Is it the Crookedest Street in San Francisco?

by Susan Saperstein

Did you know that there are two crookedest streets in San Francisco? Yes, you know about Lombard Street--but did you know about Vermont Street on Potrero Hill? Running between 20th and 22nd Streets, Vermont is a 14.3 percent grade and has five full turns and two half turns. But other than those facts, your intrepid editor could not find much else.

In various newspaper articles it is cited as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) building project. However, the WPA was created in 1935, and the San Francisco History Center digital photography collection shows a photo dated from 1928 with the existing curves. Also in the S.F. Public Library is a reference book listing all the WPA projects in San Francisco. The listing includes 130 street, park, and building projects--Vermont Street is not one of them.

Possibly this curved street is associated with the 1000 block of Lombard Street which has eight switchbacks in one block. That block of Lombard was a straight cobblestone street with a 27 percent grade until 1922. Residents approached city engineer Clyde Healy (later coordinator of San Francisco WPA projects, which may be the reason for the erroneous WPA information) to design a way of making the street accessible to automobiles.

In 1977 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors discussed solutions for what had become the heavy tourist vehicle traffic on Lombard Street, with Dianne Feinstein representing the Lombard Street residents.

Discussing the headaches that living on the famed “crookedest street” caused for its residents, the San Francisco Progress reported, “From the way things sounded, Lombard would love to have the name usurped by Vermont.” I looked at the San Francisco History Center folders (several paragraphs, but not much). I looked up several newspaper articles on the 5th floor microfilm (1962, 1977, 1987--they all repeated the same minimal information about the WPA). I visited the Potrero Hill Branch Library and searched the Potrero Hill archives, only to find the same 1987 article previously found in the newspaper microfilm collection.

And I contacted the authors of the Arcadia Publishers’ book San Francisco's Potrero Hill, Peter Linenthal and Abigail Johnston, who said they would love to learn more about the street.

Vermont Street Again

GuideLines put out a request for information on Vermont Street in Potrero Hill as to why this street and Lombard Street are the two crookedest streets in San Francisco. Was Vermont built this way, to mimic Lombard with its switchback curves? Well…..we still do not know why the curves were put in this Department of Public Works project. The 1000 block of Lombard Street, once a straight street, had the curves added in 1922 when the residents wanted to make the street accessible to automobiles. That may remain our best guess. However, City Guide Richard Brandi offered some information:

During the twenties many streets were paved and retaining walls that look similar to the 1928 photo of Vermont Street were built all over town. Instead of using a flush wall, they have a relief or border every several feet and resemble panels. These can be seen all over, from Roosevelt Way to Sunset Heights to Telegraph Hill. Could be Vermont was just one of several such projects as money became available from gas taxes. I assume this was a DPW project under O'Shaughnessy, who helped make SF more car friendly as auto registration skyrocketed during the 20s. I know he instigated building scenic roads, for example. I have never come across any sources to confirm my retaining wall theory, but then again, I haven't looked for it.