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February 18, 2010

Urban Outings: The Cable Car Museum, S.F.

Too rainy to explore the city outdoors? Visit San Francisco's free Cable Car Museum at Washington and Mason streets. The best thing about this museum is that it's not only a museum, it's also the actual powerhouse that powers the cables holding the cable cars securely onto San Francisco's steep hills.

Cable cars were introduced to San Francisco in 1873 by Andrew Hallidie after he witnessed a streetcar slide backward when horses pulling it up a steep hill stumbled and fell. Five horses died in this accident.

Cable cars flourished, and in their glory days, the city sported 600 cars and more than 100 miles of track. Unfortunately, the 1906 earthquake incinerated many cars, and in the following years, the system declined, giving way to cheaper buses and streetcars. In the early '80s, the remaining cable car system (the Powell-Mason, Powell-Hyde and California lines and 12 miles of track) was renovated into today's popular attraction.

San Francisco has the world's only cable car system. The cars still work the way they originally did -- with no motor or power of their own. To move forward, the gripman squeezes the grip which grasps the moving cable under the slot in the street. To brake, the gripman releases the cable and the brakeman brakes. The two communicate by ringing bells.

What you'll find
Enter the noisy red brick powerhouse and walk down the steps to the Sheave Room. Here, through a glass wall, peer underneath the street at the actual innards of the system -- the pulleys that spin the giant cable loops under San Francisco's streets. There are four loops of cable: one for the California line, one each for the separate sections of the Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde lines and one for their joint section.

Walk back upstairs, and from the viewing deck look down at the winding machinery -- the gears, wheels and motors that power the system, regulate cable movement and keep the cables taut.

Wander around the museum, looking at historic photos and examining the grips, braking mechanisms, track and cables, as well as memorabilia such as uniforms, old tokens and transfers. You can see antique cable cars from the 1870s including the famous Clay Street car No. 8, the only survivor of Hallidie's original fleet, which once ran on Clay from the top of Nob Hill to Portsmouth Square. Sit on an old cable car seat to watch a video or check out the museum store, where you can buy books, cards or souvenirs. You can even buy cable car bells.

After the museum
Walk east on Washington Street to see some of San Francisco's fascinating Chinatown. You will pass mysterious Ross Alley (between Stockton Street and Grant Avenue) where you can see fortunes being made at Golden Gate Fortune Cookies (56 Ross Alley), or explore Waverly Place (also between Stockton and Grant) where fire escapes have been transformed into brightly painted red, green, and yellow balconies.

If it starts raining, duck into one of the myriad Chinese restaurants along Stockton, Grant and Kearny. A favorite is the R&G Lounge (631 Kearny St., www.rnglounge.com).

Getting there
Don't drive -- take a cable car. At the cable car turntable at Market and Powell streets, pick up the Powell-Hyde cable car and get off at Powell and Washington streets. Walk west on Washington one block to Mason Street.

If you don't want to spend $5 for a brief cable car ride, catch the Muni No. 1 California outbound at Sacramento and Davis streets (two blocks north of Embarcadero Station) and get off at Sacramento and Sproule Lane. Walk east a short distance to Mason and then turn left (north) two blocks to Washington.

If you want lots of aerobic exercise and don't want to spend any money at all, from Market Street, walk uphill (north) on Kearny to Washington, turn left (west) and continue to Mason.

The Cable Car Museum is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. in the winter, until 6 p.m. in the summer, every day except select holidays. Check Web site for more information. 1201 Mason St., S.F. (415) 474-1887.

Urban Outings are presented by Greenbelt Alliance, the Bay Area's advocate for protecting open spaces and creating vibrant places. To suggest an Urban Outing, contact Gail Todd, tour leader for S.F. City Guides and author of "Lunchtime Walks in Downtown San Francisco." To find out more about Greenbelt Alliance's work, visit growsmartbay area.org.

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