Blocker: 500 Head

The old-timer sitting under one of the many weeping bottlebrush trees that line the sidewalk has probably lived here for decades. We’d ask him exactly how long, but he appears to have dozed off, and we’d rather not disturb him at this point. Up the hill, at the corner of Head and Shields, we observe what must be the world’s greenest home. Not green in the eco-friendly sense, but rather, green in the greenest sense. None more green, in fact - particularly against the strikingly azure sky on this early summer afternoon.

Alemany Blvd. and Highway 280, as well as the M-Oceanview streetcars that rattle on by down below on Randolph, provide a humming backdrop to distant views of Mount Tamalpais to the north and Montara Mountain to the south. Walking back down the sharply graded hill, it sounds like dishwashing time in the kitchen of one of the better-kept homes on the block that isn’t for sale. (We spot no less than three for-sale signs on Head between Sargent and Shields.) Then all of a sudden, a teen girl in shocking pink sneakers swooshes by on her bike, gliding downslope with all the skill of a seasoned veteran. Very nicely done.

And should the Big Bad Wolf ever pay a huffing/puffing visit to this block, it’s likely he’ll come up woefully short: A handful of homes here employ tried-and-true wolf-proof stone inlay work. It may not look like much in 21st century urban America, but who knows? Perhaps the three little pigs live in one of these places and drive a real nice car.