- Jan 18th, 2012 7:00pm (Wednesday) at Bernal Heights Branch Library
Bernal History Project monthly meeting
Time to talk about the second annual History Expo at the Old Mint -- as well as catch up on Bernal-related research!
map to: Bernal Heights Branch Library 500 Cortland (at Anderson)
- Nov 16th, 2011 7:00pm (Wednesday) at Bernal Heights Branch Library
Bernal History Project monthly meeting
Our last get-together of the year will be a low-key gathering at the library. Share your research or photos or come tell us your stories.
map to: Bernal Heights Branch Library 500 Cortland (at Anderson)
- Oct 19th, 2011 7:00pm (Wednesday) at Bernal Heights Branch Library
The Theaters of Mission Street and the Trolleys That Took Us There
During the golden years of moviegoing in the first half of the 20th century, just about everybody went at least once a week. Ten thousand people a day went to the movies in San Francisco on Mission Street alone. Most of the theatres are gone now, or, worse yet, sitting vacant and abandoned as sad reminders of what once was, but will never be again. But a couple of them have been in business for more than a century and continue to survive and, let us hope, prosper. Transit and movie theatre historian Jack Tillmany's presentation offers a guided tour of just about all of them, from 16th Street through the Mission and Bernal Heights to Daly City, in black and white and in color, along with the many streetcar lines that provided transportation on San Francisco's longest thoroughfare. Best of all, the presentation is free -- and all attendees will receive a free, authentic souvenir of the streetcar era!
map to: Bernal Heights Branch Library 500 Cortland (at Anderson)
- Sep 21st, 2011 7:00pm (Wednesday) at Bernal Heights Branch Library
Bernal History Project monthly meeting
This month's meeting is a catch-up and get-together. As always, it is free and open to all. Feel free to join us and share your photos, stories, and questions.BHP sends a big thank you to Leslie Lombre, Anne Batmale, and the many volunteers at the Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema, which was a big success a couple of weekends ago. The opening night of the festival at the Old Clam House was a benefit for BHP, which means we'll be able to invest more funds in our ongoing research.
On Wednesday, we'll also be talking about the free Elsie Street Block Party, which takes place on the 200 block of Elsie (between Cortland and Eugenia) on Saturday, September 24, between 11 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. Come and meet your neighbors, be a tasting judge in the annual bake-off, and enjoy a performance and class by the Duniya Bhangra-Bollyhood dancers at 12:15. BHP will be there with photos and scrapbooks.
map to: Bernal Heights Branch Library 500 Cortland (at Anderson)
- Aug 17th, 2011 7:00pm (Wednesday) at Bernal Heights branch library
Bernal History Project monthly meeting
map to: Bernal Heights branch library 500 Cortland (at Andover)
- Jul 20th, 2011 7:00pm (Wednesday) at Bernal Heights branch library
Bernal History Project monthly meeting
map to: Bernal Heights branch library 500 Cortland (at Andover)
RECAP - BHP received the Walter G. Jebe Sr. Neighborhood Award by the San Francisco History Association at its annual Awards Dinner at the Double Play. The award is presented each year to a person or organization for focusing on local neighborhood history or to an ongoing project to educate and enlighten the residents of an area of the city. We also discussed the upcoming season of Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema, which opens on August 31 at the Old Clam House on Bayshore. - Jul 13th, 2011 6:00pm (Wednesday) at Red Hill Books
Ten Years That Shook the City: Peter Wiley, Chris Carlsson, Deborah Gerson, Alejandro Murguia
Chris Carlsson, the City Lights Foundation, and Bernal History Project present Ten Years That Shook the City: San Francisco 1968-1978, a collection of first-person and historical essays spanning the tumultuous decade from 1968, the year of the San Francisco State University strike, to 1978 and the twin traumas of the Jonestown massacre and the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. At this free event, Bernal Hill residents Deborah Gerson ("Making Sexism Visible: Private Troubles Made Public") and Peter Wiley ("Where Did All the Flowers Go? The View from the Street in Bernal Heights") will read from their essays in this book, along with Alejandro Murguia ("Poetry and Solidarity in the Mission," which includes his account of Sandinistas training on Bernal Heights before returning to Nicaragua in 1977-'78 to overthrow dictator Somoza), Steve Rees ("Up Against the Bulkhead" a photo essay of GI antiwar organizing), and editor and Hill neighbor Chris Carlsson ("Ecology Emerges") to present some of the diverse and overlapping histories that shook 1970s San Francisco and continue to shape it today.
map to: Red Hill Books 401 Cortland (at Bennington)
more info: http://www.shapingsf.org/Ten_Years_calendar.html
- Jun 15th, 2011 7:00pm (Wednesday) at Bernal Heights Branch Library
Beginnings of Bernal Heights Public Transit
Transit and theater historian Jack Tillmany presents a free slideshow and talk. Bernal Heights residents got their first taste of public transportation more than a century ago when streetcar tracks were laid down the middle of Cortland Avenue, and United Railroads trolley line #24 (Cortland/Divisadero/Richmond) linked three San Francisco neighborhoods. Soon afterwards line number 23 (Richland/Valencia/Fillmore) completed the picture. Explore the roots of today's 24 & 23 lines during the first forty years when trolleys ran on tracks and the 9 line caused no end of confusion by running on Cortland and Richland at the same time.
map to: Bernal Heights Branch Library 500 Cortland (at Andover)
- May 18th, 2011 7:00pm (Wednesday) at Bernal Heights Branch Library
Bernal History Project monthly meetnig
Just a catch-up meeting. We'll talk about latest acquisitions and historical Bernal news.
map to: Bernal Heights Branch Library 500 Cortland (at Andover)
- Apr 20th, 2011 7:00pm (Wednesday) at Bernal Heights Branch Library
Bernal History Project monthly meeting
map to: Bernal Heights Branch Library 500 Cortland (at Andover)
- Mar 16th, 2011 7:00pm (Wednesday) at Bernal Heights Branch Library
Burrito Justice: Bernal Meets La Lengua
Johnny, Burrito Justice's cartographer and historian of Bernal Heights, La Lengua, and the Mission and its various microhoods, will give a presentation and talk on the subject of ... well, we don't know yet. He'll probably show some very interesting old maps and some then-and-now photos. More news as we get it!
map to: Bernal Heights Branch Library 500 Cortland (at Andover)
more info: http://burritojustice.com/
- Feb 16th, 2011 7:00pm (Wednesday) at Bernal Heights Branch Library
Bernal History Project Presentation: How to Research a San Francisco Building
Bernal Heights Branch Library, the San Francisco History Center, and Bernal History Project present: How to Research a San Francisco Building. Want to know who lived in your home before you did, and how old it is? Looking for historic photos of your street? San Francisco History Center staff will present an introduction to researching the history of a San Francisco house or commercial building and will provide an overview of print and online resources to help answer questions like these. All programs at the library are free and supported by the Friends of the SFPL.
map to: Bernal Heights Branch Library 500 Cortland Avenue (at Andover)
- Feb 12th, 2011 11:00am (Saturday) at San Francisco Mint
San Francisco History Expo
More than 20 San Francisco neighborhood historical associations including Bernal History Project, the Potrero Hill Archives Project, the Western Neighborhoods Project, and the Prelinger Library and Archives are meeting for two days to display artifacts, archival photos, and other memorabilia at the Old Mint for the San Francisco History Expo. Admission is free! This is your opportunity to see the inside of the historic Mint building, which is very rarely open to the public. There will also be presentations, performances, and historical films. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
map to: San Francisco Mint 88 Fifth Street (at Mission)
more info: http://www.sfhistory.org/index.php?pageid=20#expo
- Jan 19th, 2011 7:00pm (Wednesday) at Bernal Heights Branch Library
Bernal History Project monthly meeting
Come to our first meeting of 2011 and donate a memory or two of life in Bernal. We will also be saying goodbye to the Bernal library's head librarian, Lisa Dunseth, who is taking up a new post at the San Francisco History Center at the Main Library.
map to: Bernal Heights Branch Library 500 Cortland (at Andover)
- Nov 17th, 2010 7:00pm (Wednesday) at Bernal Heights Branch Library
Bernal History Project monthly meetingWe got rained out at this year's Fiesta, so this will be your last chance to drop by and talk to us this year. (We'll be back at the library on January 19, 2011.) We meet at the Bernal branch library, 500 Cortland (at Andover), at 7 p.m. in the new meeting room (turn left at the bottom of the stairs). As always, the meeting is free and open to all.
Recent news:
1. Michael Nolan of Elsie Street took his neighbor, Bernice Menasco van Eckhardt, back to the penthouse apartment atop the Phelan Building downtown, where she and her husband lived for more than 25 years. (She now lives in a historic farmhouse at the corner of Elsie and Cortland.) We hope to interview Bernice soon.
2. Robin David was given a DVD that celebrates a lifelong Bernal resident at another historic farmhouse, this one at the corner of Nevada and Jarboe. We hope to be able to show this at Wednesday's meeting, or a later date.
3. Help with our Donate a Memory project: We are working on a collection of stories from the neighborhood, and we are extremely interested in hearing about some of your most vivid memories and experiences living or working in Bernal Heights. We plan to accumulate and preserve these stories for future generations. They can be from last week, or from your earliest memories.
Here's one from John Rubino, who grew up at 207 Banks before World War II: "Mama and Papa would buy fish from Mr. Frank's Fish Shop on Cortland. Mr. Frank would have a huge pot on the sidewalk in front of his store and cook fresh crabs ... Mr. Battaglia, who ran the All American Meat Market, was a wonderful friend to everybody. He used to give me a free hot dog from the case, and I would eat it right there and then. It was a delicious raw beef hot dog, still cold."
map to: Bernal Heights Branch Library 500 Cortland Avenue (at Andover
Contact: Vicky Walker vicky.walker@gmail.com
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