Today, cable cars operate on three lines, the Powell-Mason, Powell-Hyde and the California line shown here. A mecca for tourists, the cable cars also provide transportation for local residents.
With their distinct bells, vintage wooden interiors and incredible views of the city, San Francisco cable cars are a top-of-the-list experience for visitors to the Bay Area. Many local residents, however, view the cable car as a lure for tourists rather than as the first form of public transportation which revolutionized the industry world-wide.
Now, as we celebrate 150 years of cable cars in the Bay Area, Orinda residents have the perfect opportunity to learn more about this iconic form of transportation with Strephon Taylor’s comprehensive documentary titled San Francisco Cable Cars showing Dec. 9 at the Orinda Theatre.
“The cable cars and the Golden Gate Bridge are the diamonds of San Francisco,” said Taylor. “At its height, there were approximately 20-30 lines going at once. Now, we’re down to three – the California, Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde lines.”
Introduced Aug. 2, 1873, by Scottish-born inventor and engineer Andrew Smith Hallidie, the cable car became a practical means of dealing with San Francisco’s steep hills. Hallidie put his knowledge of Gold Rush ore mining’s use of steel rope into practice and built the first steam-driven public transportation system.
“The technology is massively simple and massively efficient. It’s really good, green energy,” explained Taylor. “There is just the gripman and brakeman running the cars. They need to be strong. It’s hard work, but they love it. In fact, the early cable car guys were like rock stars. With all the single women riding the cars, they were never lacking for dates.”
Taylor had just finished a film on San Francisco’s old Playland at the Beach and was researching the waterways and lighthouses of the Bay Area for another documentary when he switched gears and began work on his cable car documentary.
“All these interesting facts about cable cars and how they helped shape San Francisco kept coming up and when I went to find a documentary on them, I realized there wasn’t one,” Taylor said.
Taylor decided to rectify the omission and put together his own film which shows – among other interesting historical information – how the cable cars survived the 1906 earthquake and San Francisco politics to remain not only a tourist attraction, but also convenient transportation for locals.
The film also tells the story of Friedel Klussmann, who saved the cars from extinction when local politicians wanted to replace them with diesel-powered buses. When Klussmann died in 1986, the cable cars were decorated in black in her memory, and the city dedicated the turntable at the outer terminal of the Powell-Hyde line to her.
“When we were showing the film at the Balboa Theater in San Francisco, a man came up to me afterwards and said how he wished he could go back in time and ride a cable car. I couldn’t believe he didn’t realize they were still running, including one line just a few blocks from where we were standing,” said Taylor.
The 93-minute film shows Saturday, Dec. 9, at noon at the Orinda Theatre, 4 Orinda Theatre Square. A display on the history of the cable cars will be in the lobby with Taylor giving a short talk at the conclusion of the film.
For more information and tickets, visit https://www.orindamovies.com/. Following the film, why not go into San Francisco and hop on a cable car? Like BART and MUNI, they even take the Clipper card.
Cable cars began their historic journey Aug. 2, 1873, when engineer Andrew Smith Hallidie tested his invention on Clay Street in San Francisco.
