The Essential Guide to San Francisco's Steepest Streets
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- Опубликовано: 2 июн 2024
- San Francisco's hills have some of the most insane slopes in the world, but exactly which streets are the steepest of them all? Join me on a little tour of the TEN roads that will put your driving skills to the test, and leave your legs feeling like a big ol' bowl of fruit-flavored gelatin dessert.
Do you have a street that you think could end up on this list? Put it in the comments below, and maybe I'll do a second round of hills to climb!
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NOTE:
San Francisco's Bureau of Engineering were the ones who listed Filbert as the steepest street in the city (and still do, I believe), so I guess there's exists some kind of officially sanctioned list SOMEWHERE.
SOME HONORABLE MENTIONS: (i.e. streets i didn't know about until after i made the video and will eventually talk about in a follow up video probably...)
48th Ave & Balboa
Broadway & Broderick
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The city did originally carve out and cap hills to reduce grades, for example the reason Market Street is so relatively flat and even up to about Castro is because they spent the time leveling it. Once the gold rush hit people began taking or buying land so fast there was no time to flatten all the hills.
Oh really? No wonder it’s so steep. I visited Los Angeles area about a week ago. Especially in the Hollywood side there’s tons of mountains and hills, but the difference is that in LA they pretty much carved out the surfaces and extended the streets and used pillars for some homes. From a distance it seems like a Streep area but when you drive into those streets it feels like a flat valley that you forget you’re in a high altitude.
Wow. Really interesting.
I left my legs in San Francisco
And lungs.
🤣🤣🤣
I have a friend on Ripley, it's a testament to our friend group's love that we still try to go up that godforsaken hill and try to find parking on their birthday.
I never expected a top ten list video to be so cinematic and filled with engaging story telling.. I think I just found another hidden gem of a channel
It's interesting seeing people not from SF blown away from all the hills. Born and raised, it was just the norm to walk up and down hills daily to get to where you needed to be. I've been living here in San Diego for 5 years now, I met my girl down here, and I took her up to SF this past March. She couldn't believe all the hills we had to go through to get around the city.
Bradford street, the steepest hill in SF, I use to literally walk up and down it growing up because some of my friends live on it. Never thought much of it. Man I miss the city
Hi there i have just one question how do or do you see lowered cars sportscars driving these streets? i love san francisco but i wouldnt want to drive my Beloved Car down a Hill there
@@Sebastian-hc8rj Low Rider cruising mainly on Sundays on the Mission district. Car get togethers in parking lots near Crissy Field by the Gold Gate Bridge also. There's steep hills, but not all areas are as steep.
Grew up in SF too, I moved to Prague which is a relatively hilly city and I find people complain all the time about walking up hill
Pal, you are then fit for track and field in the Olympics.
@@Sebastian-hc8rjThe cars from the 1920s were 1 foot from the running board to the surface. The running board was the platform between the fenders of the car. The last car to be built with a running board was the 1949 Cadillac Series 75. When I was a little boy before I was in kindergarten there was a black Chevrolet from 1940 on my block that had running boards. As late as the 1960s there were still some cars that had them in my old hometown of NYC. In 1961 in Woodside, Queens, NYC before my family moved in the same year to Flushing.
My favorite "steep and insane San Francisco streets" history is Corona Heights. The twists and absurd car-unfriendly angles are because the neighborhood was originally a granite quarry. Owned by the infamous and Gray brothers, hated for many reasons including the frequent granite boulders crashing down into Eureka Valley homes. Finally one brother was murdered, the other fled, and the city turned the quarry sledge tracks into scenic if impractical residential streets.
lmao
Excellent guide on where I should avoid taking my Prius
You went all out with the graphics this time! Thanks for all the work (and sweat) you put into this. I learn so much every time!
I know. I had a vision for this one and just ran with it!
When I was young, whenever me and my dad were in the car together and we went down a really steep hill like the one described at 0:07, we would yell "Rocketboat!" and raise at least one of our hands. It became a tradition to do that no matter what. My San Franciscans understand that reference :D
Bravó. I live exactly between Romolo, Broadway n'Taylor and Filbert n'Hyde and enjoy walking these streets immensely. I have scant knowledge of most of the southern streets. Beautiful essay.
Love your video and SF hills! 5:50 - "If you wondering who the hell puts the City on top of a bunch of hills like this..." It was Swiss surveyor Jean Jacques Vioget - 1839 Grid system of SF streets. Most cities with hills do winding cutbacks to reduce grade. Vioget couldn't be bothered so just put a grid on the City.
They did cut the hills at first. That was probably the long term plan but with the flood of 49ers there was no time.
Perhaps it's no accident that so much of the city ended up with Swiss topography.
Your videos are the best I’ve seen of San Francisco! We are looking forward to more Joey Yee productions.
I'm a native of Telegraph hill, my family goes back to the 1870s, it's so funny seeing people not from San Francisco trying to drive the hills with manual transmissions, they can't cope, they don't know how, it's funny to watch!
Love San Francisco ❤️ Hill's I left my heart in San Francisco
As a native of LA I appreciated your SF videos.
I would say in Noe Valley, Clipper up to diamond heights is crazy steep, and like 3 blocks north on Grand View and 24th. That’s a 29% grade.
I remember riding a Powell Street cable car from Market Street and passing by a side street tha had stairs for a sidewalk as the cable car passed it. I was surprised as many movies didn't show stairs as sidewalks in San Francisco. This was around 1978 when I was on vacation.
22nd and Church was the first one I thought of! I'm used to the hills but that one always makes me go WHOA outloud haha
Vermont between 21st and 22nd... Was visiting at the time and stayed at the Green Tortoise. Was with a couple Dutch guys and my brother. Ended up going down it in the rental car, 21 and fresh from Kansas on the way to El Metate.
Hey you made it to SFGate! Got here because of it and I'm not disappointed. Subscribed instantly 👍🏾
The steepest street (in my opinion) is Grand Ave. It's technically in Pacifica, but pretty much every San Franciscan has visited Pacifica multiple times. When I was a teenager, my friend, our moms, and I would hike up that street, and it is so long and incredibly steep. It would take the four of us about 1 hour and a little more to hike up the entire thing from the bottom at San Pedro Ave to the driveway of the house at the very top.
I just checked it out and am baffled, that's a steep climb! Thanks for sharing, i like to watch around on Google Maps in American cities sometimes, me living in Russia
Quite a view as well, so high up you can look over the gulf easily!
never been to san Francisco but I've been to Lombard street a million times via GTA san Andreas 💖 seeing it is just NOSTALGIA 😌💖
Thank you for posting this! I used to live on Mangels and I know exactly where that street Baden goes up. I always thought it was a private road. There is a park up the hill that I see dog walkers go up.
This is such a cool video! Great research; you do such a good job of showcasing unique things about SF that I haven't ever thought of. Really appreciate the history and cool photos you include in your videos!
according to wikipedia the steepest street in the us is canton avenue in Pittsburgh with a grade of 37 degrees so this may not be the steepest in San Francisco but actually the entire country
I drove to Canton St in Pittsburgh last year to check that and yeah it's steep but like some of the streets on this video, it is very short - the steep part is less than 100 feet
I love your videos!! I’m from Santa Cruz and every time I watch your videos, it makes me want to visit and explore San Francisco moreeeee!!
Having grown-up in SF, I would say that my vote for steepest through-street is Dalewood Way, on the south side of Mt Davidson. This grade not only gets a vote for steepness, but sheer length, as well! A could good runner-ups would be Warren Dr between Locksley and Devonshire, and 29th St between Castro and Diamond. For scariness driving, try Coso/Stoneman in Bernal Heights---between Elsie and Shotwell. There is an abrupt grade change, from very steep up to very steep down, at Bonview, where the street changes names. This can be quite disorienting in a car.
Agreed
Wow Joey, thank you for the great video!
Now when I am walking around in my neighborhood I will tell myself this is the way the city is telling me “ I love you”💕
youre like...the kindest youtuber ever lol if someones camera falls, normally they say "oh BEEP" and dramatically scream. But you apologized 🥰 lol.
Good job as usual!! Keep it up!
Exactly the video I was looking for. Thanks for putting in the effort to make this.
Beautiful video. Thank you!
so happy to see this video on the front page of SF Gate. Congratulations!
Awesome video. Thanks! Gotta love those hills! It wouldn't be San Francisco without them.
Really cool! Thank you. I'm taking an algebra class and we're learning about slopes and how to graph them. This is a great visual.
Wow thanks for sharing!
Great vid! Reminds me of my days bike commuting in SF
Thanks for sharing!!
Great video! Makes me really miss the city!
never really comments like these but AMAZING VIDEO 🤩 you must of put so much work into these videos, the graphics and shots are so nicely done. awesome stuff ✨
This was a lovely video!!
Thanks for the video!
Great video, I’ve been looking for something like this. Everytime I go into the city I always get a little tense hoping my 2WD Toyota Corolla can make it up the streets. So far so good.
Damn man! Great stuff. Will add these to my SF bucket list. Also making vids in the richmond
Joey!! Another award winning segment about SF!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is amazing. Love your videos. Subscribe! Can't wait to see what you do next.
First video I've seen of you, i subbed
Love this video!!
What’s the grade at Jones & Pine? Grew up in that area - all the neighborhood kids and I all learned how to roller skate, ride a bike, skateboard on the sidewalks. Our concrete yard - in hindsight, how our parents allowed us to do this ~ have no idea. Miraculously, no one got hurt. Lol
Great teaching voice Joey.
Cool! Been to all these street during my 40 years working in the city.👍Great job!!! Learn something everyday.
I love your line at the end!
Great video. I would really love to visit this city one day.
Great job!
Killer video! Cheers!
Love what you do.
Hi Joey, just discovered your site and really enjoying all your insight and interesting facts and places u share for us interested in SF. I m a die hard fan! U r a great travel host! I love the fact u r Asian and have a clear voice that is strong and enunciates all your words! Your pace of speaking is right on and makes for easy listening. I can't wait to discover more of SF with U! Sam
J-- That was immensely enjoyable. I lived in SF for 23-yrs. My favorite hill (to take tourists on a wild ride) was Filbert, down from Hyde. It was chosen due to the abrupt drop, which I took at speed. Whilst living at Taylor and Bush, and whilst boozed up, I rolled half way down Jones from Calif. before I could get my hands out of my pockets.
So glad SF Gate led me to this channel! 🔆 My two best friends and I had planned to move to SF after college in the '90s, and it was like my future was suddenly penciled in. Twenty years later, it's exploding with color, and I'm thrilled to live here everyday. Also, you're not too hard on the eyes. 😉
I enjoyed your piece but you should check out (go down) Vermont Street at 22nd Street. And the other street escapes me but is in the top ten for sure which will bump one you have selected off. Its near the route of the 48 Quintera bus route before it goes up to Diamond Heights.
very nicely produced video
I could not do what you did. Bad old knees here. But fun taging along. Cool video thanks
Love your videos
Up in Potrero Heights there is a crooked street that ends at the back of SF General Hospital, I think its De Haro St but its been a while so maybe thats not the name. Its just beside the Kids Park up there.
My hood Bernal wrecking this list
My wife is from there,Bocana st
Banks st 40 years, presidio army post 7 years, sunset district 18 years and counting
Well done!
This is outstanding in SO MANY WAYS. Most of all, I love the graphics, which served as a terrific segue from one street to the next. Questions for you:
1. Where did you get that T-shirt you were wearing? I love the way a San Franciscan sees that it is obviously a graphic of the street grids on either side of Market Street, but that the uninitiated would most likely see it just as a bunch of lines.
2. You mentioned that our city is 47 square miles. Isn't it 49?
3. Is Lombard the crookedest street? I read somewhere that that distinction goes to Vermont Street, according to a particular definition of the word "crookedest." Maybe something for you to check out in an upcoming video.
4. Where are those tiled steps at 8:41?
I subscribe to very few people on RUclips, but I just subscribed to your channel because of the excellence of your work. Bravo, Joey!
Joey, I just got to see your Clement Street video, so I learned that that is where you got the T-shirt: at Park Life on Clement Street.
Wow, didn't expect to only see 1.8k sub's when I checked, seemed like a video made by someone with at least 600k. nicely done man, not a subscriber myself but dang good video.
This video helped me so much on my math project, thank you! 🥰
I really appreciate your persona and appreciation for the quirkiness of San Francisco, really enjoyed this and I think maybe you have a career in TV or film. You could be like the Rick Steeves of SF. Thanks!
I was in Thessaloniki, Greece last week visiting a friend. Her house was at the end of THE steepest road I have ever walked on. It was so steep I had to hold on to the street lights because I was afraid I would just roll down
Nice, thank you! I've been on several of those. Need to check out the Bernal ones. But the crookedest street, depending how you measure that, is not Lombard but Vermont. And I'll second 17th Street for the intimidating steepness, going up block after block after block.
Need to check out Jones between California/Pine, Filbert between Kearny/Grant, and Jones between Green/Union.
Jones between California/Pine is pretty steep. Idk why it didn't make the list
All my neighborhood!
Dude your channel is hella dope
Growing up in SF I walked everywhere and I have the calves to prove it lol but I always thought 14th Ave between Quintara and Riviera was pretty steep if you need more streets for your follow up
You are right on that. Then take it up to the top of Mendoza and 10th Ave. above Forest Hill!
I used to live in San Francisco in my 20’s, I got used to the hills but tried not to drop my oranges on the street. :D
Going up on lombard was a pain in the ass
I had dreams of me being in a bus and going up a steep street like these and not being able to make it up was a nightmare haha
Great video! How did you find out the grade of the streets? I'd like to learn the grade of a street that I climb on my "torture" walks in the Los Angeles area. Thanks!
Anderson St off Courtland, a dead end but the last half block is seriously steep. I lived at 24th and Noe as well as Bernal Heights and the outer Richmond, back in the 1980s.
take Noe up,away from 24th towards Castro District, at the top turn right right going down towards Church... Now that is steep and I always took visitors on that street while looking at them and watch their faces silently scream, and sometimes not silently.
You always know when an out of town car is parked on a Hill by the way they have turned, or not turned, their front wheels into the sidewalk.
Home neighborhood getting several mentions on this list really shouldn't surprise me - I've got the largest calves you've ever seen on a 5-foot person
You may have a contender.
3:41 I swear I used to walk and drive past that street all the time when I was growing up
Greetings from Poland 🦅🇵🇱🦅
Imagine a snow and ice on those streets in winter.
Lovely! Do you have any info on the dead-end block of 48th Avenue above Balboa? I know that skateboarders see it as Mecca, and car/truck drivers keep losing their brakes on it.
Yes! I actually visited the spot yesterday, and I’m planning on doing a small follow up video with some additional hills.
@@JoeyYee Great!
Ayy ups guy that’s probably a cool route! Hope you’re mechanic keeps on the E brakes brother
Try riding your bike up Hill St (near Noe Valley). I've done that a few times - it's intense. I thought it would be on this list.
I remember that street, I think! Other side is the Castro, right?
good job
Treasure Island/Yuerba Buena will def have a steepest street when they are done. Also you could have noted the hidden crooked street on Vermont in Portrero HIll..
very good video
What about Kearny above Broadway? Can’t believe that doesn’t crack the top 10. Great video, thanks for making it.
I had actual nightmares with driving up these damn steep streets with bad brakes.
same with Manila. You can find the steepest street on the east side of the city. I live in the east part and we have hills here 😃
Take a look on Duncan Street , in Diamond heights ❤❤❤❤❤
The reason for the hills came from the original plan for the city. The planner had the roads wrapping around the hills but the realtors demanded that the streets ran straight up and down the hills so there'd be more lots to sell.
I always considered Broderick between Broadway and Vallejo one of the steepest. We usually don't walk it, but will on New Year's day to kick off the New Year. I googled it and it came up at 38%. However, the curved part of the street is private and leads to one of the mansion's garages (think it belongs to one of the Haas family) and the rest is pedestrian, so maybe that is why it wasn't included in your list. Interesting, thanks, I'm a native and yet there were definitely streets you listed that I wasn't familiar with, mostly on the other side of town from where I live.
38% is a beast of a hill, and definitely would make the list had i thought to include pedestrian-only streets. Maybe for part 2....
D'accord 100%.
San Francisco is my favorite city in the world, the trams, the hilly streets and the list goes on
Hey check out Griffith Street/ Jamestown st it's pretty darn steep. Be interesting to calculate it's incline percent! It is very short! I had to walk sideways to keep from falling over!
Going for a walk would be like running a marathon
"Grade" is essentially the tangent of the angle