Visitors to San Francisco today frequently comment on the multi-colored fleet of streetcars on Market Street. But it’s not the first time that’s happened.
History Features
Completing a century: Muni 1983-2012
Final installment of our six part series on Muni’s birth and first century.
Modernizing Muni: 1963-1982
Fifth of six installments in our history of Muni’s birth and first century
Rails to rubber: Muni 1946-1962
Fourth of six installments in our history of Muni’s birth and first century
Muni at war: crushloads & consolidation 1941-1945
Third of six installments in our history of Muni’s birth and first century
The people’s road: Muni 1912-1941
Second of six installments in our history of Muni’s birth and first century
How Muni was born: 1900-1912
First of six installments in our history of Muni’s birth and first century
Forty frustrating years underground
The idea of a transit subway under Market Street goes back to the first years of the 20th century, but it took more than 70 fitful years to become reality. That’s a complex and fascinating story we tell in this companion post, which explains the compromises that harmed Muni’s subway operation from the get-go.
Market Street subway dreams
Hard for some of us San Franciscans of a certain age to think of the Muni subway under Market Street as a part of history. Because that means that we ourselves…well, you know.
Maya Angelou, streetcar conductor: the full story
The revered poet and novelist Maya Angelou (1928-2014) has attracted growing attention for a job she briefly held as a teenager: streetcar conductor in San Francisco during World War II. Much of what gets tossed about in social media is untrue or only partly true. Here, we turn to her own words from her books and interviews to provide the fullest story possible and correct common misperceptions.
Archive: All Posts