According to the city archivist,
San Francisco has 42 hills ranging upward from 200 to 938 feet.
But for those whose favorite
sport is scaring friends from the flatlands, only five really
count. The city’s 10 steepest through streets (open to
vehicles) are conveniently confined to Russian and Nob Hills and
Pacific, Dolores and Buena Vista Heights.
Most of these eccentric arteries
are marked at the point where they vanish into space with yellow
"Hill" or "Grade" signs. What this means is
"Don’t try it unless you’ve had your brakes checked
recently."
In such precipitous surroundings,
keeping parked cars in place is a matter of municipal concern.
The city ordinance requiring drivers to "CURB WHEELS. PARK
IN GEAR. SET BRAKE," applies to every degree of incline.
Though not posted, another good rule is to stop well behind the
car in front when traffic backs up on a hill; it may roll back
while the gears engage.
Hill dwellers have their own
dicta:
Don’t charge downhill in brand
new leather-soled shoes; they’re to cement what skis are to
snow.
Don’t open the door on the car’s
downhill side with a bag of groceries on the front seat;
cantaloupes, oranges, round roasts and toilet paper roll for
blocks.
Don’t pretend you’re Steve
McQueen in the "Bullitt" chase scene; you’ll rupture
your shocks or get a ticket or both.
Here, according to the city
Bureau of Engineering, are the steepest of the steep in
descending order:
1. & 2. Filbert between
Leavenworth and Hyde; 22nd Street between Church and Vicksburg,
both 31.5 percent gradient.
3. Jones between Union and
Filbert, 29 percent.
4. Duboce between Buena Vista and
Alpine, 27.9 percent.
5. & 6. Jones between Green
and Union; Webster between Vallejo and Broadway, both 26
percent.
7. & 8. Duboce between
Divisadero and Alpine; Duboce between Castro and Divisadero,
both 25 percent.
9. Jones between Pine and
California, 24.8 percent.
10. Fillmore between Vallejo and
Broadway, 24 percent.
Parking on the foregoing is, in
most cases, perpendicular to the curb and sidewalks are stepped
to give pedestrians a better footing. The intersections at their
summits have been graded for 20 feet or so to prevent cars from
scraping bottom at the crest.
Some of San Francisco’s most
celebrated slopes don’t make the grade. Lombard’s 1000
block, known for its switchbacks as "The World’s
Crookedest Street," is only an 18 percent incline. Hyde
where the cable cars schuss down to Aquatic Park is 21.3. Mason
where it plunges down Nob Hill’s south face next to the Mark
Hopkins Inter-Continental Hotel is 22.2
There is, however, a sleeper not
officially listed among the top 10. Kearny between Vallejo and
Broadway (29.8 percent), though walled at the top, is accessible
to vehicles via Romolo and Fresno alleys. Clambering up or down
Kearny’s 145 madly irregular steeps is an adventure in itself.
The surest way to get a rise out
of a visitor from the steppes it to zoom down Filbert Street’s
31.5 grade (it’s one-way) and up intersecting Jones’ 29
percent pitch. Even the most blasé blanch.
The old chestnut about Filbert is
that only a nut would drive down its 1100 block.
There’s also the saying,
"When you get tired of walking around San Francisco, you
can always lean against it."
Taxi company maintenance foreman
maintain that hard-driving San Francisco cabbies burn out their
brakes every 1,500 to 2,500 miles.
Brakes and gear boxes aside, the
views are smashing.
For more information on events,
activities, transportation and lodging in San Francisco, contact
the Visitor Information Center at 415/391-2000, or visit the
center at 900 Market Street at the corner of Powell and Market
streets, lower level, Hallidie Plaza.
