San Francisco Historic Cable Car - San Francisco Full City Guide - Travel & Discover

Take a walk down the world's most crooked street. Located between Hyde Street and Leavenworth Street, Lombard Street, one of the steepest streets in the world, is famous for its fabled curves. The street, zigzagging around beautiful flowers and shrubs, offers a splendid view of the bay. The San Francisco Cable Car System is the world's last permanently functioning manually operated cable car system and has become a symbol of this west coast city. The cable car system forms part of the Intermodal Urban Transport Network, operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway, or MUNI, as it is better known. Cable cars operate on two routes from downtown, near Union Square, to Fisherman's Wharf, and a third route along California Street. Andrew Hallady is considered the father of the cable car, although he was not the only inventor to dabble in the use of cable as a means of transportation. Hallady and his father both held several patents for the manufacturing use of cable, or wire rope as it was once called. Out on the street along their routes, the cable cars travel on steel tracks set above a channel, enclosing the cable. At the top of the channel is a slot through which the cable car's grip grabs the cable moving below. Located in the historic Washington Mason Cable Car Barn and Powerhouse, the museum deck overlooks the huge engines and winding wheels that pull the cables. Downstairs is a viewing area of the large sheaves and cable line entering the building through the channel under the street. On display are various mechanical devices such as grips, track, cable, brake mechanisms, tools, detailed models, and a large collection of historic photographs. The museum houses three antique cable cars from the 1870s and offers a variety of cable car memorabilia, books, clothing, cards, and even genuine cable car bells. Besides creating a vital link in San Francisco's public transportation system, the cable car opened the door for building on steep hills, which before then was thought to be impossible. Throughout the 1890s, eight transit companies operated 600 cars, which covered 21 cable car routes with a total of 85 kilometers. Cable cars remained the primary mode of transportation until the 1906 earthquake. Music by Ben Thede