LOMBARD STREET

Description

Essentials about Lombard Street in brief

Lombard Street, which runs across San Francisco from the Presidio over Russian Hill and Telegraph Hill to The Embarcadero, is probably the best known and most photographed street in the city. However, this is neither due to its length nor its importance as a feeder road to the Golden Gate Bridge, but solely due to a 145 meter long section with a gradient of 27 percent and eight hairpin curves. Whether Lombard Street thus deserves the title of the world’s most winding and at the same time steepest street cannot be conclusively determined, however.

The location and course of Lombard Street

This winding part of the street is located on Russian Hill and extends for only one block between Hyde Street and Leavenworth Street. The extreme 27 percent grade was problematic for many cars and also pedestrians, so Lombard Street was rebuilt in serpentine form as a one-way (downhill) street in 1923. Incidentally, Filbert Street, which is only two blocks away, has a 31.5 percent grade, but it was not mitigated and thus could serve as a “ski jump” in numerous movies.

Whether Lombard Street actually deserves the title of the world’s most winding street will probably never be conclusively determined. In any case, the street section is one of San Francisco’s tourist hotspots and is driven through daily by a line of cars crawling along in a slamon course. If you prefer to watch this car spectacle as a spectator, you can take the pedestrian staircase running to the side.