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This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Olivia Allen-Price: <\/b>I\u2019m Olivia Allen-Price, host of Bay Curious. One thing I love about living in the San Francisco Bay Area is getting to meet people from all over the world who travel here for vacation. They give me perspective. I may have seen the Golden Gate Bridge a thousand times by now, but knowing other people pay good money to hop on a plane and come see it?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know, it helps me maintain some reverence. Stoke my sense of wonder\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n [A pop of street sound]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Olivia Allen-Price: <\/b>But sometimes the tourists know something that I don\u2019t. They\u2019ve come to see something I never knew was there. Which brings me to one Castro landmark that few people know anything about\u2026Unless you\u2019re French, that is.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Sylvie Walters: <\/b>La fameuse Maison Bleue.<\/span><\/p>\n Olivia Allen-Price: <\/b>The famous Blue House.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Sylvie Walters: <\/b>Tous les Fran\u00e7ais connaissent la Maison Bleue et tous les Fran\u00e7ais veulent voir la Maison Bleue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Olivia Allen-Price: <\/b>That\u2019s San Francisco-based French tour guide Sylvie Walters. She says \u201cAll the French know the Blue House and all the French want to see the Blue House.\u201d Take a stroll by 3841 18th Street in San Francisco and you\u2019ll spot it \u2026 a pastel-blue Victorian that, while lovely, looks like many others that line the street\u2014Except there\u2019s a throng of French tourists outside.<\/span> Helen Walker:<\/b> I took twelve years of French and it was my major in college. And I love going to France.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Olivia Allen-Price: <\/b>\u00a0Helen has lived in the Bay Area for decades. But she says the first she\u2019d ever heard of this famous site of French pilgrimage was a few years ago, when her daughter\u2019s twenty-something friend came to visit from Grenoble, France.<\/span><\/p>\n Helen Walker:<\/b> \u00a0<\/b>And he said, \u201cBefore I leave, I have to go see the Blue House.\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cThe Blue House? What are you talking about?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Olivia Allen-Price: <\/b>\u00a0The answer to this question seemed like something NPR Culture Correspondent Chloe Veltman might know. She\u2019s half French. And she\u2019s been living in San Francisco for more than twenty years. Hey Chloe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman: <\/b>Bonjour Olivia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Olivia Allen-Price: <\/b>What I didn\u2019t know when I approached you about doing this story was your personal connection to it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman:<\/b> That\u2019s right, Olivia. So, my connection to the Blue House\u2026stems from a song.<\/span><\/p>\n [Guitar intro to \u201cSan Francisco\u201d by Maxime le Forestier]<\/i><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman: <\/b>The song is called \u201cSan Francisco.\u201d And it\u2019s by French singer-songwriter Maxime Le Forestier. He wrote the track in 1971 after staying at the Blue House, in San Francisco\u2019s Castro District, that summer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [Opening verse of \u201cSan Francisco\u201d up and in the clear: \u201c<\/span><\/i>C\u2019est une maison bleue, Adoss\u00e9e \u00e0 la colline. On y vient \u00e0 pied, on ne frappe pas. Ceux qui vivent l\u00e0, ont jet\u00e9 la cl\u00e9\u2026\u201d]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman: <\/b>Maxime Le Forestier\u2019s \u201cSan Francisco\u201d was a big part of my childhood. The track was in my mom\u2019s record collection. She\u2019s from Paris. I couldn\u2019t stop listening to this song as a kid. I kept putting it on mixtapes and playlists long after I moved out of my parents\u2019 house. I was, and still am, entranced by the dusky, modal harmonies and the plaintiff guitar riff that sounds almost like a cowboy tune.<\/span><\/p>\n [Chorus from the song up and in the clear: \u201c\u2026<\/span><\/i>Quand San Francisco s\u2019embrume, Quand San Francisco s\u2019allume, San Francisco, o\u00f9 \u00eates vous ? Liza et Luc, Sylvia, attendez-moi\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i> Olivia Allen-Price: <\/b>I see what you mean\u2026It has a Wild-West high-lonesome quality to it.\u00a0<\/span> Chloe Veltman: <\/b>\u00a0Yeah, and this song made San Francisco seem like a magical place to me\u2014a place I couldn\u2019t even imagine visiting as I was growing up in stodgy, straight-laced England, let alone calling home now for almost a quarter of a century. It\u2019s fair to say \u201cSan Francisco\u201d inspired me to move to San Francisco.\u00a0<\/span> Olivia Allen-Price: <\/b>\u00a0It\u2019s a really pretty song. I can see why it lured you here. Tell us more about it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span> Chloe Veltman:<\/b> Sure! Well, \u201cSan Francisco\u201d appeared on le Forestier\u2019s first solo studio album, <\/span>Mon Fr\u00e8re<\/span><\/i>, and quickly became the singer-songwriter\u2019s first hit. He went on to become a major star in France.\u00a0<\/span> [Maxime le Forestier singing the opening lines of \u201cSan Francisco\u201d, up and in the clear: \u201c\u2026<\/span><\/i>C\u2019est une maison bleue \/ Adoss\u00e9e \u00e0 la colline \/ On y vient \u00e0 pied \/ On ne frappe pas\/ Ceux qui vivent l\u00e0 \/ Ont jet\u00e9 la cl\u00e9\u2026\u201d]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman:<\/b> In the first verse, the singer describes a blue house that backs onto a hill. You walk up, don\u2019t bother knocking because the people who live there threw out the key. This is the perfect introduction to daily life at the Blue House: It was a hippie commune at the time, mostly inhabited by a bunch of young and idealistic LGBTQ artists and activists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Le Forestier goes on to describe the happy-go-lucky, communal atmosphere at the house. People are reunited there after years on the road. He also sings about a daily ritual at the blue house\u00a0 \u2014 where everyone sits down to eat a meal together at five o\u2019clock in the evening.<\/span><\/p>\n Phil Polizatto:<\/b> We had no rules whatsoever.<\/span><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman: <\/b>That\u2019s Phil Polizatto.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Phil Polizatto:<\/b> The only rule we had was that at 5:00 p.m. everybody had to be sitting on the floor for dinner.<\/span><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman:<\/b> Phil lived in the Blue House in the 1970s and is the author of a book about it that\u2019s also been translated into French.<\/span><\/p>\n Phil actually gets namechecked in Le Forestier\u2019s song.<\/span><\/p>\n [Verse from \u201cSan Francisco\u201d mentioning Phil up and in the clear: \u201c\u2026<\/span><\/i>Nageant dans le brouillard, Enlac\u00e9s, roulant dans l\u2019herbe, On \u00e9coutera Tom \u00e0 la guitare, Phil \u00e0 la quena, jusqu\u2019\u00e0 la nuit noire\u2026\u201d then duck under and out.]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman:<\/b> He\u2019s singing: \u201cSwimming in the fog, rolling in the grass entwined, we\u2019ll listen to Tom on the guitar, Phil on the <\/span>quena<\/span><\/i>, long into the night.\u201d Just in case you\u2019re wondering, the <\/span>quena<\/span><\/i> is an ancient flute from the Central Andes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [Burst of quena music]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman:<\/b> Anyway, Phil says the commune that lived at 3841 18th Street back then went by the name Hunga Dunga. It was part of a network of hippie houses around the city, like the Golden Aura Commune and the Friends of Perfection. Phil says they all operated on a barter system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Phil Polizatto:<\/b> We delivered food to around fourteen communes for free.<\/span><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman:<\/b> And when they weren\u2019t busy pushing back against capitalism, Phil says the Hunga Dungas basically did a lot of drugs and had a lot of sex. People came and went. It was a bit of a free for all.<\/span><\/p>\n Phil Polizatto: <\/b>We just were a bunch of freaks who wound up living together in this big house.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman:<\/b> Phil says one of the roommates, a Belgian guy named Luc, invited Maxime le Forestier and his sister Catherine to stay at the house while they were traveling around the U.S. No one in the house\u2026besides Luc\u2026had much of an idea that the Le Forestier siblings were starting to make a name for themselves as musicians in their native France when they came to San Francisco in 1971. Phil says the Hunga Dungas didn\u2019t think much of the young Frenchman.<\/span><\/p>\n Phil Polizatto:<\/b> He was like a lamp. He didn\u2019t do anything. He didn\u2019t do the dishes. He didn\u2019t vacuum the floor. He just sat in that chair with his guitar, strumming a little bit. And of course, my immediate impression was, \u201cWow, what a slouch.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Phil Polizatto:<\/b> And we opened it up and it was Maxim\u2019s first album. And you know what? We put it in the bookcase and no one ever played it.<\/span><\/p>\n [\u201cSan Francisco\u201d plays again]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n [<\/span>Song fades out]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n [Sounds of people on a street]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Cathy Colonges:<\/b> Tout le monde a un souvenir autour de cette chanson, de l\u2019endroit o\u00f9 on l\u2019a appris.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Cathy Colonges:<\/b> J\u2019ai appris cette chanson avec une de mes cousines qui \u00e9tait un peu plus \u00e2g\u00e9 que nous, qui nous la chanter et qui nous a fait aussi conna\u00eetre Maxime Le Forestier.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman:<\/b> In Cathy\u2019s case, she learned to sing it as a kid from an older cousin, who also introduced her to more songs by Maxime Le Forestier. At that point, other random French people start to appear in front of the house. Our tour guide, Sylvie Walters, invites them to join us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [Greetings exchanged \u201c\u2026Vous venez voir la maison bleue?\u201d \u201cVoil\u00e0, je savais m\u00eame pas qu\u2019elle \u00e9tait par l\u00e0\u2026\u201d]\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman:<\/b> People exchange stories about how they know the song.<\/span><\/p>\n Person 1:<\/b> On a tous chant\u00e9 quand on avait quinze ans autour d\u2019un feu, le soir, pendant les vacances, en \u00e9t\u00e9\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman:<\/b> One person says she sang it when she was fifteen years old at night around the fire on vacation.<\/span><\/p>\n Person 2: <\/b>Mes parents la mettaient de temps en temps dans la voiture, mais\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman:<\/b> Another says her parents put \u201cSan Francisco\u201d on in the car from time to time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0[\u201c \u200b\u200bUn, deux, trois\u2026\u201d]\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Chloe Veltman:<\/b> Before going our separate ways, we sing the song right there on 18th Street, in front of the house that inspired it.<\/span><\/p>\n [People singing: \u201c\u2026 C\u2019est une maison bleue adoss\u00e9e \u00e0 la colline. On y vient \u00e0 pied, on ne frappe pas ceux qui vivent l\u00e0 etc\u2026\u201d Transitions into Maxime Le Forestier singing \u201cSan Francisco\u201d\u2026]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Olivia Allen-Price: <\/b>That was reporter Chloe Veltman\u2026etc\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We shot a TikTok and Instagram video for this story, so if you want to see the house for yourself, check KQED\u2019s accounts\u2026 We\u2019re @KQED.<\/span><\/p>\n If you are new to Bay Curious \u2013 Bonjour! WELCOME! We are so glad you\u2019re here. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen so you don\u2019t miss a future episode. If you dig our show, we\u2019d also love if you left us a rating or review wherever you listen. Subscription numbers and ratings really help us out \u2013 so thanks for chippin in!<\/span><\/p>\n Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The show is produced by Amanda Font, Christopher Beale and me, Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Cesar Saldana and Holly Kernan.<\/span><\/p>\n
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<\/span>Today on the show: What makes the privately-owned Blue House in The Castro such a magnet for people from France?\u00a0 <\/span>
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<\/i><\/b>Olivia Allen-Price: <\/b>\u00a0Listener Helen Walker, who\u2019s based in Berkeley, asked us if we could share the story of the Blue House.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n