Lombard Street (San Francisco)

Lombard Street

Lombard Street seen from Coit Tower
Maintained by	SF DPW
Coordinates	37°48′07″N 122°25′08″W / 37.80194°N 122.41889°W / 37.80194; -122.41889
West end	Presidio Boulevard
Major junctions	US 101
East end	The Embarcadero

Lombard Street is an east–west street in San Francisco, California that is famous for a steep, one-block section with eight hairpin turns. The street was named after Lombard Street in Philadelphia by San Francisco surveyor Jasper O'Farrell.^[1]

Route description

Looking east down the curvy block of Lombard Street, with the straight section continuing towards Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower

Looking up Lombard Street

Lombard Street's west end is at Presidio Boulevard inside The Presidio; it then heads east through the Cow Hollow neighborhood. For twelve blocks, between Broderick Street and Van Ness Avenue, it is an arterial road that is co-signed as U.S. Route 101. Lombard Street continues through the Russian Hill neighborhood and to the Telegraph Hill neighborhood. At Telegraph Hill it turns south, becoming Telegraph Hill Boulevard to Pioneer Park and Coit Tower. Lombard Street starts again at Winthrop Street and ends at The Embarcadero as a collector road.^[2]

Lombard Street is known for the one-way block on Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets, where eight sharp turns are said to make it the most crooked street in the world. The design, first suggested by property owner Carl Henry^[3] and built in 1922,^[4] was intended to reduce the hill's natural 27% grade,^[5] which was too steep for most vehicles. It is also a hazard to pedestrians, who are accustomed to shallow inclines, up to 4.86° because of wheel chair navigability concerns. The crooked block is perhaps 600 feet (180 m) long (412.5 feet (125.7 m) straightline), is one-way (downhill) and is paved with red bricks. The sign at the top recommends 5 mph (8 km/h).

The Powell-Hyde cable car stops at the top of the block on Hyde Street.^[6]

Past residents of Lombard Street include Rowena Meeks Abdy,^[7] an early California painter who worked in the style of Impressionism.

External images

This early image shows Lombard Street in 1933, before the hydrangeas were planted.[5]

This early image shows the houses on the south side of the block were destroyed to create a fire break during the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. In this photo taken during street construction, the south side is still not built up.[5]

Gallery

• 

  Traffic caution sign at top of switchbacks recommends a top speed of 5 miles per hour (8.0 km/h)

• 

  Lombard Street's famed route twists past flower beds in full bloom

• 

  Cars exit from lowest switchback section

• 

  Time-exposure photo at night clearly shows the 8 switchbacks

• 

  Sign for Lombard Street at intersection with Leavenworth Street

A panoramic view of Lombard Street

See also

• 49-Mile Scenic Drive
• Vermont Street, the other San Francisco street claimed to be the "most crooked"^[8] has seven turns instead of eight, but its hill is steeper than Lombard's
• Snake Alley in Burlington, Iowa, once recognized by Ripley's Believe It or Not! as "The Crookedest Street in the World". Like Lombard Street it has eight turns but over a shorter distance.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lombard Street.

Route map: Bing / Google

• Tourist Trapped: The Crookedest Street In The World, SFGate Culture Blog
• Lombard Street on San Francisco To Do
• Lombard Street view from Telegraph Hill, with Candyland promotional striping, August 2009
• Lombard Street, SF GuideLines
• Down Lombard Street view in Video with interactive map on Kinomap

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