Une Maison Bleue
3841 18th Street
The Castro

En 1970, Maxime Le Forestier s'est inspiré de cette maison bleue pour l'écriture d'un de ses tout premiers succès "San Francisco"
"C'est une maison bleue adossée à la colline..."

Plaque offerte par le Consulat Général de France à San Francisco.

Peinte par RESSOURCE Société Française

In 1970, Maxime Le Forestier was inspired by this blue house and composed one of his signature songs "San Francisco"

Plaque offered by the Consulate General of France in San Francisco.

Painted by RESSOURCE Société Francaise

C'est une maison bleue
Adossée à la colline, on y vient à pied
On ne frappe pas, ceux qui vivent là
Ont jeté la clé
On se retrouve ensemble
Après des années de route et on vient s'asseoir
Autour du repas, tout le monde est là
À cinq heures du soir
Quand San Francisco s'embrume
Quand San Francisco s'allume
San Francisco
Où êtes-vous?
Lizzard et Luc, Psylvia
Attendez-moi

His song, San Francisco, is a brief glimpse...of another life, of another set of possibilities. Not for him the dayglo colours of the summer of love. He begins quietly with strummed acoustic guitar. He sings about a blue house, backed up against the hill. You get there on foot. Don’t bother knocking: the people who live there have thrown away the key.

“San Francisco”, with its irresistibly beguiling melody and lyrics longing to recapture a moment that has passed, became an anthem in France.

A few years ago a French journalist went looking for the house in the Castro, tracked it down and found that — sacrilège! — it had been painted green. Happily, a diplomatic incident was avoided: in 2011 a celebratory plaque was erected by the French consulate general and the house was returned to its original colour. Once more, a blue house, backed up against the hill, still full of secrets and possibilities.

Source: David Honigmann in the Financial Times on April 18, 2022