- In Honor of Friedel Klussmann -



The 1947 Fight to Save the Cable Cars







This November 4, 2007, all San Franciscans should pause a moment to reflect on a ballot measure, #10, which appeared on the election slate in 1947 and proposed a charter amendment to preserve and protect two of the Citys remaining cable car lines in perpetuity. If not for this measure, San Francisco could well have lost part of its unique charm and individuality, and become just another municipality with cars, buses, and parking lots to express its heartbeat.



The Powell-Mason and Washington-Jackson lines had been taken over by the Municipal Railway only three years earlier, in 1944, when the Market Street Railway ceased operations. Mayor Roger Lapham, a shipping tycoon elected as mayor on a progressive ticket, wanted to scrap the remnants of the old Ferries & Cliff House line, which had begun cable operations in 1887. The war was over and the automobile was the way of the future, according to city planners. Shiny new diesel buses would replace the Victorian era cable cars as well as many streetcar lines in the modern city. In the rush to modernize, Lapham and his pro-bus allies overlooked the fact that San Francisco cherished its past, to a degree that other cities often found incredible. The City has had a brief history, compared to other places, but it has been a wild, lusty, and often raucous past that was the stuff of dreams and romance for generations of citizens and visitors alike. Diesel buses did not prompt romance in the minds of riders, and there were no thrills to be found in chugging over a hill, belching exhaust fumes as it went.



all San Franciscans should pause a moment to reflect on a ballot measure, #10, which appeared on the election slate in 1947 and proposed a charter amendment to preserve and protect two of the Citys remaining cable car lines in perpetuity. If not for this measure, San Francisco could well have lost part of its unique charm and individuality, and become just another municipality with cars, buses, and parking lots to express its heartbeat.The Powell-Mason and Washington-Jackson lines had been taken over by the Municipal Railway only three years earlier, in 1944, when the Market Street Railway ceased operations. Mayor Roger Lapham, a shipping tycoon elected as mayor on a progressive ticket, wanted to scrap the remnants of the old Ferries & Cliff House line, which had begun cable operations in 1887. The war was over and the automobile was the way of the future, according to city planners. Shiny new diesel buses would replace the Victorian era cable cars as well as many streetcar lines in the modern city. In the rush to modernize, Lapham and his pro-bus allies overlooked the fact that San Francisco cherished its past, to a degree that other cities often found incredible. The City has had a brief history, compared to other places, but it has been a wild, lusty, and often raucous past that was the stuff of dreams and romance for generations of citizens and visitors alike. Diesel buses did not prompt romance in the minds of riders, and there were no thrills to be found in chugging over a hill, belching exhaust fumes as it went.