05.29.05 - 3:42

The “Crookedest Railroad in the World” opened for business August 27 1896.  The original railroad bed was 8.25 miles long with 22 trestles and 281 curves. In 1915 the railroad carried an average of 700 passengers per day during the summer and handsome profits were realized. The Tavern at the top burned down in 1923, but the trains continued to run regardless, and the tavern was soon rebuilt on a less grandiose scale. (That's at least one hour and eight minutes of no drinking on a trip previously devoted to it.)

The great fire of 2 July 1929 was an  important factor in the decision to shut the Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway down, but the real culprit was the automobile. And so the crookedest attraction of the San Francisco Bay Area became Lombard Street. A portion with an 18% grade and 6 tight bends had already been created in 1923 to supposedly become "the crookedest street in the world." Vermont Street, though, between 22nd and 23rd streets on Potrero hill, has 7 tighter bends than Lombard's. And Filbert and 22nd has the craziest grade in San Francisco, at 31.5%.

Basically the moral is: we like the winding places. And alcoves, sharp turns, and surprising glimpses of horizon at the top of a suddenly near-vertical street can only multiply in a city where a grid has been imposed on a landscape of hills.

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