You’ve seen its eight switchbacks in a thousand photographs. The tourist board has dubbed this ‘the world’s crookedest street, ’ which is factually incorrect. Vermont St in Potrero Hill deserves that award, but Lombard is much more scenic, with its red-brick pavement and lovingly tended flowerbeds. It wasn’t always so bent; before the arrival of the automobile it lunged straight down the hill.
Don’t try anything funny here. The recent clampdown on renegade skaters means that the Lombard St thrills featured in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game will remain strictly virtual, at least until the cops get slack. Used to be that every Easter Sunday in the early 2000s, adults had arrived at the crest of Lombard St toting plastic toy tricycles for the annual Bring Your Own Big Wheel Race. But after vehement complaints from kill-joy residents, the art-prankster organizers moved their toy-joyride to – where else? – Vermont St. Now it's moved again. Check http://bringyourownbigwheel.com for the latest.
