"Comme la plupart des villes américaines, San Francisco s'est développée suivant un système de grille orthogonale, ne tenant pas compte de la topographie particulière (42 collines et une baie). Il en résulte un phénomène peu commun : les rues rectilignes jouent aux montagnes russes car l'outil du colonisateur et les reliefs sont entrés en guerre au mépris d'une rationalité évidente.

In the early 1800s, it was called the Potrero Nuevo, or new pasture. Gold-rush squatters soon put the squeeze on Mission Doloress grazing cattle, and when the fog lifted, Potrero Hill became the first industrial zone in San Francisco, with iron-smelting plants, butcheries, and shipbuilding dominating the waterfront during the late 19th century. The Hill has been home to immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, China, Russia, Mexico, and from everywhere in between. These days, many of the factories and warehouses have been converted into housing and offices for techies. And for the record, the crookedest street in San Francisco is not Lombardits Vermont, between 20th and 22nd.

As part of the Cities of the Imagination Series, this book presents an in-depth cultural, historical, and literary guide to San Francisco, a beautiful city renowned for its artists, eccentrics, visionaries, and activism.