San Francisco's first cable car line opened in 1873. The successful development of the electric streetcar by Frank Sprague in 1888 plus the 1906 San Francisco earthquake resulted in the decline of the cable car system. Concerned that the cable car system would vanish, San Francisco resident Friedel Klussmann rallied public support to save the cars. The 1982 shutdown of the cable car lines for their rebuilding led to Trolley Festivals beginning in 1983 until 1987 using a variety of historic streetcars on Market Street. Those successful festivals resulted in rebuilding the streetcar track on Market Street and the establishment of the F streetcar line in 1995 using Presidents' Conference Committee streetcars purchased from Philadelphia and refurbished in a variety of paint schemes that represented cities that once had streetcar service. In addition, the line features vintage Peter Witt streetcars from Milan, Italy; a boat like streetcar from England; and other unique cars. During 2000, the F line was extended to Fisherman's wharf and has become one of the most successful streetcar lines in the United States. This book is a photographic essay of "San Francisco's Magnificent Streetcars" along with its historic cable cars and hill climbing trolley coaches.

The reader is taken on a joyously meandering ride over a thirty year span, telling how San Francisco's F-line came about, through the efforts of a multitude of San Franciscans including visionaries, planners and engineers, politicians and community activists, transit operators and everyday transit riders. The idea of vintage streetcar operations was born in the 1970s, and then becomes tangible with the "Trolley Festivals" in the 1980s. It took another 20 years for the "F-Line" to become a permanent part of San Francisco's transit scene, and that saga is told as well.

San Francisco's F-Line is the fun way to ride transit in one of America's greatest cities. Using multi-colored streetcars, built in the 1940s, 1920s and even earlier, it is a transforming experience that carries the rider back to a more genteel and carefree time, while providing an efficient and pleasant way to get from here to there in a modern era. Its creation has shown the world that public transportation can be exciting, fun, and a source of civic pride. The author, an active participant in the success of the F-Line, has written the book in an upbeat and breezy style, sprinkling anecdotes drawn from his own experiences and those of fellow workers and participants throughout the book. In this way, the book will appeal not only to those who are in, or follow, the transit industry, but also to the average reader, rider, and San Francisco Bay Area resident. Anyone who rides the F-Line will get a much fuller appreciation of this great city. This book has 290 pages with over 500 color and black-and-white photographs.

Washington's first streetcars trundled down Pennsylvania Avenue during the Civil War. By the end of the century, streetcar lines crisscrossed the city, expanding it into the suburbs and defining where Washingtonians lived, worked and played. One of the most beloved routes was the scenic Cabin John line to the amusement park in Glen Echo, Maryland. From the quaint early days of small horse-drawn cars to the modern "streamliners" of the twentieth century, the stories are all here. Join author John DeFerrari on a joyride through the fascinating history of streetcars in the nation's capital.

Through a reexamination of the earliest struggles against Jim Crow, Blair Kelley exposes the fullness of African American efforts to resist the passage of segregation laws dividing trains and streetcars by race in the early Jim Crow era. Right to Ride chronicles the litigation and local organizing against segregated rails that led to the Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896 and the streetcar boycott movement waged in twenty-five southern cities from 1900 to 1907. Kelley tells the stories of the brave but little-known men and women who faced down the violence of lynching and urban race riots to contest segregation. Focusing on three key cities--New Orleans, Richmond, and Savannah--Kelley explores the community organizations that bound protestors together and the divisions of class, gender, and ambition that sometimes drove them apart. The book forces a reassessment of the timelines of the black freedom struggle, revealing that a period once dismissed as the age of accommodation should in fact be characterized as part of a history of protest and resistance.

From the 1906 earthquake to famous sights like the cable cars, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge, Historic Photos of San Francisco is a photographic history collected from the area's top archives. With around 200 photographs, many of which have never been published, this beautiful coffee table book highlights the historical growth from the mid 1800s to the late 1900s of ""the City by the Bay"" in stunning black and white photography. The book captures scenes of the people, places, and events important to the history of this unique city, accompanied by insightful captions and historical analysis. Spanning two centuries and two hundred photographs, this book is a must-have for any long-time resident or history lover of San Francisco!