“Take Me Out” Exhibit at San Francisco Railway Museum
Recalls Glory Days of City’s Streetcars
www.streetcar.org
6 March 2009 – San Francisco, CA: To every American today, 'car' means automobile. Once, though, 'car' meant streetcar to most urban Americans. Market Street Railway, in collaboration with Muni and the San Francisco Public Library, celebrates those days when the streetcar was just the ticket to experience art, athletics, and the outdoors -- a ride to freedom and fun for a nickel—I n a new exhibit at the San Francisco Railway Museum (www.streetcar.org). entitled Take Me Out. Directly served by the historic F-Line trolley which stops at its front door, the San Francisco Railway Museum is located 77 Steuart Street, at the north side of the Hotel Vitale, along the Embarcadero.
“For almost a century in San Francisco, the 'family car' ran on rails,” said Rick Laubscher, Board Chair for the nonprofit Market Street Railway which finds, restores, and returns-to-service the historic streetcars used as part of MUNI’s F-Line. “This exhibit calls to mind the days when streetcars were not just for commuting or shopping but for any trip that stretched farther than a few blocks from home. Riding the rails around town wasn't just a way to get there; it was an enjoyable escape.”
The Take Me Out exhibit features artifacts and vintage photos from bygone San Francisco destinations served by streetcar, such as Seals Stadium, Sutro Baths, Playland, Fleishhacker Pool, the Fox Theater, and more. An accompanying video captures the memories of San Franciscans who used the streetcars like young people today use skateboards and bicycles, to gain freedom of movement all over town. Vintage motion picture film of San Francisco at the height of its streetcar era illustrates those memories.
Additionally, visitors can experience a newly completed exact replica of an operating platform from a 1911 San Francisco streetcar, including the actual controls used by motormen and conductors of the day.
The exhibit will run through the end of 2009 at the San Francisco Railway Museum, 77 Steuart Street across from the Ferry Building. Muni’s F-line vintage streetcar line stops right in front of the museum. The Museum is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 10am to 6pm. Admission is free.
The San Francisco Railway Museum is a project of Market Street Railway, non-profit preservation partner of the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni). Market Street Railway, a 1200-member volunteer-based organization, receives no public money, using membership revenue, donations and sales proceeds from its museum to preserve San Francisco’s transit history. Market Street Railway and its volunteers have acquired or helped restore more than a dozen vintage streetcars and cable cars to add to Muni’s unique historic rail fleet, as well as mounting education and information programs to show today’s San Franciscans how transit made their city one of the most livable in the world. More information on Market Street Railway is available at www.streetcar.org.
