Did you see the story that was just on 60 Minutes about the now-famous “Trip Down Market Street” film? Although the film is more than a century old, a version of it with just an instrumental sound track suddenly starting spreading like wildfire
Just in time for, well, next year, Market Street Railway is proud to unveil the 2011 edition of our Museums In Motion calendar. Printed in a large, 16 x 11 inch format, the 2011 Museums In Motion Calendar features thirteen
As Mark Twain once said “San Franciscans prefer to TiVo their summers.”Actually, that’s completely untrue. Twain never said that. In fact, the thought never even crossed his mind. Then again, he didn’t say that bit about “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco,” either. Nevertheless, both misattributions describe a set of circumstances are quite genuine: Autumn in San Francisco really does function as the city’s summer, as the cold fog of summer melts away amid gallons of warm fall sunshine. That also makes it a great time of year for streetcar photography. Here are a few recent contributions to the Market Street Railway’s Flickr group:Images, from top: Telstar Logistics, hoteldennis, hoteldennis, hoteldennis, and Peter Ehrich
As part of an effort to bring a streetcar line to Downtown Los Angeles, two LA filmmakers produced this tidy little video. It extols the economic and social benefits of streetcar service, and provides nifty computer-generated visualizations of what modern streetcars might look like operating in downtown LA. As an added bonus, the introduction to the video includes some nice historic footage of LA’s streetcar fleet before it was abandoned in 1963:Here’s the complete video:
Following a two-year absence to repair accident damage, Milan tram No. 1807 is back on the F-line today, resplendent in its fresh paint scheme. It is the second of Muni’s ten vintage 1928 Milan trams to be repainted in the yellow and white livery the original trams of this class wore in that Italian city. (No. 1811 was the first, several years ago)The yellow and white livery lasted only a few years in Milan, replaced by a two tone green modeled on Muni’s No. 1818 (recently applied to No. 1888 as well, also under repair). The remaining six F-line Milan trams wear an all-over orange introduced in their home city in the 1970s and still used there. Over an extended period, the plan is to balance out Muni’s Milan fleet among the three liveries, as the trams come up for complete repainting.
For a quarter-century, Market Street Railway has shared the space at Duboce Avenue and Buchanan and Market Streets with Muni, using it to restore streetcars for the F-line. Looming above all the while, the formidable U.S. Mint. In fact, its original entrance, at 350 Duboce Avenue, sits inside our facility, though it was sealed off before the street was closed and turned into a Muni right-of-way in the 1970s.We’ve seen the outside a thousand times, but never the inside — until now, thanks to this great essay by Andrew Dudley at Haighteration. Check it out.
Market Street Railway and San Francisco City Guides are collaborating on a memorable and unique tour along Muni’s historic F-line on Sunday, October 31st. Take part in a festive and informative trip through history!
The Monday Chronicle lays out an impressive potential future for Pier 70 on the Central Waterfront. What the article describes (accurately) as “the most intact 19th century industrial complex west of the Mississippi River” is being pitched by the city as a new and very attractive home for high-tech businesses. Mayor Newsom calls the 69-acre bayside site “an extraordinary asset that is vastly underappreciated.”We think so too. That’s why we have consistently advocated Pier 70 as the ultimate terminal for the future E-Embarcadero line (with Muni agreeing to at least keep the option open by including it on vintage streetcar roll signs).
