The crooked street

The most crooked street in the world?  Yes this is the most winding street within a short span.

The hill's natural inclination of 27 % from Presidio Boulevard to The Embarcadero was a safety hazard for pedestrians (and vehicles) This gave rise to the idea of creating a street with hairpin bends in 1922. 

Th long exposure picture from Wikipedia will give you an idea of the sharp bends

The speed limit on this  400 meters long road is 8 km/hr.  

We did not drive down the crooked street but walked down, which helped me to get some pictures of the street. 

The cable car line stops at the top of this block and I was lucky as two cable cars from both directions came at the same time.  

The cable car is another interesting mode of transport in San Francisco. Started in 1873 this is the only place in the world where it is still operative. Even though it looks like the tram, the operating system is totally different. There is cable that runs under the ground on which the grip lever holds for traction.

The driver of the cable car is known as the grip man. Its a highly skilled job and requires to smoothly operate the grip lever, to grip and release the cable. As I had read about it earlier, I made it a point to zoom in onto the grip man while he was driving. (you can see his concentration in the video)

Getting a ticket at the start point of the cable car is very difficult but at this point where the crooked street starts, many of the tourists alight, so you can easily hop in and get a seat.

Stretch limousines are a common sight on these roads.

There is a Crooked Street Task Force which regulates the traffic and takes care of the traffic problems in the neighbourhood. 

In this picture below one can see the Coit tower and the Golden bridge far away.

While at the other end, you can see the Alcatraz island out in the sea

There are many types of vehicles that pass through the crooked street.

Some of them have people popping out of the hatch back

while some of them are literally hanging out of the windows from both sides

No doubt residents on either side must be having a wonderful view but there must be some exiting moments like a tourist hit a water hydrant last year and the car had to be moved by the fire dept to access the shut off valve (the water ran for about half an hour) 

A picture of 1933 showing the street before the hydrangeas were planted:

And another earlier picture during the construction (both the above pictures are from Wikipedia)

Like they say, if you are in San Francisco, don't miss the crooked street. Made a short video on the crooked street.