Bernal Heights

I would like to take issue with the information given about Bernal Heights Boulevard. B.H. Boulevard is not the BERNAL CUT!

B.H. Blvd. circles the top of Bernal Hill. A stump portion of it runs from the top of Nevada Street to Bradford Street. Please check your AAA street map.

B.H. Blvd. was named after Bernal Heights which was in turn named after José Cornelio Bernal, born ca. 1776. Died 1830s and owner more or less of the southeast corner of S.F. until his heirs piddled it away in the late 1800s.

I have lived approx. 25 feet from B.H. Blvd. for the past 40 years and know every corner.

In addition B.H. Blvd. was bulldozed out of the hill by the WPA in 1935.

My recollection about the Bernal Cut which starts approx. at San Jose Avenue and Fairmount St. and runs approx. to Bosworth St. was that it was opened for one of the railways, possibly the old Ocean Shore RR. However that last point should be verified


        B.H. Blvd. was named after Bernal Heights which was in turn named after José Cornelio Bernal, born ca. 1776. Died 1830s and owner more or less of the southeast corner of S.F. until his heirs piddled it away in the late 1800s.


Bernal heights was named after Jose Cornelio Bernal

José Cornelio Bernal

(Below are highlights of early Bernal Heights history taken from the internet and other secondary sources relating to Señor Bernal, our neighborhood’s namesake. Further research is recommended.)

Before 1770s: San Francisco peninsula inhabited by Costanoan Indians for centuries if not millennia.

1542 California claimed by Spain.

1769 Mission established at San Diego.

1776 Mission Dolores and Presidio established at San Francisco.

1796 ± Bernal born (place unknown).

1821 Mexican Independence from Spain. California becomes part of Mexico.

1828 ± Bernal serves as a member of the San Jose pueblo council.

1834 Bernal granted two hundred varas square at Mission Dolores by Governor Figueroa. (Not confirmed elsewhere)

1835 Pueblo Yerba Buena (or San Francisco) established. City streets laid out for the first time by Jean Vioget. Bernal’s first application for a second land grant is turned down.

1839-40 Bernal reapplies for and receives 1 league square land grant to Rancho Las Salinas from Acting Governor Jimeño which includes Bernal Heights. Bernal builds home for his family near present location of St. Luke’s Hospital.

1842 Bernal dies. Buried in Mission Dolores cemetery next to parents and grandparents.

1846 California occupied by U.S. forces as a result of the Mexican War. Landing of USS Portsmouth in Yerba Buena Cove and San Francisco taken by U.S. Navy without firing a shot. Celebrated at a local saloon.

1847 Yerba Buena Pueblo renamed to San Francisco. Streets of new town revised by Jasper O’Farrell.

1848 Gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill.

1849 California Gold Rush begins.

1850 California admitted to union as the 31st state.

1859 Large tract of Bernal’s grant from Butchertown to San Bruno Road sold by the Sheriff for $1,500 to General William T. Sherman. Bernal’s heir has reputation as a spendthrift and poor manager.

1917 Last parcel of land grant lost to family through foreclosure.

Location of main Bernal Rancho or Bernal Land Grant
(Information taken from Official Map of San Francisco Oct. 26, 1870)

Official name: Rancho Rincón de Las Salinas y Potrero Viejo

Approximate Boundaries Using Today’s Street Maps:
North boundary: Cesar Chavez Street and Islais Creek.
West boundary: San Jose Avenue past county line.
East boundary: San Francisco Bay
South boundary: Visitacion Valley district with two extensions into San Mateo County