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| Geary & Market... The B-Geary operated most of its life from the Bay (Ferry Building) to the Ocean (Playland at the Beach). In its later years, though, it ran to Transbay Terminal instead of the Ferry, like other Muni lines on Market Street. Here’s a noontime shot on the last day of service at Geary, Kearny, and Market, where the B and C lines left the main drag. The streetcars aren’t the only relic in the picture. The venerable yellow Wiley “birdcage” traffic signals, unique to San Francisco, would soon be replaced with standard red-yellow-green signals. Photo by Clark Frazier. |
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| Mason... The rumble of “Iron Monsters” could sometimes be heard “sotto voce” during quiet moments of performances along Geary’s theater row. Shirley Booth is playing the Curran as No. 83 rolls by. Photo by Clark Frazier. |
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| Laguna... A prime reason for the streetcar’s demise on Geary was the construction of a huge automobile expressway along Geary through the Western Addition, destroying hundreds of Victorian homes and displacing residents. The conductor signals to the automobile traffic on the old two-lane Geary Street at Laguna. St. Mary’s Cathedral and high-rise apartments dominate these blocks today. Photo by Clark Frazier. |
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| Presidio Hill... As a precursor to the Geary Expressway, the blocks between Divisadero Street and Presidio Avenue were widened in 1948. the streetcars were put into an efficient median, giving a taste of what might have been if the whole line had been upgraded. Photo by Clark Frazier. |
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| Second Avenue... The C-line ran with the B this far, then jogged north to California. Until 1949, it ran out California to 33rd, but after that section was converted to the 1-California trolley bus, the C became essentially a short-turn B-line, since its only operation off Geary was the two blocks on Second Avenue. That Nash dealer on the corner doesn’t have much more time left than the streetcar. Photo by Clark Frazier. |
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| Balboa... Beyond 33rd Avenue, United Railroads laid claim to Geary before Muni even existed and wouldn’t give it up. So, the B-line jogged south two blocks at that point to the narrower Balboa Street, then south another block on 45th Avenue to Cabrillo. When Muni finally tried to straighten out the 38-bus route in the 1970s, residents on outer Balboa howled. They were used to the jogs. Photo by Clark Frazier. |
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| Playland... The end of the B-line—Playland at the Beach--was an amusement Mecca for generations. But, by the time the streetcars left, Playland was shabby and on its way out. “Iron Monsters” were the rule on Geary right up ’til the end; Muni chose to concentrate its modern PCCs on the tunnel lines, though it occasionally assigned PCCs to Geary on weeekends in the 1950s. This visit by Muni’s last new PCC, No. 1040, is a fan trip, but it portrays what might have been had Muni invested more modern technology in the B-Geary. By the way, No. 1040 was just five years old when this was snapped, but looks tired already. Today’s F-line PCCs look much sharper, over seven years into their “second life.” Photo by Clark Frazier. |
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| End of the Line |
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| By Rick Laubscher, photos by Clark Frazier
The Last Days of the B & C
Of the dozens of San Francisco streetcar lines that disappeared in the quarter-century between soup kitchens (the 1930s) and Sputnik (1957), none has been more lamented than the last line to go. The final revenue streetcars on Muni’s B-Geary line operated on December 29, 1956—44 years and one day after the Municipal Railway was born on that very Geary Street corridor.
The route--now the 38-Geary bus—is still one of Muni’s busiest, and Muni Planning continues to propose restoration of streetcars to Geary, on the surface west of Laguna, in subway east of that point. Muni planners (or is it “dreamers”) even included “B-Geary” on the roll signs for the F-line PCCs, though it is certain that any new Geary rail line would use Breda-type LRVs. However, between high costs and higher Muni priorities (such as Third Street light rail and a central subway to Chinatown), it’s unlikely Geary would see rails again for at least the next ten to twenty years.
But we can still see rail on Geary in glorious color, thanks to a handful of photographers who documented the line in the 1950s, including Market Street Railway member Clark Frazier, who presented a great slide show at MSR’s annual meeting in November, 2001 on the last days of the B-Geary (and its short turn companion, the C-line). Here are highlights from Clark’s show.
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| This story originaly ran in Market Street Railway's quarterly newsletter, Inside Track. We hold web publication of such stories under a three-month embargo. To receive these stories in their printed form at their time of publication, join Market Street Railway today. |
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