Lombard: The curviest street in America?

Friday, February 17th, 2006

Lombard Street, San Francisco

If you’ve ever been to San Francisco, you’ve probable heard of (or driven on) Lombard Street. It has the reputation of being the curviest street in America.

I’ve actually driven on it several times, but it never occurred to me to look up the satellite view, until I saw it on Google Sightseeing. This photo looks deceptively flat. Lombard has a 27° slope, so it’s actually quite steep. Wikipedia has some nice city-level photos.

The wikipedia article also mentions that, Vermont, another street here in SF has claimed to be the curviest. I haven’t driven on Vermont, and it’s kind of hard to tell from the satellite view. I think I may need to go drive on Vermont, and judge for myself.

Filed in: Bay Area

3 Comments to Lombard: The curviest street in America?

Vermont street is the lesser known curvy street of SF. It is curvier than Lombard because each curve you take on the Potrero Hill grooves makes your auto (or bike) pull around 180 degrees. In other words each curve consists of several tight U-turns versus Lombard’s casual brick slalom through flowers. I’ve bombed a Mini Cooper (test drive) around the curves on Vermont street at upto 25 mph. Vermont wins with “curviest”, Lombard wins with “longest” and who knows which is steeper. Lombard is certainly attractive but it overflows with tourists. Potrero Hill is for us locals.

Kevin on February 19th, 2006

[...] On the way back, I wound up through Potrero, eventually making my way down Vermont, a street which some conjecture is curvier than Lombard. Given the height of the stairs, Vermont is clearly steeper, and seemed to be windier. But unable to recollect a rigorous mathematical definition of “curvy”, I abandoned hope of ending the debate. [...]

Hike SF » O, what a tangled web on May 29th, 2007