Lombard Street (San Francisco)

Route description

Lombard Street's west end is at Presidio Boulevard inside The Presidio; it then heads east through the Cow Hollow neighborhood. For 12 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.

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 and built in 1922, was intended to reduce the hill's natural 27 percent grade, which was too steep for most vehicles. The crooked block is about 600 ft long (412.5 ft straight line), is one-way (downhill) and is paved with red bricks. The sign at the top recommends 5 mph.

The segment normally sees around 250 vehicles per hour, with average daily traffic reaching 2,630 vehicles in 2013. During peak times, vehicles have to wait up to 20 minutes to enter the Crooked Street segment, in a queue that can reach Van Ness Avenue. To reduce habitual congestion and delays, future visitors may be required to reserve a time and pay a fee to drive down the crooked street.

The Powell-Hyde cable car stops at the top of the block on Hyde Street.

By 2017, the area around the curved segment had become a hot-spot of what has been described as "San Francisco's car break-in epidemic." This may in part have been due to its heavy traffic and association with tourism.

The Academy of Art University owns and operates a building called Star Hall on the street for housing purposes.

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

Chase scenes in many films have been filmed on the street, including Good Neighbor Sam, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, What's Up, Doc?, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. Lombard Street is also portrayed in the 2015 Pixar film Inside Out, and is referenced by Bill Cosby on his 1965 comedy album Why Is There Air?.

Major intersections

Gallery

File:Lombard Street San Francisco no cars.jpg|Looking east down the curvy block of Lombard Street, with the straight section continuing towards Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower File:Lombard Street - San Francisco.jpg|Looking up Lombard Street File:Lombard Street (San Francisco) Sign Photowalkabout March 23 2013-8673.jpg|Traffic caution sign at top of switchbacks recommends a top speed of 5 mph File:LombardStreet.jpg|Cars exit from lowest switchback section File:Lombard Street San Francisco.jpg|Time-exposure photo at night clearly shows the eight switchbacks

Notes

References

References

1. [[San Francisco County Transportation Authority]]: [http://www.sfcta.org/sites/default/files/content/Programming/NTIP/Lombard/Lombard_final_report_021517.pdf ''Lombard Study: Managing Access to the "Crooked Street"'']. February 2017 (PDF)
2. Loewenstein, Louis, K. (1984) Streets of San Francisco: The Origins of Street and Place Names. Don't Call It Frisco Press.
3. "Lombard Street".
4. Saperstein, Susan. (February 2009). "Lombard Street". San Francisco City Guides.
5. Brown-Martin, Darcey. (September–October 2001). "An Honestly Crooked Street". Via Magazine.
6. Saperstein, Susan. "Lombard Street". San Francisco City Guides.
7. (September 5, 2019). "Tolls, reservations for SF's Lombard Street approved by California lawmakers - SFChronicle.com".
8. "Tourists May Pay Tolls to Drive Crooked San Francisco Street".
9. "Hyde St & Lombard St". [[San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency]].
10. (March 16, 2018). "Breaking down San Francisco's car break-in epidemic". The San Francisco Chronicle.
11. "Academy of Art University Campus Map". [[Academy of Art University]].
12. "Rowena Meeks F. Abdy American 1887–1945 Biography". The Annex Galleries.
13. "Lombard Street, San Francisco". a view on cities.