May 15, 1932 was perhaps the peak of San Francisco’s streetcar era. True, a few unimportant lines had been abandoned in the previous few years, but on this day, San Francisco celebrated a brand-new streetcar line: Market Street Railway’s 31-Balboa. It would be the last new line with substantial new trackage until the F-line opened along the Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf 68 years later.
…that the F-Market streetcar line became the F-Market & Wharves streetcar line, with the opening of the extension from First and Market Streets to Jones and Beach, connecting Downtown to the Ferry Building, The Embarcadero, and Fisherman’s Wharf. On March 4, 2000, the extension created what we call the “Steel Triangle” of rail: the two Powell cable lines and the F-line.
San Francisco didn’t always have a reputation for openness and inclusion. The city’s past has been marred by discrimination in many forms. For example, before World War II, all but a small number of city employees were white.
What? Some of us are still hung over from New Year’s Eve, and you’re already thinking of 2026?
Yep.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of our popular “Museums in Motion” wall calendar. To celebrate, we’ve included a page showing thumbnails of all 20 calendars. It’s quite a tour of Muni’s historic rail fleet in and of itself. Shout out to our dedicated and most talented designer, David Dugan! (We like that collage of 20 calendar covers so much that we made a 300-piece puzzle out of it.
In support of Fleet Week, SFMTA/Muni has dispatched two “vessels” to cruise The Embarcadero, shuttling happy passengers between Pier 39 and the Ferry Building. They’re supplementing regular F-line service between the heart of Fisherman’s Wharf (Jones and Jefferson) and Castro, via The Embarcadero and Market Street.
FINAL UPDATE: The popular Muni Heritage Weekend is coming up on Saturday and Sunday, September 21-22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The traction (and bus) action will again center around our San Francisco Railway Museum, across from the Ferry Building on Steuart Street.
The “Hyde Ride”- which we’ve started describing as “the perfect cable car cocktail” – will feature the two most historic cable cars in coming days. On Friday, July 5, Sacramento-Clay Cable Car “Big 19” will do the honors. It’s 8 feet longer than the single-end Powell cars that serve Hyde every day, and older than any of them as well. originally built to run on Market and Haight streets in 1883.
