Exactly one year ago today, I hopped on a plane to go visit a friend in San Francisco. I’d originally only planned to stay for 5 weeks, mais je suis tombé amoureux de la ville (but I fell in love with the city), and I never left. Whoops. I was excited about what it had to offer me: a surprisingly small city with a big city feel, more restaurants than I could ever dream of trying, a large francophone community, and most importantly, an opera house right downtown! When you think of San Francisco, certain images pop into mind: the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, the Transamerica Pyramid, the famous Castro theatre, the Fisherman’s Wharf and lots and lots of fog (his name is Karl, by the way). In addition to these, the city also has a landmark that’s well known to the French, but for everyone else, it’s just a simple blue house…

In 1971, Catherine Le Forestier and her younger brother Maxime, both musicians, took the prize money they’d won at a music festival and travelled to San Francisco. Their friend, Belgian actor Luc Alexandre, gave them an address and told them they could stay there. When they arrived, they met a group of hippies who called themselves Hunga Dunga. Maxime later wrote in his autobiography that they arrived at « une maison bondée de hippies et d’insoumis, sans tabous sexuels ni d’aucune sorte, qui mangeaient bio et végétarien pour prendre le contre-pied de l’Amérique des hamburgers » (a house full of hippies and draft dodgers with no sexual or other taboos and who ate a vegetarian and organic diet to take the opposing view against Hamburger America).

The blue house, located at 3841 18th Street in the Castro district, proved to be a source of « liberté » (freedom) for the Le Forestier siblings. Upon his return to France, Maxime says he essentially became a figurehead for hippies in France.

When they returned to France, Maxime and Catherine received a letter and drawings from the members of Hunga Dunga. Despite all the evenings discussing politics with Hunga Dunga, Maxime didn’t feel his English was strong enough to return an adequate heartfelt message. Instead, he picked up a guitar and wrote about his summer in the City by the Bay.

The song was recorded on Maxime’s album Mon frère, released in 1972. This album brought Le Forestier much success, and “San Francisco” became a musical staple of the 70s.

For years, French tourists in the city tried to find the famous blue house, but it was all in vain. Finally, in 2010, the house was located. And suddenly it all made sense: tourists had trouble finding the house because it had been painted light green! In 2011, to celebrate Maxime’s 40th anniversary at his record label, the owners of the house were offered a free paint job if the label could paint it the original blue. On June 21, 2011, Maxime made the final brush stroke on the house. The next day, a plaque was hung explaining the historical significance.

C’est une maison bleue
It’s a blue house
Adossée à la colline
Standing against a hill
On y vient à pied, on ne frappe pas
We go there on foot, we don’t knock
Ceux qui vivent là, ont jeté la clé
Those who live there have thrown away the key
On se retrouve ensemble
We meet together
Après des années de route
After years of travelling
Et l’on vient s’asseoir autour du repas
And we come to sit around our dinner
Tout le monde est là, à cinq heures du soir
Everyone is there at 5pm
San Francisco s’embrume
San Francisco gets foggy
San Francisco s’allume
San Francisco lights up
San Francisco, où êtes vous ?
San Francisco, where are you?
Liza et Luc, Sylvia, attendez-moi
Liza and Luc, Sylvia, wait for me

Nageant dans le brouillard
Swimming in the fog
Enlacés, roulant dans l’herbe
Entwined, rolling in the glass
On écoutera Tom à la guitare
We’ll listen to Tom on the guitar
Phil à la kena, jusqu’à la nuit noire
Phil on the Kena, until the dark night
Un autre arrivera
Another person arrives
Pour nous dire des nouvelles
To tell us the news
D’un qui reviendra dans un an ou deux
Another will come back in a year or two
Puisqu’il est heureux, on s’endormira
Because he’s happy, we’ll fall asleep
San Francisco se lève
San Francisco is getting up
San Francisco se lève
San Francisco is getting up
San Francisco, où êtes vous ?
San Francisco, where are you?
Liza et Luc, Sylvia, attendez-moi
Liza and Luc, Sylvia, wait for me

C’est une maison bleue
It’s a blue house
Accrochée à ma mémoire
Attached to my memories
On y vient à pied, on ne frappe pas
We go there on foot, we don’t knock
Ceux qui vivent là, ont jeté la clé
Those who live there have thrown away the key
Peuplée de cheveux longs
Populated with long hair
De grands lits et de musique
Big beds and music
Peuplée de lumière, et peuplée de fous
With lights and crazy people
Elle sera dernière à rester debout
It will be the last left standing
Si San Francisco s’effondre
If San Francisco collapses
Si San Francisco s’effondre
If San Francisco collapses
San Francisco, où êtes vous ?
San Francisco, where are you?
Liza et Luc, Sylvia, attendez-moi
Liza and Luc, Sylvia, wait for me