Bernal Heights, San Francisco

Bernal Heights is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California.

Location

Bernal Heights lies to the south of San Francisco's Mission District. 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 to the north, San Jose Avenue to the west, US 101 to the east, and I-280 to the south.

History

Bernal Heights, also called "Nanny Goat Hill," had its origin with the 1839 Rancho Rincon de las Salinas y Potrero Viejo Mexican land grant to José Cornelio Bernal (1796–1842). By 1860, the land belonged to a San Francisco financier, Frenchman François Louis Alfred Pioche (1818–1872), who subdivided it into smaller lots.

Bernal Heights remained undeveloped until the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Built atop bedrock, the hill's structures 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 which were moved up to Bernal Heights. During World War II, the area saw another population surge including many African American families thanks to its proximity to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard at Hunters Point. During the Vietnam War, 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.