Bernal Heights...We Will Miss You!!

It was 13 years ago this month that Gen and I arrived in San Francisco and we have known no other home than the neighborhood of Bernal Heights. We started off on a one-month sublet in a house shared by a handful of 20-something year olds, but quickly made the acquaintance of Shukry Lama who had a small downstairs apartment for rent at 28 Ellert St. After 2.5 years in the city, Gen and I decided to quit our jobs and go travelling around South-East Asia for four months. We had given up the apartment and drove to Buffalo to leave our car and belongings. Upon returning from our trip I called Shukry and asked him if he had any other apartments available. It turned out that our old apartment was still available so we moved right back in...same neighborhood, same neighbors, and same rent. Two months later we received a message from Peace Corps telling us that there were two spots open for the next group going to Guinea and that if we accepted, we'd be leaving in January, just 4 months later. After thinking it over for half a second, we accepted and let Shukry know that we'd be leaving again. And so we did...and for the next three years we lived in Guinea-Mali-Zambia-Guyana...not knowing if or when we'd ever return to San Francisco.

As Gen's time with Peace Corps in Guyana was nearing its end, I had set up a one-month sublet in Oakland where I worked on finding a place to live in San Francisco. Soon after arriving back in California, I called Shukry, figuring that if our apartment had been available the last time we came back, perhaps it would be available again. No such luck. BUT...the house on the adjoining lot, also Shukry-owned, had an area downstairs that had been used as a storage space, and could be used as an apartment. I can still remember him saying to me, in his Palestinian-Chilean-American accent, "Hmph...you like, you take. You no like, you no take." So I took it.

Then one day I came home from work and saw a white posted note attached to the house with bright blue duct tape. It was a notice from the city inspector's office stating that our apartment was under investigation for possibly being an illegal unit. After several visits by the inspector and several pleas by the landlords to not find it illegal, we were informed that we would have to leave and the apartment's interior would be stripped of all its fixtures. Thinking that SF has strong tenants' rights, I did not worry much until we found out that 1.) we were NOT protected under rent control (as the building had been built post-1980) and 2.) As tenants living in an illegal unit, we had no rights. So we moved out yet again and went to Australia for the summer. We'd worry about finding a new place when we got back.

Gen is ready for her ride to the airport. The small bag has Gen's stuff. The two large bags are filled with my birding equipment, field guides, and camping equipment. A few days before returning from Australia, I had e-mailed Shukry's daughter, asking her if the city had issued the eviction papers. They hadn't, so I asked her if we could move back in. After speaking with their lawyer, she said that it would be OK, but that we may be evicted at any time. No problem!! That was two years ago!! Either the city forgot, or doesn't really care that we're living here. So...13 years later and we are leaving again. We plan on being gone through July of 2016 and plan on being homeless upon our return. But if history tells me anything, Gen and I will not be too far away from 363 Bocana St.