Climb ‘halfway to the stars’ and back in 25 minutes. Clamber up and down the steepest cable car hill in the world. Pass Crooked Lombard twice, swing through Chinatown, and roll smoothly through Russian Hill. Start and finish outside the Buena Vista Cafe, a block from Ghirardelli Square and interesting shops and restaurants in Fisherman’s Wharf on Jefferson Street. Meet people from all around the world while you’re doing it.
May 15, 1932 was perhaps the peak of San Francisco’s streetcar era. True, a few unimportant lines had been abandoned in the previous few years, but on this day, San Francisco celebrated a brand-new streetcar line: Market Street Railway’s 31-Balboa. It would be the last new line with substantial new trackage until the F-line opened along the Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf 68 years later.
Your year-end tax-deductible donation will be DOUBLED thanks to a matching challenge from our board members. Please read on!
All cars built at Elkton Shops proudly wore this decal, preserved here on sole survivor No. 798: "This Car a San Francisco Product, Built in Our Own Shops. Market St. Ry. Co."
