On July 1, 1995, a vintage PCC dressed in Boston’s MTA orange passes one of the Boeing-Vertol LRVs on Church Street. I’m probably in the minority, but I always liked the Boeing cars. This photo is a little ironic, because only Boston and San Francisco bought the Boeings.
Over the years, I’ve made hundreds of images of San Francisco Muni’s streetcars. There’s a great of variety of equipment from the famous cable-cars to historic and colorfully painted PCCs and other vintage equipment, plus modern European designed trams. The setting is stunning and the weather can be cosmic with wafts of Pacific fog coming over Twin Peaks.
Here’s a sample of a few favorite Muni images.
Cable cars ascend Nob Hill at sunset.Interior of an F-line PCC exposed in May 2008.Cosmic light: an F-line PCC at the foot of Market Street with dense fog flowing over Twin Peaks. Exposed on Fujichrome using a Canon EOS 3 with 200mm lens, September 2009.Muni tracks at 17th and Church Streets.Wild fires make for great sunrises! Cable car tracks at sunrise with the Trans America Pyramid. No filters, no photoshop. Canon EOS 3 with 100-400mm lens on Fujichrome slide film.California Street Cable Car at Market Street late on weekday evening. May 2008.Breda LRVs on Duboce Street, September 2, 2009.Muni N-line service on the Embarcedero, October 2003.
San Francisco is among the many cities featured in my new book Streetcars of America, co-authored with John Gruber. The book is now available through Amazon and other retailers. John and I wrote this compact 64-page soft-cover volume in 2013. It is priced at under $10.
This is among the modern images featured in the book. It pictures two eras of Italian cars on the streets of San Francisco. The majority of the images in Streetcars of America are vintage photos from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Thanks Tom! I hope you enjoy the book! Brian Solomon
Tom Sharratt on said:
GREAT shots – wonderful use of lighting! And then there is the equipment . . . There are so many reasons to love San Francisco, but for me the streetcars/cable cars are right up there at the top. I am anxiously awaiting the delivery next week of Brian’s new book on streetcars.
Thanks Tom! I hope you enjoy the book! Brian Solomon
GREAT shots – wonderful use of lighting! And then there is the equipment . . . There are so many reasons to love San Francisco, but for me the streetcars/cable cars are right up there at the top. I am anxiously awaiting the delivery next week of Brian’s new book on streetcars.