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On the crookedest
street of the world
Lombard Street, a 400-yard stretch located in the posh Nob Hill/Russian Hill area of San Francisco city in the USA, is the crookedest street in the world. Within this short stretch, it has as many as eight hairpin bends. Nearly 84 years ago when this area began to develop, building contractors found it difficult to adjust to the difference in height of the adjoining areas in this sector. The eight hairpin bend design, first suggested by property owner Carl Henry and instituted in 1922, was born out of necessity to reduce the hill’s natural 27`B0 slope that was too steep for most vehicles to climb and a serious hazard to pedestrians used to a more reasonable 16`BA incline. The street is paved with bricks and is one of the busiest streets in San Francisco. From the bottom of the street, one can see cars slowly creeping their way down, while brave souls trek their way up by foot. Some of the most expensive real estate in San Francisco is on this street. But despite being the most crooked street, it is also one of the most beautiful avenues, as the local tourism department has ensured that in the spring and through the entire summer, Lombard Street is alive with colour as chrysanthemums and other well-tended flowers are in full bloom. The street has been immortalised in cinema history as being the location of the famous film Vertigo (1958). This classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller features James Stewart following Kim Novak around the city and the apartment of Stewart’s character has been picturised as being in this street. The speed limit is a mere 5 mph (10 km/h) on the 400 m long street. This section is reserved for one-way traffic travelling east (downhill). The street and the difficulty of driving here is parodied in the Bill Cosby television programme Driving in San Francisco. It is also parodied in the 2004 video game grand theft auto: San Andreas, on the fictional city of San Fierro, based on San Francisco. In the game, it is named Windy Windy Windy Windy Windy Street. Some of the classiest and most expensive homes, stately mansions, condos and townhouses in San Francisco exist on this street. The main attraction of Lombard Street is watching people drive down the crooked, one-block section, or driving down it yourself. On a busy day, a seemingly-endless stream of automobiles and scooters buzz down, their passengers squealing in mock fear at every turn. Brave drivers can test their brakes, as long as they’re careful to obey the five mile-per-hour speed limit. If you’re on foot, you can walk down (or up) the sidewalks and watch the show. There are stairs (without curves) on either side of the street for pedestrians. The annual go cart race down the cobble-laid pavements called Bring Your Own Big Wheel (BYOBW) is an annual Big Wheel race down Lombard Street is being held on Easter Sunday for the past six years. One can get the best view of the curves, houses and beautifully laid-out gardens if you start at the bottom. A hike to the top will avail one of unsurpassed views of the San Francisco bay. There are steeper streets in the world like the Baldwin street of Dunedin town in New Zealand reputed by the Guinness Book of Records as being the steepest in the world with an incline of 38 `BA compared to 27 `BA for Lombard Street. But no other street has as many as eight full-blooded hairpin bends, roughly one every 150 feet as Lombard Street making it the crookedest street in the world. — MF (by arrangement with Albion Features, UK)
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