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Nob Hill, Russian Hill, The Cable Car Museum
and Lombard St. – The Worlds Crookedest Street

San Francisco's Nob Hill, then known as California Hill, wasn't much more than a steeply sloped scrubland until the introduction of the Cable Car made its peak easily accessible allowing the Robber Barons and Bonanza Kings to turn Nob Hill into a neighborhood of palaces and restaurants some 376 feet above Chinatown, North Beach and the Financial District.		Nob Hill Hotels Fairmont Hotel Mark Hopkins Sanford Court Renaissance Grosvenor Suites Nob Hill Masonic Center Tickets San Francisco Tours Open Top Double-decker Bus Double-decker plus Alcatraz San Francisco Wine Country Tour Wine Aficionado Napa Valley Tour Yosemite National Park day tour SF Seaplane Tour SF Shuttle Tour Sailboat Cruise on San Francisco Bay Monterey/Carmel Segway Tour Taste SF Tour N. California Jeep Tours Go SF Card SF City Pass	iNeTours.com London UK Tour Tour New York City Las Vegas Tour Wine Tours Tour Los Angeles CA Central Coast Tour San Diego Tour New Orleans Tour Yosemite Park Pictures & Prints Discount Travel Sightseeing Tours Tour San Francisco SF Sightseeing Tours SF Apartment Rentals SF Roommate Finder SF Vacation Rentals San Francisco Hotels San Francisco Map SF Restaurants Restaurant Reviews 1906 Quake & Fire 48 hours in SF Neighborhoods Alcatraz \| Tickets The Castro Aquatic Park Chinatown Civic Center Coit Tower Embarcadero Financial District Fisherman's Wharf Golden Gate Bridge Golden Gate Park Conservatory Japanese Tea Garden Strybing Arboretum Haight-Ashbury JapanTown Marina & Union Street Nob Hill/Cable Cars North Beach Pacific Heights Pier 39 The Presidio Scenic San Francisco SOMA South Beach Treasure Island Dragon Boat Race Union Square Victorian Houses San Francisco Bay Area Marin Headlands Pt Bonita Lighthouse Muir Woods NM
Pictures & click images to enlarge Fairmont Hotel and Mark Hopkins Hotel Stanford Court Renaissance Hotel California St. Cable Car and Grace Cathedral Cable Car passes The Pacific-Union Club Pacific-Union Club °360 Huntington Park °360 Fairmont Hotel Garden °360 Cable Car Museum °360 Hyde at Lombard Street °270 top of crookedest street Crookedest Street °360 Russian Hill °360 Diego Rivera's 1931 fresco at the San Francisco Art Institute on Russian Hill San Francisco Picture Galleries View and purchase archive quality prints	The Big Four—Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker and Collis P. Huntington—built homes on Nob Hill with profits from the successful completion of the Transcontinental Railroad and creation of the Central Pacific Railroad. James Flood, one of the Bonanza Kings, built his house out of Connecticut sandstone, which is probably why the Flood Mansion— now The Pacific-Union Club and seen here from the front steps of the Mark Hopkins Hotel—was only one of two palaces to survive both the 1906 earthquake and fire. With a swimming pool, steam room and gym equipment that are second to none, spacious and airy, tastefully furnished bedrooms and annual dues in proportion to the amenities, you will need to be proposed and supported by existing members who know you personally to be able to join the very exclusive PU, as The Pacific-Union Club is irreverently known. If you would like to see the Pacific-Union Club's former location on Post Street, check out the 1903 Dewey Monument movie/link on my Union Square page. The Fairmont Hotel—in the process of being built by the daughters of James Fair, another Bonanza King—was nearly finished when it was gutted by the 1906 fire. The Fairmont has been completely restored and is a favorite place for San Francisco visitors to stay. The Mark Hopkins Hotel now stands where the Mark Hopkins mansion was built on Nob Hill. The 40-room Gothic-style mansion was completed in 1878 after Hopkins death and destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire. In 1887 the now famous photographer Eadweard Mybridge shot a 360° panorama from the roof of the Mark Hopkins Mansion. The Brocklebank building, across the street from the Fairmont, was the last home of famous San Francisco Columnist Herb Caen. Leland Stanford Jr.'s death shortly before his 16th birthday was said to be the inspiration for his parents founding of Stanford University in what is now Palo Alto near a giant California Coast Redwood — El Palo Alto, or "the high tree" in Spanish. Collis Huntington's widow, Arabella, gave the land where their mansion burned to the ground to The City. You will find Huntington Park there today. Grace Cathedral now occupies the land where Charles Crocker’s mansion and his 40 foot tall spite fence once stood. With the three surviving Cable Car lines all crossing Nob Hill, it's the ideal place for San Francisco's Cable Car Museum. Andrew Hallidie's invention changed the way San Franciscans live, especially on Nob Hill. Cable Car lines also sped development of other San Francisco neighborhoods. Use your San Francisco CityPass for seven days of unlimited travel on cable cars, streetcars, and all other MUNI vehicles as well as entrance to five popular SF attractions.
	You can also take a Cable Car ride in addition to many of the San Francisco tours, museums and other attractions included with your Go San Francisco Card. View other panoramas showing the California Street Cable Cars in the Financial District and Chinatown. The Powell-Hyde line begins at the Cable Car turnaround at Aquatic Park and reaches the top of Russian Hill at Lombard Street which is also the top of The Worlds Crookedest Street. The Powell-Hyde cable car line continues on to the turnaround at Powell and Market Streets, also the turnaround for the Powell-Mason line which passes through Union Square and North Beach on its way to Fisherman's Wharf. Russian Hill may be best known for Lombard Street — the worlds crookedest street — but it is also home to a number of good restaurants. A block away from the base of the crookedest street the San Francisco Art Institute has a historic Diego Rivera Mural and an extensive rooftop deck with 360° views of Russian Hill, Fisherman's Wharf and Alcatraz, Coit Tower and San Francisco skyscrapers. After you've taken a virtual tour of San Francisco on iNeTours.com you might want to take a real San Francisco Tour.