THEREAREPLACES

INTHISWORLDWHERESEEINGISDECEIVING, WHERELOGIC’SLEFTHANGING,ANDSUREFOOTEDSENSESARENOTALWAYSON THELEVEL.

Thisdoes not merely refer to the sensation one feelswhen observingBayArea realestate prices. Rather, we’retalkingabout gravity hills.Sometimescalled mystery roads or magnetichills, suchspots existaround theglobe and righthereat home—eerie locales wherecarsseemtoroll upadownslopeonastretchof countrylane, or water appears to flow uphill, flying inthe face of gravity,causing doubletakes and areflexive “Whatthe …?”

These sitesoften are accompanied by urban legends—wildtheories of magneticvortices,alien navigationaldevices embedded underground or evenghoststories that frequentlyinvolvecrashed busloads of schoolchildren. Scientists, though, saythese socalled anomalies actually are just plain-old opticalillusions, with aconvergence oflandscapecues conspiringtofool the senses.

Whetherphantasm or phantom, thefeeling attheseplaces oftenis fantastic.So getready toexplore far-flung BayArea spots where gravity getssome seriouspushback. If Sir Isaac Newtonwere alive, this wouldprobably kill him.

LET’SSTARTWITH ACLASSIC.

If you’vebeenintheBayArea any stretchoftime, you’velikely felt thepull of thefamed and quirky Santa CruzMysterySpot,an enigmawrapped inariddle and packaged in a45-minutetour.

Asthestory goes, builders back in 1939 surveyedasmall patch ofwoodlandnorth of town, logged unusual readingsontheir instruments, thenfelt dizzy and off-balance. Naturally,theyturned it intoatourist attraction. They designed anoff-kiltercabin with tilted walls, angledfloors and ceilingsand dubbed ita“gravitational anomaly.”

Now,nearly eightdecadesand azillion bumper stickerslater,the topsy-turvycabin ismore popular than ever. Visitorsbook tickets weeks in advanceorwaitinline for hours —alltowatchabilliard ball roll upadown-slopedshelf and gawk slack-jawedascompanions seem to change heightwhen standing atdifferent points onthe property.

“I personallydon’tbelieveit’s just optical illusion,” saysRachel Miller, tourguide supervisor atthe Mystery Spot. “Thereare so many different aspectswherewehaven’t beenabletopinpointreasonsfor what’shappening.Like, when you’re in thecabin,not onlyare the walls atdifferent angles, but you canfeellike you’rebeing pulled by some kindofforce as well.”

Guidesposit various theories: metal cones buriedasguidance systems for alien spacecraft, carbondioxide seeping from theground,amagma vortex or “dielectric biocosmic radiation,” whateverthatmay be.

“Or it couldbe thatsomewhere aboveusis aholeinthe ozone layerthatbends light andcauses illusions, likeastrawin aglass of water,”Miller says.Maybeyoucan blame thebighairofthe ’80s for that, too.

Tobe sure, theSantaCruzsite involves showmanship and magnifiedmystery.But whatabout outlying aberrations and unexplained propulsion on therandom rural road?

Takethe so-called uphillstream in Golden Gate Park. It runs alongside afootpathon John F. Kennedy Drive nearLloyd Lake in San Francisco. If you headtoward theoceanonJFK,just beyond the ParkPresidio overpass,pause by atall pine tree,and lookto your right. You’ll seeagentle green streamtricklingalongsteadily, and tricking theeye.

Itreallydoes look likethe water is flowinguphill!It can’t be, you say,and you use the“level tool” apponyoursmartphone, placingit on the bankofthe stream, then on the nearby path. Reason, andyour phone,say thesesectionsof groundboth lean downhill—thepathmore sothan the stream, making the stream appeartogo up — but, well, wow.

EVENMOREASTONISHING arethespotsthat involve a gravitationalsensation for motorists, when you stop atwhat youthink is the bottom of a hill,put your car in neutral and—as if bymagic or spooky spectral boost—the car seems toroll back up.

There’ssaid to be suchasite on EmpireMine RoadinAntioch, famed for its traditional tale of schoolchildrenkilled when their bus skidded off the rain-slicked lane, theirspirits foreverremaining to help stranded driversget back on their way.Evenmoreof atragedy:Thatstretchof Empire Minehas beenclosed for some time (perhaps togivethe ghost kids arest?), so you can’ttry this one by car.But there’snothingto stopyoufrom an experimentwith aball or a skateboard.

Another gravityroad is said to be on Lake Herman Road, in a remotearea betweenVallejo and Benicia. Just off Columbus Parkway,it’s atthebottom of the first hillwhere the roadmergesinto single lanes. This site has been linkedtothe ghost ofavictim of the infamous Zodiac Killer.

Yetanother is on Patterson PassRoad in Livermore, either at milemarker1.57or 7.52, depending on the storyyou read.(Word is, marker 1.57has beenstolen, making it even trickier to find.) This, too, incorporatesaversion of theschool-bustale — the bus gotstuck,kidsgotouttopush, the bus rolledback …you getthe grislypicture.

Adefinitely doable gravity-hill experience is onLichau Road, in the rollingcountryside above Penngrove in Sonoma County. TakeRoberts Road to Lichau, winding around pastacouple of vineyards,acrossarumble of cattle guards and up through oaks and golden brush.Pass Cannon Road, thenreachacrestmarked by an iron arch reading“Gracias Santiago.”Proceeddownthe hill to whatseems to beadip between twoupwardslopes,put your car in neutral, take your foot offthe brake(watchfor oncoming cars, of course),andletanti-gravitydo thework. Itreallyfeelsfreaky. You’dswear you’recoasting back up thehill!

Water appears to flowuphillinastream along JohnF. Kennedy Drive at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Opposite: Asign greets visitors at theMystery Spot.

Susan Panttaja, now aperfectly logical geologyinstructor atSanta Rosa Junior College, usedto goto thespot back inher high school days.“My friendsandIwould all driveup to LichauRoadina Datsun 2000 Roadster.When we gotthere,we’dplayDanFogelberg tapes,”Panttaja toldBohemian. comafewyears ago,and recently recalledtheexperience forthis magazine.

Thescience-minded friends also performedvarious experiments — rolling balls and other round items—to test thesocalled gravitationalforces that seemedtomake theDatsunroll uphill. And rather thanciting a crashedschool busas thesource, Panttaja andherpalsknewit was “an accident of topography.”

“Thelines ofthe hills—and thefactthatyou havebeendrivinguphill—give youthe impression, oncethegradebecomes gentler, thatyouarenow on a

The “Portals of the Past” porticoadorns theshoreof LloydLake, which isfed by a stream at Golden Gate Park that appears to flowuphill.

Findingthegravityhills

downhillgrade,”shesays.

LEAVEITTOSCIENTISTS to drag us backdown to earth.

“These are alloptical illusions,” says PaulDoherty,senior scientist atSan Francisco’sExploratorium.

“Your eyesand brain use cluesfrom thelandscape to determine your perception of theslopeof a hill.But your eyes and braincan bemisled.”

Heexplains thatall of these places — from thestream in Golden Gate Park to theso-called gravitational effect onLichau Road — have no distant reference points.The truehorizonis shield- ed, whether bytrees ornearby hills. Inthecase of the Santa Cruz cabin,the sensations occur inside atiltedbuildingwith no visible true horizon.

Asto theoutdoor sites, researchers exploringthis phenomenon havemade scale models of gravity hills,Dohertysays.

“Themodel willhave a miniature road thathas threedifferent sections to it, all atdifferentslopes —asteep downhillslope, then aless downhillslope, and then another steep downhillslope.

“Topeople looking at it—even just atthe model — thecenter section appears uphill,when it is indeed downhill,becauseyou’re comparingit towhat’saround it.”

Infact, theExploratorium plays this trick on visitorsonadailybasis. IntheVision section, find the Ames Room, originally designed by ophthalmologistAdelbert Ames to demonstrate thisoptical phenomenon. The room is built withdistortedwallsandflooring so that marbles appear to roll uphill, and a person walking into it seemstogrowinto a giant at one end,then shrinks down to the size of a child atthe other.

Butit’sall a ruse on theretina.

“There are ahundred million sensors on your retina,” Doherty says. “So thefirst thingyourretina does isthrow away99 percent of that information, then sends the remaining 1 percent to your brain to make up the restof the story.Basically, whatyou seeis what you think you see.”

Thisvisual bluff oftenhappenstomountain climbers and skiers standing atthebottom of aslope—it alwayslooks steeper than it reallyis. To counteract this perceptualerror, onemethod is to bend over and look atthe slope through your legs, which changesyour normal reference pointsenoughsoyoucan begin to discern the reality.

“Wecallit mooning the slope,” Dohertyjokes.“Youcould tryat the MysterySpot. Then you could be partof theattraction.”

“Thelinesof the hills—and the fact that you have been driving uphill —give youthe impression, once the grade becomes gentler, that you arenow on a downhill grade,”explains Susan Panttaja, ageology instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College.

They’reiconic houses, so unique that they live rich, full and fascinating lives on their own —without much assistancefrom owners, gabby tour guidesor real estate agents. TheseBayArea locales quietly thrill visitorseveryday.

Manypilgrimscome tothese surprising housesto gawk and touch familiar memoriesand emotions from films and television.

Themostpopular “house”destination by tourists to SanFrancisco is the “Mrs. Doubtfire”house from the 1993 filmstaring thelate Robin Williams. Today,thestoop is the somber scene of numerous handwrittennotes to the comedian, who died in August 2014.The second most popular housein the city? The “FullHouse”house, despite theABCcomedyshow being off theairfortwo full decades.

Butwithoutany assists from pop/mediaculture, otherspecial structures attractunofficial visitors dailywith architecture that rangesfromstatelyto stark-raving mad. From the wilds of theSanta Cruz Mountains to Alameda Island and on to astaidresidential neighborhood in Berkeley,here are threehouseswith knockout physicalofferings thatentertain on theirown,evenwhen their mastersremainmum.

And, no, you won’tfind the overexposed Flintstone Houseof Hillsborough here. Recently put up for sale — the asking price is $4.2 million—italreadyhas enoughinternational lookie-loo exposure. Too badtheseller,a high-tech executive whoreportedly had a“yabba-dabba-do time” living therealonefor 20 years,refuses to share a single word about that unique experience.

Thetrio ofhouses here maynot be as well-known as theFred-andWilma onejustofftheEugene A. DoranBridge onInterstate280, but theyare justas fascinating on their own.

THESPITE HOUSE IN ALAMEDA shouts out fascinating tales of rage,revenge, self-destruction and humanspitefulness.

The Spite House in Alameda, above left, is 9 feetwide and 60 feet long. An extremely narrow space, shown atright, separatesthe house fromits neighbor. Previouspage: The Submarine House in the Santa Cruz Mountains is built outofasilo.

Or not.

Daily curiosity-seekersand schoolkidson an annual field triphead to Alameda to take in thesnarlingbackstory that fuels fascination withthemean-spirited Spite House.

Well…kinda.

Theprickly stories began witha big, beautiful, QueenAnnehouse built in 1880 nearthe cornerof today’sBroadwayand CristStreet. Backthen,it belongedtoAnnette Westerdahl, whosewanderlusting hubby had beengonefor solong, thepoor woman made endsmeet by renting out rooms.

So why do folks come byevery day,staring andstudying?

Because alongsidetheWesterdahlplace is another house with stunning details: It’sonly 9 feet wide and is sitting so (spitefully?) close tothe firsthouse,asugar cubecan’tsqueezebetweenthem.

Itis fromthatcreepycrevice that Spite House lore explodes into anumberof versions thatno one is sure are truth or just plain poppycock.

Thesmallerhouse, plain to see, is ultra-narrow but also is 60feet long and two stories tall—withthe upstairswidth expanding to12 feet.

So why,back in 1908, did thebuilder of thetinyhouse —Charles Froling,acarpenter —construct a lovely,well-built, Colonial Revivalresidence onsuch anarrow slipofland?Andhow could he dosuch a “spiteful” thing, as hishouse rudely wiped out all thesunlight on the north side of thebighouse, driving Westerdahl’s very upsettenants to moveout and leave her in financial peril?

Over the years, speculation has flown likeshrapnel. Froling was angry atthecity,goesone version, for physicallycarving Crist Street into existence, leaving only a ribbon of soil behind for himto buildupon.

Another story:When Froling was out of town, his conniving brother soldland they sharedto thecity.When he returned,only agash of dirt remained.And yet another talehad Froling ina feudwith Westerdahl so toxic he intended to plunge her intodark madness out of pure spite.

Alameda historian Woody Minor says no oneissurewhich of the many storiesare true, but even107 years ago,they marveled attheconstruction of such a beautiful, oddhouse.

“AnOctober 1908 San Francisco Chronicle storypraised the completion of the house,”Minor says. “But threeweekslater, the Alameda DailyArgus wrote a front-page storyabout thedistraught Mrs.Westerdahl committing suicide.”

TheArgusstory questionedif shehad beendeeply distraught about her long-separatedhusband and, perhaps, bythe new(Spite) house, which had darkened her home, including thedownstairs bedroom where Westerdahl’sbody was found.

Oddly, according toMinor,it wasn’tuntil the1960s that the legendary chatter about “spite” reallystarted.Plentyof rumors also spreadabout both houses being haunted and the scenes of several exorcisms to ridthem ofevil spirits.

Today,the mostinteresting fact might bethat the current owners of eachhouse getalong swimminglyandmostly dismissthe negativenattering.

“I don’tbelieve any of it,”scoffed Robin Coffee,aretired French professor who has lived in the bigger house for six years.She happily sleeps inwhatwouldbethe haunted, finalWesterdahl bedroom.

“Weheard allthatstuff when we moved in,” Coffeesays aboutthe legends. Evenwithonesidelightblocked,the bigger house today is still bathedin abeatific glow.Coffeehas noproblem withher house being oneofanumber of homes allegedly drenchedin spite.

“Look online, and you’llsee spite housesallover the place,” says Coffee, clackingthe computer in her office, litbythewindowon thefront of her house. Sherattled off spite housesin Alexandria,Virginia; Marblehead,Massachusetts; VirginiaCity,Nevada; Frederick, Maryland; andothers.

Lookingatthescreen, shesays, frowning, “There’smy house,” as shepointstotheGoogle picture of thematching greenstructures. “I still think it’smostly a lot of bad fairy tales.”

Nextdoor,in thehouse of infamy,Jennifer Jacobson also declares, “I don’tbelieve allthatstuff,”even after 18 years ofpassers-bycheckingoutthe place, and noting the Spite House stained-glass window installedin1970—over her front door,at2528 Crist St.

“Alot of people lovethis house,” Jacobson says, “and a lot areassholes about it.”

When peoplecome to gawk, Jacobson says, herfriendssometimes goout and entertain them withmoretales,made up onthe spot — thus addingto theencyclopedic lore.

“I have metdescendantsfrom theFroling family,”Jacobson says, “and theysayhe simply built the house he could afford($2,000). Theysayhe loved thishouse dearly.”

Forher part,Jacobson believes theunusuallytight placementdid lead to aclash withWesterdahl. However,Jacobson posits that Westerdahl’s long-termmarital problems andotherpsychological stresses had more to do with her suicidethan Froling’sfolly.

“My Spite Houseis bothpetite and grand,” Jacobson says proudly of the1,135-square-foot mini-palacewith an impressivecenter staircase that goes upto the second floor. “People are surprised it is notatoolshedor thesize ofa one-car garage. Infact, myhouse is aprettycoollittlehouse.”

THESUBMARINE HOUSE, perched alongtwisty,one-lane Mountain Charlie Roadinthe Santa CruzMountains, is another silentpuzzle: Whydidan inspired sculptor work so hard to construct avisual monstrosity of delight and then refusetotalk about it? Howdifficultit must have beenfor HarryNealIIIto buildanddevelop his subterranean house, overmanyyears, into agiant purple/bluesubmarinein asetting reminiscentofthe 1972 film“Deliverance.”

Tothis day,drivers, bikers, joggers andhikersguffawwhen they suddenly find themselves passing 25015 Mountain Charlie Road in Los Gatos, whereamassive submarineerupts into view, as if rising from an earthen sea through “waves” of soil. Itdelivers awallop of visual surprise.

Accordingto Atlas Obscura—the website that catalogs geographic exotica —in 1973 Neal conscripted afriend to helphim dismantle andtow from San Jose to themountainsasilo onceused for storing hops atFalstaffBrewing. This bit ofinfo came froma one-and-onlyinterviewNealdid withthe Los Gatos Weekly Times.

“Over theensuingyears, Neal turned the silo into his own uniquehomewith circular rooms and a second metal tube withbay windows thatprotrude from the master bedroom, making the silo evenmore ‘submarine-like,’”reads the website, by wayofthe Weekly Times. “Surrounding thehome are a koipond, a hot tub, anda studio forhis bronzesculpture.”

Today,the househasanew owner, but ahighfenceremains that keeps onlookers atadistance and gives off a foreboding “we don’twant youhere”vibe.And, if that’snot enough, a big,rude, white dogcomesto the fence and barks so harshlythat gettingthe hellout oftherebecomesthe only sensible move.

“Thatdogisone of the most aggressiveanimalsI’veever dealt withuphere,” saysaFedEx driver, preferring to remain anonymous,as one who specializes inrural, mountain deliveries.Although hesees the big blue sub (and thatscarydog) almost daily, whenhe has deliveries attheunique looking house,“Ijust leavethingsat the fence.”

THEFISH HOUSE INBERKELEY might bethecraziest, most visually stunning, iconic BayArea house of them all —andthere are plenty of folks who lovetodiscuss the joys of its undulating architecture.

Thethree youngmen who currentlyliveand work inside the Fish House, hatching what might become ahot, newmobile app, say thehome inspirescreativity.

“I thinkthe light, the aesthetics and eventhe swooping walls make this placeso interesting,” says MarkPaddon, CEOofGuidekick, an application thatbecomes an interactive,3-D directive tobe usedatlocations ranging from museums to state parks.

“This place ishighly conducive to havinggroupbrainstorms,” says Paddon, standing in thesoaring, whirlpool center ofthe silvery white house,which lookslike some giant, mythic sea creature. “Andit isserene and perfectfor programming, writing or designing. Itserves as acocoonthatinsulates us from theoutside noise.”

When architect EugeneTsui (pronounced: Sway) came out of UC Berkeleyin 1989, his firstmajor job was to designandbuildan indestructible,easy-to-live-inhouse for his parents. On a city lotat 2747 MathewsSt.,Tsuicame up with afireproof, flood-proof, quake-resistant, self-heating and -cooling,

Atrioofpeculiar houses

THE FISH HOUSE: 2747MathewsSt.,Berkeley; threebeds; threebaths; 1,948square feet;estimated value is$1,098,010

THESUBMARINEHOUSE: 25015 Mountain Charlie Road,LosGatos; two beds;two baths;1,562 squarefeet; estimated value is $847,204

THESPITEHOUSE: 2528 Crist St.,Alameda; two beds; 1 ½baths; 1,135 square feet; estimatedvalue is $671,470 cavelikedesign.Tsuicalled the house — basedon the appearance of the tardigrade, themostindestructiblemicro-animal innature —Ojodel Sol (the sun’seye).

Butassoon asoutraged neighbors saw theplans—abig, silvery,finnycreature with bulbous, domed-window eyes — they dubbed it the Fish House, a name that stuck.

“Wehadahorribletimethat first yearofputting out the plans,” Tsuisays ofwhatbecame alocal and national controversy over building rights. “There were publichearings till3in the morning filled with veryangryneighbors screaming about not wantingto seethisgiant fish.”

But, somehow,the city approved the wacky plans, andthe otherworldlybeast, withhardly aright angle anywhere,became home forTsui’sparents for nearly 20 years.And, tothisday,their son, with aheadquartersin Emeryville, continues tobolster his wildman reputation for inventive, eco-conscious architecture.

In2014, the Guidekickcrew moved in.Now, all day long, they say,passing cars screech toahalt upon seeingthe house thatlooks like something from thescariest depthsofthe nearby sea. Theysay Tsuiis soin lovewith what they’re creating,thearchitect is giving them a significant break onthe kindof backbreaking rents rampant inthe BayArea rightnow.

Meanwhile, the tenants sayit’s way-cool to be huggedby an interior where a coiling rampreplaces stairs, tentacles are fireescapes, bathrooms suggest phonebooths, shelves float, drawers have wobbly edges,and kitchen countersglide. Sunlight bathes an organic inner space that inspires both deep thoughts andcozycomfort.

“Today,people saytheyseek out this neighborhoodbecauseof theFish House,” Tsui says. “Now, they believethat ifaneighborhoodhas that kindofahouse, the people around here mustbe very interesting. Yes,we now drawa very differentcrowd.”

ANSWERFROMPAGE6

Braingamesanswers

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Dixon Sathertower Smothersbrothers Alameda

FINALANSWER: TITANIC

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Gnome:Page23

Grizzly bear:Page16

Bison: Page 19

Jelly beans: Page 46

Popsicle:Page65

Tombstone: Pages 16,60

AHA!STAFFADDITIONALSOURCES

Art director: TiffanyGrandstaff

Leadresearcher,writer: Tor Haugan

DirectorofPhotography: Jami Smith

Copy editors: Kristen Crowe, Jaime Welton

Story editors: Karen Casto,Mark Conley, Mike Frankel,SandraGonzales,SimarKhanna, Darryl Matsuda,JamesRobinson,LisaWrenn

Redwood:Page32

Martini: Page36

Fairy:Page 11

Football: Page 11

Lightbulb: Page 20

Cat:Page 16

ABOUTAHA!

ANSWERFROMPAGE64

The Eggo waffle,mountainbike,television,Irish coffeeand mouse wereall invented or introduced intheBayArea.Toilet paper, the snowboard,the Slinky and potatochips werebornelsewhere.

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