Lombard Street is an east-west street in San Francisco, California. It is famous for having a steep, one-block section that consists of tight hairpin turns.
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Route description
Lombard Street begins at Presidio Boulevard inside The Presidio and runs east through the Cow Hollow neighborhood. For 12 blocks between Broderick Street and Van Ness Avenue, it is a principal arterial road that is co-signed as U.S. Route 101. Lombard Street then continues through the Russian Hill and Telegraph Hill neighborhoods, breaks off at a point becoming Telegraph Hill Boulevard. that leads to Pioneer Park and Coit Tower. Lombard Street starts again at Montgomery Street and finally terminates at The Embarcadero as a collector road.[1] Lombard Street is best known for the one way[2] section on Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets, in which the roadway has eight sharp turns (or switchbacks) that have earned the street the distinction of being "the crookedest [most winding] street in world."[3] In fact, Lombard Street is not the crookedest street in San Francisco, let alone the world.[3] (Vermont Street between 20th St and 22nd Street near the San Francisco General Hospital is the crookedest street in the city with only seven turns, and is located in a much less picturesque location.)[3] The switchbacks design, first suggested by property owner Carl Henry and instituted in 1922,[4] was born out of necessity in order to reduce the hill's natural 27% grade,[3] which was too steep for most vehicles to climb and a serious hazard to pedestrians used to a more reasonable sixteen-degree incline. The speed limit is a mere 5 mph (8 km/h) on the crooked section, which is about 1/4 mile (400 m) long. The crooked section of the street is reserved for one-way traffic traveling east (downhill), and is paved with red bricks. The section was built in 1923 to accommodate the steepness of the slope.
In 1999, a Crooked Street Task Force was created to try to solve traffic problems in the neighborhoods around the winding section of Lombard Street. In 2001, the Task Force decided that it would not be legal to permanently close the block to vehicular traffic. Instead, the Task Force decided to institute a summer parking ban in the area, to bar eastbound traffic on major holidays, and to increase fines for parking in the area. The Task Force also proposed the idea of using minibuses to ferry sightseers to the famous block, although residents debated the efficiency of such a solution, since one of the attractions of touring the area is driving along the twisting section of the street. The Powell-Hyde cable car line stops at the top of this block. Famous past residents of Lombard Street include Rowena Meeks Abdy, an early California painter who worked in the style of Impressionism.
In popular culture
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- The street, and the difficulty of driving it, is parodied in the Bill Cosby sketch Driving in San Francisco on the CD Why Is There Air? (recorded in Las Vegas):
- "They built a street up there called Lombard Street that goes straight down, and they're not satisfied with you killing yourself that way--they put grooves and curves and everything in it, and they put flowers there where they've buried the people that have killed themselves. Lombard Street, wonderful street." (audience reacts with knowing cheers and applause)
- It is also parodied in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. In the fictional city of San Fierro, based on San Francisco, it is named Windy Windy Windy Windy Street.
- In the video games San Francisco Rush, San Francisco Rush 2049, Midtown Madness 2, and Raw Thrills' The Fast and the Furious (arcade game), there are tracks in which the player jumps over Lombard Street.
- The street is a playable skateboarding locale in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.
- The Crooked Street section of Lombard Street is also featured in the Disney hit movie The Love Bug (1969) in a scene in which Herbie negotiates the curves at top speed.
- In the Simpsons episode Lisa the Treehugger the log used for the "Lisa Land" sign goes on a cross country journey, sliding down Lombard St. on its way.
- It appears in the chase scene of the movie What's Up, Doc? (1972).
- In the Futurama episode Bendin' in the Wind, the crew negotiates this street in a VW Type 2 while being pursued by Beck.
- Another car-chase scene which features the street as a location appears in the film Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine.
- Oft-heard joke told by San Francisco Muni cable-car gripmen to tourists: "What's the crookedest street in the world?" "Lombard Street." "No, Wall Street!"
- Site of the annual Bring Your Own Big Wheel race, in which adults race the plastic tricycles down the winding portion of the street.
- In one episode of Full House, the family is on the top of Lombard Street.
- Lombard Street is featured in the Sierra game Manhunter 2: San Francisco.
See also
References
- ^ The location of Lombard Street in San Francisco, Google Maps.
- ^ Lombard Street, AOL local.
- ^ a b c d Lombard Street, aviewoncities.com.
- ^ [http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/lombard01.asp An Honestly Crooked Street], via Magazine.
External links
- Lombard Street (San Francisco) is at coordinates Coordinates:
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| Numbered streets | Third Street · 19th Avenue · 22nd Street · 24th Street |  |
| North-south streets | ||
| East-west streets |
Broadway Street · California Street · Filbert Street · Geary Boulevard · Haight Street · Lombard Street
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| Diagonal streets |
The Embarcadero · Market Street · Columbus Street
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| Alleyways | Belden Place · Jack Kerouac Alley · Macondray Lane | |
