Most of Lombard Street is an ordinary traffic artery. For 12 blocks between Broderick Street and Van Ness Avenue it carries U.S. 101 through Cow Hollow. But one block on Russian Hill, between Hyde and Leavenworth, is among the most photographed streets in America. Here's the story behind it and how to visit without adding to the jam.

Why it zigzags

The hill there has a natural grade of 27%, too steep for most vehicles. Property owner Carl Henry suggested the switchback design, and it was built in 1922. The block has eight sharp turns, runs about 600 feet (412.5 feet in a straight line), is paved in red brick and is one-way downhill. A sign at the top recommends 5 mph. The street itself is named after Lombard Street in Philadelphia, a choice made by early San Francisco surveyor Jasper O'Farrell.

The traffic problem

As of 2015, the crooked block drew around two million visitors a year and up to 17,000 a day on busy summer weekends. The segment normally sees about 250 vehicles an hour, and in 2013 it averaged 2,630 vehicles a day. At peak times drivers can wait 20 minutes to get in, with a queue that can reach Van Ness. By 2017 the area had also become a hot spot for car break-ins.

In 2019 the SFMTA wrote about a proposal led by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority to require drivers to reserve and pay to drive the block, similar to the system at Muir Woods. The agency said cars were idling for up to 45 minutes, some had even caught fire, and on the busiest days there was a line of cars for up to 10 hours. The plan proposed $5 on weekdays and $10 on weekends and holidays, and it depended on a state bill, AB 1605. Pedestrians would not have needed a reservation. The study found only 4% to 7% of visitors were San Francisco residents.

How to visit

The easiest way is on foot. The Powell-Hyde cable car stops at the top of the block on Hyde Street, so you can ride up, walk down on foot and avoid the car queue altogether. Stay on the sidewalks and remember people live in those houses.

In the movies

The block has hosted chase and race scenes in films including The Love Bug, What's Up, Doc? and Ant-Man and the Wasp, and it shows up in Pixar's Inside Out.

The rival

Lombard's "crookedest street in the world" title isn't unchallenged even within San Francisco. Vermont Street on Potrero Hill has seven turns instead of eight, but its hill is steeper. And Snake Alley in Burlington, Iowa, once listed by Ripley's Believe It or Not! as the crookedest street in the world, also has eight turns, in a shorter distance.