Noe Valley ( ; originally spelt Noé) is a neighborhood in the central part of San Francisco, California. It is named for Don José de Jesús Noé, noted 19th-century Californio statesman and ranchero, who owned much of the area and served as A ...
, but gentrification and property values are increasing as urban professionals replace working-class home owners and renters. Notable residents and former residents include
Tom Ammiano Tom Ammiano (born December 15, 1941) is an American politician and LGBT rights activist from San Francisco, California. Ammiano, a member of the California Legislative LGBT Caucus, served as a member of the California State Assembly from 2008 t ...
,
Honey Lee Cottrell Honey Lee Cottrell (January 16, 1946 – September 21, 2015) was a lesbian photographer and filmmaker who lived most of her life in San Francisco, California. Her papers are part of the Human Sexuality Collection at Cornell University Library. E ...
, Dan Nakamura,
Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the Rock music, rock band Santana (band), Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he r ...
,
Annie Sprinkle Annie M. Sprinkle (born Ellen F. Steinberg on July 23, 1954) is an American certified sexologist, performance artist, former sex worker, and advocate for sex work and health care. Citing: Sprinkle has worked as a prostitute, sex educator, fe ...
,
Charles Gatewood Charles Robert Gatewood (November 8, 1942 – April 28, 2016) was an American photographer, writer, videographer, artist and educator, who lived and worked in San Francisco, California. Biography Early years Gatewood was born November 8, 1 ...
,
Terry Zwigoff Terry Zwigoff (born May 18, 1949) is an American film director whose work often deals with misfits, antiheroes, and themes of alienation. He first garnered attention for his work in documentary filmmaking with ''Louie Bluie'' (1985) and '' Crumb' ...
Matt Nathanson Matt Nathanson (born March 28, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter whose work is a blend of folk and rock and roll music. In addition to singing, he plays acoustic (sometimes a 12-string) and electric guitar, and has played both solo and with ...
,
David Pescovitz David Pescovitz is partner and co-editor of Boing Boing, a technology and culture Web magazine, and vice president of communications and content at ICONIQ Capital, a global investment firm. In 2018 Grammy Awards, 2018 he won a Grammy Award for Be ...
, and children's author Jane Wattenberg (aka Mrs. Mustard).


Attractions and characteristics

The neighborhood is primarily residential, with a commercial strip along Cortland Avenue featuring restaurants, bakeries, a fish and butchery shop, multiple salons and other commercial businesses. The local branch of the
San Francisco Public Library The San Francisco Public Library is the public library system of the city and county of San Francisco in United States. The Main Library is located at Civic Center, at 100 Larkin Street. The library system has won several awards, such as ''Libr ...
at 500 Cortland was built by Frederick H. Meyer with funding from the
Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...
and dedicated in 1940. After closing for nearly two years for renovations and after much long-standing contention over the murals that adorn the library's exterior, the library reopened in January 2010. There is also a collection of restaurants and cafés at the bottom of the northern slope, near the Cesar Chavez Avenue border. They center around the newly renovated rectangular
Precita Park Precita Park is a municipal park in San Francisco, California. It is located at Folsom Street and Precita Avenue, which bounds both the north and south sides of the park, and is also bordered by Alabama Street, in the Bernal Heights neighborhoo ...
. Also notable in that area is
Precita Eyes Precita Eyes Muralists Association is a community-based nonprofit muralist and arts education group located in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1977 by Susan and Luis Cervantes.community organizing Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community buil ...
, affordable housing services, senior services, and youth services. Additionally, the neighborhood center hosts "Fiesta on the Hill", one of the last street fairs of the summer festival season. The fair is billed as a "community-building event", and takes place on the third Sunday in October. Bernal's north slope has been referred to as one of San Francisco's "
banana belt A banana belt is any segment of a larger geographic region that enjoys warmer weather conditions than the region as a whole, especially in the wintertime. The term "banana belt" is broad enough that it can be used to describe everything from the en ...
s", with warmer temperatures from
San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...
and less marine fog making its way inland. The
grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...
on the hilltop is home to a remarkable
urban ecosystem In ecology, urban ecosystems are considered a ecosystem functional group within the intensive land-use biome. They are structurally complex ecosystems with highly heterogeneous and dynamic spatial structure that is created and maintained by hum ...
, including the majority of native north-coast wildflowers — most notable of which is the state flower: the
California poppy ''Eschscholzia californica'', the California poppy, golden poppy, Mexican poppy, California sunlight or cup of gold, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae, native to the United States and Mexico. It is cultivated as an or ...
raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...
s,
opossum Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 126 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North A ...
s,
skunk Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or gi ...
s, raptors (including
American kestrel The American kestrel (''Falco sparverius'') is the smallest and most common falcon in North America. Though it has been called the American sparrowhawk, this common name is a misnomer; the American kestrel is a true falcon, while neither th ...
s,
red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members of ...
s,
Cooper's hawk Cooper's hawk (''Astur cooperii'') is a medium-sized hawk native to the North American continent and found from southern Canada to Mexico. This species was formerly placed in the genus ''Accipiter''. As in many birds of prey, the male is small ...
s,
sharp-shinned hawk The sharp-shinned hawk (''Accipiter striatus'') or northern sharp-shinned hawk, commonly known as a sharpie, is a small hawk, with males being the smallest hawks in the United States and Canada, but with the species averaging larger than some Neo ...
s, and
great horned owl The great horned owl (''Bubo virginianus''), also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the "winged tiger" or "tiger of the air") or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extreme ...
s), and at times, at least one
coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...
. The radio tower is a major connection point for the metropolitan
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
area. Bernal Hill Park is a designated "off-leash" park for dogs, and it is a destination for many dogs and their owners since it is one of the largest parks in San Francisco. Bernal Heights Boulevard, which circles the hilltop, has about a path of asphalt and hard packed sand for walking and running that is closed to motor traffic. It is also the site of the San Francisco Illegal Soapbox Society's annual derby. Precita Park, named after its eponymous creek, and Holly Park provide grassy open areas to the north and south of the hill, respectively. The park is known for its unusually steep streets. Bradford above Tompkins, with an alleged 41% grade, is claimed to be the steepest in the world, but this has yet to be graded by Guinness World Records.


Alemany Farmers' Market

The southeast corner of Bernal Heights is home to the open-air Alemany Farmers' Market, one of the oldest extant farmers' markets in the US, operating every Saturday in this location since August 4, 1947. A flea market occupies the market area on Sundays. The Market gets its name from the Alemany Farm located in the neighborhood. In turn, the farm is home to the Alemany Farm Springs.


Geology

Bernal Hill, along with the other hills in the San Francisco area, is a folded hill, created by the "wrinkling up" effect of the Pacific Plate subducting under the North American Plate, when the North American and Pacific plates were converging, around 150 million years ago. Near the summit you will find folded layers of very hard rock called radiolarian chert. It is a high in silica
sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...
which gets its silica content from the shells of microscopic creatures called radiolaria. The red color comes from iron oxide. In between the layers of chert are thinner layers of shale in many different colors from the same red as the surrounding rock to white, green and purple. Other types of rocks and minerals on the hill include
serpentinite Serpentinite is a metamorphic rock composed predominantly of serpentine group minerals formed by serpentinization of mafic or ultramafic rocks. The ancient origin of the name is uncertain; it may be from the similarity of its texture or color ...
,
jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...
Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...
and
clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
. The alternating layers of rock type suggest a seasonal cycle of influx of sea water, carrying the radiolaria and outflow of the
Sacramento River The Sacramento River () is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–San Joaquin River D ...
carrying silt and mud.


See also

*
List of San Francisco, California Hills This is a list of the hills in San Francisco, California. Prior lists Several cities claim to have been built on seven hills. Seven of the city's most well-known hills, sometimes referred to collectively as the "Seven Hills of San Francisco," i ...
* Death of Alex Nieto


References


External links

* * * * * {{Authority control Neighborhoods in San Francisco Hills of San Francisco bg:Бърнал Хайтс es:Altos de Bernal (San Francisco)