Bernal Heights – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Tompkins Stairs

Posted by Cindy on August 7, 2019

Aug 072019

Tompkins Avenue
Between Putnam and Nevada
Bernal Heights

Andre Rothblatt, was the architect responsible for the design of the Tompkins Stairway Garden. The zigzag tile design was inspired by the Steps to Peace painted by youth in the Syrian town of Deir Atiyah.

Children of Syria painting the Stairway of Peace. Photo from Designboom.com

According to a 2019 article in the San Francisco Chronicle:

The park “won a $15,000 community challenge grant from the city to landscape the hill, but with no water, the unaccepted bit of Tompkins fell back into disrepair during the drought.

They tried again with additional neighbors in 2016, this time applying for and receiving a water meter for irrigation from the Public Utilities Commission. They partnered with the San Francisco Parks Alliance to win a variety of grants, including another community challenge grant from the city, this time for $100,000.”

Even though :”The block remains unaccepted (the City of San Francisco takes no responsiblity), and its upkeep remains firmly on the shoulders of its neighbors.”

Art at Bernal Heights Branch Library

Posted by Cindy on March 5, 2019

Mar 052019

Bernal Branch Library 500 Cortland Avenue Reuben Rude of Precita Eyes Murals was chosen for this project. It was a difficult decision, as it replaced a mural that had been on the walls of the library for years. A recent renovation required the removal of the old mural which the current mural attempting to pay homage to some of its elements. This mural with its bronze book and tile embellisment was paid for by the San Francisco Arts Commission at a cost of $115,000. Reuben Rude grew up in the woods of Northern California and studied at the Academy of Continue Reading

Esmeralda Slide Park

Posted by Cindy on April 29, 2017

Apr 292017

Winfeld and Esmeralda Bernal Heights April 2017 In the 1970s a group of volunteers, with some help from the city, conceived and created Esmeralda Slide Park. That volunteer organization later became the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center. A New York Times article published in 2010 noted that “At the park’s dedication party in 1979, a shrieking Mayor Dianne Feinstein slid down her chute, racing and defeating the district supervisor, Lee Dolson. Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. enjoyed the plunge at a rededication in 1998, wearing a three-piece suit and a fedora. Tom Ammiano, the District 13 assemblyman and a nearby resident, has also enjoyed Continue Reading

Hidden Gems in Bernal Heights

Posted by Cindy on September 8, 2012

Sep 082012

82 Coleridge Street Bernal Heights This tile mosaic is titled Colloidal Pool and is by Peter Almeida. Done in 1988 it is suggestive of a puddle with ripples moving concentrically over leaf sheaves. The view from Coleridge Mini Park Coleridge Mini Park

Bernal Heights – Odonatoa

Posted by Cindy on October 7, 2011

Oct 072011

Holy Park Playground Holy Park Circle Bernal Heights Odonatoa by Joyce Hsu Bernal Heights is a wonderful area that has some of the cities best weather. This sculpture sits on top of a delightful park that has views of all around the city. Bernal had its origin with the 1839 Rancho Rincon de las Salinas y Potrero Viejo Mexican land grant It remained undeveloped, though, until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Built atop bedrock, the hill’s structures survived the temblor, and the sparseness of the development saved much of Bernal from the ravages of the firestorm that followed. The commercial Continue Reading