Random Thoughts: Sunday and San Francisco

David and Marty spent Sunday in San Francisco, while Dee and Paul stayed in Oakland to stay with family. Rather than drive in to the city, we took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from the Fruitvale station in Oakland to the Embarcadero station beside the Ferry Building in the city.

Ferries in the Bay area still depart from this terminal, but it also houses stalls and shops, reminding us of the Quincy Market buildings in Boston. Outside, along the Embarcadero, more vendors display crafts, street musicians entertain, and people just enjoy themselves on such a beautiful day. The street was loaded with families on bycicles!

The city operates many modes of public transportation, including these art deco-style electric streetcars that operate along the waterfront from the Ferry Building to the Fisherman's Wharf area. Each of the cars is different, apparently acquired from different cities. This one was from New York, we think.

Behind the Embarcadero rises a rapidly-growing financial district, complete with high-rise apartment buildings.

One of our goals in this excursion was to ride on a cable car and check out the cable car museum. So, after a quick trip into Chinatown to find crystalized ginger for Marty, we walked over to California Street and jumped on a cable car and rode to the top of Nob Hill.

We had to search a bit to find the museum; up streets, down and around, but finally there it was on Mason Street. The building predates the 1906 earthquake, but survives, minus the top of the smokestack that used to serve the steam engine.

Inside are the drive wheels for the four remaining cable car lines in the city. After WW2, "progressives" tried to shut down all of the cable cars, and almost succeeded before a citizen group stopped them. Today the lines are mainly self-sufficient, ridden predominantly by tourists.