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Lombard Street

Lombard Street seen from Coit Tower
Part of	US 101 between Richardson Ave./Broderick St. and Van Ness Avenue
Namesake	Philadelphia's Lombard Street
Maintained by	San Francisco DPW Caltrans (US 101 portion)
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 north / Richardson Avenue Fillmore Street US 101 south / Van Ness Avenue Columbus Avenue Telegraph Hill Blvd Gap in route Montgomery Street
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. Stretching from The Presidio east to The Embarcadero (with a gap on Telegraph Hill), most of the street's western segment is a major thoroughfare designated as part of U.S. Route 101. The famous one-block section, claimed to be "the crookedest street in the world", is located along the eastern segment in the Russian Hill neighborhood. It is a major tourist attraction, receiving around two million visitors per year and up to 17,000 per day on busy summer weekends, as of 2015.^[1]

San Francisco surveyor Jasper O'Farrell named the road after Lombard Street in Philadelphia.^[2]

Route description

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

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.^[3]

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^[4] and built in 1922,^[5] was intended to reduce the hill's natural 27 percent grade,^[6] which was too steep for most vehicles. 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 segment normally sees around 250 vehicles per hour, with average daily traffic reaching 2630 vehicles in 2013.^[1] 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.^[1]

The Powell-Hyde cable car stops at the top of the block on Hyde Street.^[7]

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."^[8]

Today, the Academy of Art University owns and operates a building called Star Hall on the street for housing purposes.^[9]

Past residents of Lombard Street include Rowena Meeks Abdy,^[10] an early California painter who worked in the style of Impressionism^{[citation needed]}.

Chase scenes in many films were filmed on the street, including Good Neighbor Sam and What's Up, Doc?.

Gallery

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  Looking up Lombard Street
  

  
  

  
  


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

  
  

  
  


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  Cars exit from lowest switchback section
  

  
  

  
  


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  Time-exposure photo at night clearly shows the eight switchbacks
  

  
  

  
  


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  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"^[11] 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

• 
  Media related to Lombard Street (San Francisco) at Wikimedia Commons


• 
  Tourist Trapped: The Crookedest Street In The World, SFGate Culture Blog


• 
  Lombard Street, SF GuideLines (includes early images)


• 
  Lombard Street on San Francisco To Do

Route map: