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Lombard Street


Lombard Street
Photo Information
Copyright: Daniel Ryan (boonie) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1291 W: 69 N: 1538] (7679)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-08-18
Categories: Daily Life, Transportation
Camera: NIKON D 70, Nikon AF 105 MM 2.8 VR ED Macro, 62 mm Nikon Circular Polarizer
Exposure: f/9.0, 1/320 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2007-09-06 13:51
Viewed: 714
Favorites: 1 [view]
Points: 26
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
A protion Lombard Street in San Francisco claims to be the crookedest street in the United States. If in fact there is a street some where that can challenge that claim I do not want to drive it. The street isn't crooked, the flower planters that control your path down the hill cause your drive to be "crooked".
Note the gray mass at the very top of the street - that is the fog bank hanging in the bay.

Wikipedia:
Lombard Street is best known for one block on Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets, in which the roadway has eight sharp turns (or switchbacks) that have earned the street the distinction of being "the crookedest [most winding] street in the United States." (Vermont St. between 20th St and 22nd St near the San Francisco General Hospital may be steeper, but has only seven turns, and is in a much less picturesque location.) The Powell-Hyde cable car line stops at the top of this block.

The switchback design, first suggested by property owner Carl Henry and instituted in 1922, was born out of necessity in order to reduce the hill's natural 27% grade, which was too steep for most vehicles to climb and a serious hazard to pedestrians used to a more reasonable sixteen-degree incline. The speed limit is a mere 5 mph (10 km/h) on the crooked section, which is about 1/4 mile (400 m) long.

The crooked section of the street is reserved for one-way traffic traveling east (downhill), and is paved with bricks. The section was built in 1923 to accommodate the steepness of the slope.

The street, and the difficulty of driving it, is parodied in the Bill Cosby sketch Driving in San Francisco.
"They got a street up there called Lombard Street that goes straight down and they're not satisfied with you killing yourself that way--they put grooves and curves in there, and they got flowers where they've buried the people who have killed themselves there! [audience reacts with cheers and applause] Yeah, Lombard Street, wonderful street."

PP: Shot in Raw and processed with Nikon Capture NX framed and sized.
muratyapici, c_rapp, jan515, go2stones, tibig, Hendrika has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

hi dan, it so nice to see these shots of SF, i miss the city very much so these are great, this is another great point of view, i like the view of alcatraz from the base of lombard, magic! thanks for sharing and take care, scott

Hi Daniel
harika bir çalışma olmus tebrikler
Murat Yapıcı..

Love the composition of this and the fact that it looks to be a very unusual street indeed, really like this, TFS.

Dean.

  • Great 
  • c_rapp Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 956 W: 20 N: 1281] (7276)
  • [2007-09-06 18:04]

Great view! Nice color and a very cool and interesting pov! TFS
Christan

Hai Daniel,
This is a beautiful vieuw in this street in San Francisco,
Gr, Jacqueline

  • Great 
  • jan515 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2498 W: 56 N: 3862] (17478)
  • [2007-09-07 10:28]

Hello Dan,
A fantastisc made picture, a very beautiful color and a marvelous composition me much please. Good one sharpens and so clear picture. Radix complement.
Greetings.
Janusz

Excellent shot of this classic street. You've added even more interest with the presentation of the neat houses in their subtle pastel colors. Well framed with the trees in the foreground. Well done.

TFS!
Reid

  • Great 
  • tibig Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 657 W: 26 N: 681] (7565)
  • [2007-09-07 11:32]

Hi Dan,
Yes, it is not easy to drive in San Francisco. I usually prefer not to do it. But walking is fine there and then you can enjoy the view even better.
Regards,
Tibi

""Hello San Francisco
We finally got a chance to meet
I knew someday
That I will walk up and down
Your hilly streets
My baby left me in Chicago
He left me headed
For the Golden Gate""
These are the only parts of Sugar Pie Desanto's Song Hello San Francisco that I can sing along with and I could not find the lyrics - however I did see that she will sing in the San Francisco Blues Festival Fort Mason Great Meadow on September 30 of this year. Nothing beats a blues to cheer me up...
.
Thanks for sharing this part of San Francisco in your beautiful picture - amazing composition and same good framing as in the last one.
Els

Hi Daniel,
beautiful shot of one of the most famous street in the world. Well presented with beautiful colours; excellent sharpness and dof!
Thanks for sharing and regards
Igor

Nice composition here - with the straight road leading to the very crooked!!
A very interestnig view :)

  • Great 
  • korbee Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1349 W: 0 N: 1643] (13394)
  • [2007-10-02 11:12]

Great shot Dan very good tele and frame.
jan

Hi Daniel,

great perspective dominated by the famous street. Good composition.

Well done!

Gio

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