East Slope Bernal Heights
Unfinished History
San Bruno and Cortland Ave., 1915, looking north with Bernal Heights rising to the immediate left and Potrero Hill in the distance. Islais Creek wetlands occupy today's Bayshore Blvd. industrial zone. These wetlands also drained Precita Creek, which ran down beneath Army Street on the north side of Bernal Heights. The old H streetcar is visible running along San Bruno Avenue just east of Bernal Hill, just west and above the still un-"developed" wetlands of Islais Creek.
Photo: Private Collection, San Francisco, CA
Former Wetlands of Islais Creek seen from Bernal Heights (early 20th century)
Photo: Private Collection, San Francisco, CA
View of Oakdale and Bayshore Boulevard from slopes of Bernal Heights before Highway 101 was built, c. 1950.
Photo: San Francisco Planning Commission archives
San Bruno Avenue north near present-day Alemany Blvd intersection. Bernal Heights east slope is the hill, 1927.
Photo: San Francisco History Center, SF Public Library, courtesy Charles Ruiz collection
1997 Eastern view from Cortland Avenue over today's industrial zone in the former wetlands. The double-decker freeway in the distance is I-280, which predictably suffered structural damage in the 1989 earthquake due to its construction on former bay mudflats.
photo: Chris Carlsson
