The story of La Maison Bleue in San Francisco.
In the early 70’s, the young French singer Maxime le Forestier, 21, crossed over the Atlantic to spend a month in a house of San Francisco, experiencing the life of a hippie community in a blue-painted house set aside a San Francisco hill where everyone was welcome, where his American friends, Tom, Phil and Psylvia lived.
Back to France, Maxime received numerous letters from many people in San Francisco expressing friendship, support, sympathy, solidarity, good wishes and love. Speaking little English, Maxime was not able to write back, so he decided to write the song "San Francisco", the story of La Maison Bleue (The Blue House) for his American friends.
This song tells « There is a sky blue house/Built right up against the hill/ They all come on foot/they don’t knock on door/ Those who’re living here/got rid of the key/When San Francisco gets foggy/When San Francisco lights up/San Francisco where are you? ».
The song was an immediate success and launched the career of the French singer, over one million copies were sold.
But then the house had been painted green. In 2011 a French intern at the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an article about it. Word spread, and soon there was a clamor to have the house repainted in blue.
Shortly after, a French paint manufacturer offered to paint it for free. The owners, Amy Silverstein and Angela Padilla, agreed.
The French in San Francisco now have their Blue House back.
I had totally forgotten about this song and the Blue House, but recently when I arrived in San Francisco, I decided to check out this house - or was it strictly a figment of the French imagination ? I had heard that many French tourists had searched for this blue house, but no one had found it. Some thought it was in the Haight. Others thought that maybe it was in Berkeley.
Thanks to my friends in San Francisco, I walked down the block and found the number. La maison bleue de Maxime Le Forestier is located 3841 18th street, San Francisco where a plaque was hung by the French Consulate in San Francisco.