Yesterday's walk (updated map) was the north-south streets north of California Street, working my way west from the Embarcadero, plus minor intersecting east-west streets. 10.7 miles of walking, 8.5 miles of unique blocks.


Last week in the Haight it was generally quite clear what was and wasn't a street, the only real doubt being whether the connectors from Fell and Oak to Kezar Drive should count. This week there were many spaces open to pedestrians and aligned with the street grid, yet not open to vehicles and in many cases not signed as streets. I think for my purposes they have to be considered streets.

The staircases up Telegraph Hill have to count because there are buildings that front on them. Probably the most doubtful case is Front Street between Clay and Jackson, where staircases lead over buildings which otherwise block the right of way. I also walked several cases where streets ended a block short of the Embarcadero but where pedestrian paths continued the rest of the distance. I did not count (or walk) Commercial Street through the Golden Gateway, which is not formally a street and which leads under buildings instead of over them. Maybe this is too subtle a distinction.

I am excluding Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island from this project because there is no safe or legal way to walk there from the mainland. Maybe once the new east span of the Bay Bridge, with its sidewalk, is finished.


My base map was the San Francisco Bike Map and Walking Guide, chosen because it shows contour lines and street grades.

The Bike map is very misleading about the intersection of Montgomery and the Greenwich steps. It shows Montgomery stopping in a cul-de-sac south of Greenwich, while in real life Montgomery splits onto two levels which then come back together at Greenwich. I walked both levels, although I don't think that was strictly necessary because they are part of the same street.

The Bike map shows a short cul-de-sac off Montgomery south of Broadway. City GIS identifies this as Verdi Place. In real life it is a parking lot, although with a sidewalk along one side. I walked the depth of it just in case.

I am still not sure what happens to Lombard and Chestnut west of Montgomery. The Bike map shows them both terminating in a cul-de-sac. When I walked them, they both appeared to end in parking lots. Google maps and city GIS show Chestnut going through to Kearny. City GIS also shows Lombard connecting to Chestnut via a side street, Winthrop, between Kearny and Montgomery. I will have to go back later and investigate further.

Tele Atlas shows a Stevens Alley running east from Sansome, south of Broadway. I didn't see it, and it's not in the Bike map or city GIS. It looks like it was probably a victim of the former Embarcadero Freeway ramp to Broadway.

I was sloppy and missed Vinton Court off Grant south of California.


sumanah asks: Am I walking every block of every street, or just at least some of the length of each named street? And how long is the "long tail" of very short streets?

Yes, I am trying to walk every block of every street, although it would probably also make a good project to take a picture of one street sign from each named street. And here is a chart of the long tail of San Francisco streets. The "best sellers" are Mission, California, Third, Fulton, Geary, Alemany, 19th Avenue, Folsom, and Market, each of them over four miles long. If the map data I have can be trusted, the end of the tail is Fratessa Court, about 55 feet long.

She also asks what fraction of San Francisco streets I had previously walked before starting this project, but I don't have an answer, or even a good estimate, for that one.


I'm still not sure what all I should be taking notes on as I do this. I can tell you that the Safeway at Jackson and Davis stays open until 9, RJ's Market at Greenwich and Sansome is only open until 8 (6 Saturday, 5 Sunday), and there is old railroad track still embedded in the pavement on Green near Front.