A slick new prime-time TV ad features the beloved — but illegal — Bernal Heights Hill swing that Rec & Parks keeps tearing down, so we spoke to the person that just keeps putting the swing back up, about its newfound TV fame.

If you were watching the big nationally broadcast football game between college football powerhouses Alabama and Tennessee this past Saturday night, you may have seen an ad about San Francisco on the ABC 7 broadcast. Or maybe you’ve seen this ad during another TV show since then, as it will be airing well into the upcoming holiday season.

It’s a breathtaking and beautifully produced advertisement featuring many of San Francisco’s favorite attractions. But ten seconds into the ad, we see that one of the attractions featured is the infamous Bernal Hill swing. The swing is notoriously not legal or permitted, and SF Rec & Parks has been tearing it down for years, only to see some rogue Swing Guy character keep putting up new replacement swings every time.

Photo: SF Travel

Here’s a screenshot from of the scene where we see the swing, and as seen below in photos we took Sunday, this is definitely the Bernal Hill swing that’s featured in the ad.

Photo: Joe Kukura/SFist

There is some individual on Twitter who seems to take responsibility for putting the swing back up. SFist tracked down this anonymous Swing Guy, to ask him about the newfound TV fame that his very much illegal swing is now enjoying.

>noticed the swing on bernal heights was destroyed
>spent a day getting supplies and rebuilt it
>park police took it down
>it will go back up

this is literally a hill i’m willing to die on https://t.co/8mEvL1AcHd

— mass (@Memetic_Theory) January 31, 2025

“I have been the main person for the swing for this year,” the Swing Guy tells SFist. “I just kind of decided to make it a thing that I do. Whenever I notice it’s down, I always go put it back up. Typically within 24-48 hours.”

Photo: SF Travel 

The ad was produced and paid for by SF Travel, which is not an official City Hall department, but describes themselves as “the official destination marketing organization for the city and county of San Francisco.” Their job is to attract conventions, business travelers, and leisure travelers to San Francisco’s $9.35 billion a year tourism industry.

But while the ad played during a national TV broadcast, it is not actually airing on national TV. It’s a local ad buy that is playing across the Bay Area, and will continue to do so for a while.

“Currently, we’re featuring 30-second TV spots in the nine Bay Area counties to attract regional visitation,” SF Travel spokesperson Lori Lincoln tells us. “The spots will run eight weeks to drive fall and holiday visitation.”

Photo: Joe Kukura/SFist

Amusingly, SF Travel did not even plan to put the swing in the ad. They were simply shooting footage from the summit of Bernal Heights Hill, and they came across the swing.

“The swing just happened to be there when the team was out shooting SF Travel’s new brand video,” Lincoln says. “We included it because it captured the moments of serendipity one experiences in San Francisco.”

Photo: Dennis O’Rorke/Facebook

SF has a history of putting up rogue, unpermitted swings for fun. Those who grew up here in the 1970 and 80s may remember the rope swing at Mountain Lake Park in the Presidio that attracted many a daredevil years ago. In 2011, a renegade swing appeared in the Lower Haight.  

But SF City Hall agencies always take these swings down. In the case of the Bernal Hill swing, it’s SF Rec& Parks removing the swing, as that swing is located in a San Francisco park.  

“We do take down DIY swings from time to time,” Rec & Parks spokesperson Tamara Barak Aparton tells SFist. “We know it’s a little sad because they’re fun and photogenic. I promise we’re not waging a war on whimsy or anything. We just can’t assure the safety of people in our parks using swings we don’t install or maintain. They’re also tough on our trees.”

“Fortunately, we have 184 playgrounds in the city with swings we can vouch for,” Aparton adds. “You can find them here.”

Screenshot: BernalSwing.com

Though none of the legal playground swings has the notoriety or cult following of the Bernal Hill Swing. The Bernal Hill Swing even has its own real-time website telling you whether or not a swing is up at any given moment, based on constantly updated crowdsourced information.

And the Bernal Hill Swing has been around for even longer than the Swing Guy, who says he only moved here a year and a half ago. Previous iterations of the swing were built and installed by other thrillseekers of yesteryear.

“The swing has been there for like a decade,” the Swing Guy informs us. “I’d go down to this coffee shop Charlie’s Cafe. I found out later that he used to put the swing up back in the day. So I would go and get my morning coffee and go walk to the top of the hill and listen to a podcast, build a swing, and start my day.”

Image: SF Travel

The Swing Guy estimates he’s put “probably to the tune of $1,500” of his own money into replacing the many versions of the swing that Rec  & Parks keeps tearing down. The version seen in the commercial has steel chains as seen above, which the Swing Guy says he installed to make it “bigger, stronger, faster, harder.” The current version of the swing is just ropes and wood, as the commercial was actually shot months ago, when a different version of the swing was hanging from the tree that now has Bay Area TV commercial fame.

“It’s cool to see the swing being a testament to that vision and being literally symbolic of why people should come here,” the Swing Guy says. He has had both good and bad experiences with his adopted swing duty.

Photo: Joe Kukura/SFist

One time, he recalls, “A little girl came up to swing on it and she was shrieking with joy. ‘Daddy, push me! Daddy, push me!’ And I was just like, you couldn’t help but have a tear in your eye. Like, ‘Damn, what a core memory this kid is having right now.’”

Other times, he has been busted by Rec & Parks officers. He remembers one such officer approaching him and “She was like ‘Oh, you’re the one putting up the swing.’ And I was like, immediately, bad vibes. I was like, ‘I don’t know… maybe.’”

Photo: Joe Kukura/SFist

While Rec& Parks says they remove the swing for safety reasons, the SF Standard reported in May that “the city attorney’s office says it has no record of liability claims related to injuries from unauthorized rope or tree swings.” Though that report details there have been a couple rope swing injuries in other California cities.

“It seems interesting to have this commercial come out that shows SF is this absolutely amazing city aesthetically, technologically, culturally,” the Swing Guy says. “It’s cool to see something that I worked on be featured as a small glimpse of what SF has to offer.”

And he hopes it swings a little more inspiration as it beams across Bay Area TV airwaves.

“I hope more people build more swings, plant more flowers,” the Swing Guy says. “De-graffiti more walls, pick up more trash. Just do what you can to make your little corner of San Francisco and hopefully eventually the world a little brighter.”

Related: Whimsical Wooden Swings Appear In Lower Haight [SFist]

Top image via SF Travel