226 years of Muni history at Market and Spear Streets, all carrying delighted passengers today. Left to right, 1950 trolley coach No. 776, 1912 streetcar No. 1, and 1948 streetcar No. 1006, all Muni vehicles restored to their original condition. They’ll be part of the fleet out next Sunday as well to celebrate Muni’s centennial. So will 1906 cable car No. 42, just out of frame to the right of this shot. That made it 341 years of San Francisco transit history at one corner today. Rick Laubscher photo. Click to enlarge
History Spotlight
Come Hear About Muni’s Early Years
West Portal, 1935. Image courtesy of the SFMTA Photo Archive. (c) 2012, SFMTA. sfmta.com/photo.
Actual “Last Day” of Muni’s First PCC Era
Click to enlarge.
The Day the Streetcars (Almost) Died
When PCC No. 1108 took the N-Judah beach loop on September 17, 1982, it was thought it would be the last PCC to ever do that. Thanks to lots of effort by advocates, that turned out not to be true. Bob Davis photo.
San Francisco 1940 With Lots of Streetcars
Another great travelogue posted to the web. San Francisco, 1940. Well worth watching all the way through. Streetcars, Bay Bridge trains, cable cars, oh my!
New Video Highlights First Muni PCC Era
Cover art from the DVD box for "Municipal Railway Vintage Scrapbook". Click to enlarge.
Photo of the [Past] Moment: Thanks, Mom!
Click to enlarge. Muni PCC No. 1040 on Market Street in 1955, about to turn onto First Street to reach the Transbay Terminal (which would have been shown as "BRIDGE" on the roll signs of the day). Following common practice of the time, the operator has already changed the destination reading to "OCEAN" on the L-Taraval line (revised on later roll signs to "46TH-ZOO"). That’s the Hunter-Dulin Building, home to the fictional detective firm of Spade & Archer, above the car in the background, at 111 Sutter. (It’s still there.) We left the photo uncropped, the better to see the cool storefronts on Market. No, "Navy Blues" is not the predecessor of Old Navy. Several military uniform stores used to be quartered in this section of Market. Photo by Joel Salomon’s mom.
Or, How About “Step Down to Open”?
Happy 120th Birthday, SF Streetcars
On April 17, 1892, the first electric streetcar service opened in San Francisco. The line started at Market and Steuart Streets, a block from the Ferry terminal and just a few feet from our San Francisco Railway Museum. The line of the San Francisco & San Mateo Railway ran out to Holy Cross Cemetery south of the county line, in what is Colma today. The line zigged and zagged through downtown, partly to avoid infringing on other companies’ street franchise rights, but generally followed Steuart, Harrison, 14th St. and Guerrero to reach San Jose Avenue.
This Just In: Muni Used To Be Faster!
F-Stockton streetcar, southbound on Stockton at Vallejo, 1916. Muni Archives photo, displayed in our San Francisco Railway Museum’s Muni Centennial exhibition.
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