The SF Landmark You've Never Heard of...Unless You're French

Bay Curious

KQED

Places & Travel, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2026

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There's a blue house in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood that is constantly mobbed by French tour groups. Bay Curious listener Helen Walker wants to know, "why?" This episode first aired in 2023. Additional Resources: The San Francisco Landmark You've Never Heard Of...Unless You're French Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Chloe Veltman. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Amanda Font, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for KQBD podcast comes from the Exploratorium After Dark.
0:04.7	Adults 18 plus discover mind-bending programs and grab a drink every Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m.
0:11.4	Tickets at Exploratorium.edu slash after dark.
0:15.7	Being an adult sucks. Adults, they have to work all day. When adults get mail, it's always bills and bills suck.
0:26.6	Sure, but we've got a driver's license. Enjoy 4.9% APR representative with up to four years free servicing on the Alpine A290 plus range at your Alpine store.
0:36.6	PCP mobilized financial services.
0:38.6	Order between the 6th and the 23rd of February, 2006.
0:41.4	TNCs apply.
0:42.3	Visit alpine-carps.com.uk for more information.
0:46.7	From KQED.
0:48.9	Hey everyone, I'm Olivia Allen Price, host of Bay Curious.
0:52.8	One thing I love about living in the San Francisco
0:55.4	Bay Area is getting to meet people from all over the world who travel here for vacation.
1:01.5	They give me some perspective. I may have seen the Golden Gate Bridge a thousand times by now,
1:08.1	but knowing other people pay good money to hop on a plane and come see it,
1:12.4	I don't know. It just takes me back to the first time I lay eyes on it. It helps me maintain some
1:17.9	sort of reverence, stoke my sense of wonder. But sometimes the tourists know something that I don't.
1:25.4	They've come to see something I never knew was there, which brings me to
1:29.3	one Castro landmark that few people know anything about, unless you're French, that is.
1:35.8	The famous Blue House.
1:40.5	All the French know the Maison Blue, and all the French tour guide Sylvie Walters.
1:49.6	She says all the French know the Blue House and all the French want to see the Blue House.
	...

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