Smoky air and crooked streets

SF City and County schools are closed today due to poor air quality. Municipal rail is also allowing riders to board for free. The recommendation, however, is to stay indoors and keep all windows shut. Even if I wanted to venture out, I wouldn't as I don't have an air filtration mask. At this point, masks are sold out at local stores and online ordering would take a few days. It's best just to stay put. The husband is working from home and I'm holed up on the sofa. What we need is a bout of strong wind to just blow all this heavy air out. It's been so still and dry out the past week. The smoke has really settled in. :(

I was slated to have Thanksgiving at my cousin's place up in Marin on Thursday., but he and his family have decided to decamp to Tahoe for the week. I can't blame them for wanting to get away from the lingering wildfire smoke. 

Smoky sunset

I belong to an online group whose mission is to share pictures of San Francisco. (I posted the above picture to the group yesterday.) The only group rule is NO politics. If you want to rant, then you're shown the door. Well, most of the time. The group's moderator is not always quick to put the kibosh on people bickering. Given that both liberals and conservatives might enjoy looking at a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge, sometimes even the most benign image can trigger a disagreement. 

I once posted a picture of an e-scooter (the scoorge du jour here in town) leaning up against a bus shelter and that sent people into a tail spin. The picture was then rather quickly removed from the group's website. Womp. Womp. 

Virtual finger-wagging aside, I enjoy the group as some pictures stir up the old memory pot. 

For example, did you know that famed Lombard St. is not the most crooked in town? That title is held (by a section of) Vermont St. between 20th and 22nd Sts. I had heard this growing up, but never did investigate the claim. Yesterday, on the picture-sharing site, someone very thoughtfully posted a short dash cam video showing a slow-moving car trip down Vermont St. I thought it was cool. Other viewers of the vid took no time in complaining how crap the street looked and how unkempt people's front garden areas appeared. Suddenly, whatever city agency responsible for street maintainance and the residents of Vermont St. themselves were villians who had conspired to ruin this stretch of road. HOW DARE THEY?! (Yes, it gets that dramatic.) 

Anyway, another group member posted side-by-side images of Lombard and Vermont Sts. 

Here it is--

Comparing snakes

Both streets would appear to be the same amount of crooked. The major difference between them is one is clogged with tourists while the other is, apparently, clogged with weeds. Ha. 

I could find no other aerial views of Vermont St. while sifting through Google. However, there are shed loads of Lombard St. images on hand. 

Sort of side view, Vermont St. Traffic is now one-way going down the hill. 

Vermont St. ca. 1940s. 

Lombard St., aerial shot taken by drone.

Lombard St., the non-curvy bit, was used for location shooting in the Hitchcock film Vertigo. 

After two decades, the owners of the 'Vertigo house', seen below, had the exterior completely remodeled in order to detract potential film buffs from visiting. I sort of think that they are spoilsports, but I get it. Nobody wants lookie-loos at their front door day after day. 

Scene from Vertigo: Kim Novak in the background as Jimmy Stewart approaches.

I suppose the residents of Vermont St. might be on to something by keeping their road a bit user-unfriendly, eh? Well, if you do go for a drive down Vermont St., don't tell them I sent you!