Tram Tuesday - San Francisco at Night

Looking at this postcard, you might think this is a cable car rather than a streetcar, but it's hard to tell since any overhead wires are invisible. It's even hard to read the printing at the top: Market Street and Palace Hotel at Night. San Francisco, California. 

There were cable cars on Market Street until the 1906 earthquake and fire; after that, there were streetcars. This card was sent in 1912, and the picture shows the new Palace Hotel, built in 1909. The original 1887 Palace Hotel was destroyed by a fire following the earthquake. That means these would be the new trolley cars not cable cars.

This reminds me of that wonderful film footage of a trip down Market Street on a cable car, just days before the earthquake. In case you haven't seen it, it's a great ride.




And here are some pictures of the original Palace Hotel and the new Palace Hotel.

Here's the back of the first card, sent to Jack Keegan in Portland, Oregon.:


Frisco 11/3 -12

Dear Jack

Regards to you and yours from me and mine. Best remembrances to "Chubby" and rest of bunch. always be sure your eggs are hard boiled. Tell C. Johnson that the D. & R. G. have grand offices in Frisco. The cubs (?) at Garibaldi Hall were asking for you

TIP

(Note: I think the D. & R. G. refers to the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad)

Streetcar Sunday - Chicago, Illinois

As in many other cities around the world, Chicago started out with horse-drawn streetcars in 1859.  Many cities transitioned from the horse-drawn vehicles to electric-powered ones starting in the 1880s, but Chicago invested heavily in a cable car system instead, eventually creating the largest cable car system in the world. While cable cars have a distinct advantage in hilly cities like San Francisco, they are generally inefficient and expensive relative to electric streetcars operating with overhead wires.  Chicago didn't have the hills to warrant a cable car system, so operators began making the transition from cable to electric by the 1890s.

The streetcars thrived throughout the 1920s, but already began their decline in the '30s falling to competition from cars and buses.  In 1957, the last streetcar routes were replaced with bus routes. This postcard is likely from the early 1920s and includes a pitch for the Gray Line bus sightseeing tours: P.S. Saw this view while riding the Gray Line sightseeing car -The Best Everywhere.
Here's an earlier post that shows a double-deck sightseeing bus (though not a Gray Line) in Chicago.