When its founding fathers laid out the city in the 1850s, novel street planning was required to navigate the steep terrain. Where the streets became too steep, steps were employed to mount the remaining incline, with eventually some 600 stairways anchored to precipitous grades.
Each step street is unique, its ambience dependent on the neighborhood, views, and construction, the wood, steel, cement, railroad ties, or brick lending their own nuance. While the lush gardens of the Filbert Steps are perhaps the most famous and Castro denizens are probably familiar with the elegant double staircase on Sanchez, only the most intrepid seekers are apt to locate obscure Acme Alley or the surreal "floating" Oakhurst Steps scaling the flanks of Forest Knoll.
While some step streets have gone to seed, ne glected by the city or the neighborhood, the Moraga Steps, tiled with hand-made ceramics, rise in a glorious swirl of fish and sea, flowers and lands, bird and sky. Joy Steps on the eastern slopes of Bernal Heights are nestled in an urban oasis of sylvan ambience, offering a dose of engaging history, some delightful wanderings, and exercise to boot. I've spent many afternoons traipsing up and down the city's neighborhoods and have selected a few favorite steep niches to share.
Filbert Steps
Even armed with a good map (and you'll need one), locating the Filbert Steps off Montgomery Street on the bay-side of Telegraph Hill can be daunting. Once I did, the first thing noticeable from the top is a classy Art Moderne apartment building with etched glass windows and sgraffito mural depicting the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the structure itself magically in view just beyond. It was also the locale for the 1947 Humphrey Bogart-Lauren Bacall film "Dark Passage." Across the street don't miss the delightful mural of a poodle behind a real water hydrant.
