A Great Vintage Day! Don’t Miss Next Sunday!

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

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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.

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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.

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