{"id":10,"date":"2009-08-29T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-29T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/viewfinders.com\/scenecards\/?p=10"},"modified":"2019-11-14T08:25:54","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T16:25:54","slug":"cable-car-routes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/viewfinders.com\/scenecards\/2009\/08\/29\/cable-car-routes\/","title":{"rendered":"Cable Car Routes Compared"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Video Postcard: Cable Cars in San Francisco\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/68MRJJRxPEc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Other than the Golden Gate Bridge, it&#8217;s hard to think of anything that says \u201cSan Francisco\u201d better than the sight and sound of a cable car clawing its way up a ridiculously steep hill, \u201chalfway to the stars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For tourists and locals alike, the urge to hop aboard, grab a pole and ride to the end of the line is irresistible \u2014 but that brings up the question: \u201cWhich line?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before the Great Quake of 1906, cable car tracks ran all over the city. Now, only three routes \u2014 all of them downtown \u2014 remain active.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most utilitarian of the three is the California line. It features a challenging climb and descent but it\u2019s just a straight run along California Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ll have more fun on either of the two Powell Street routes with the more spectacular being the Powell-Hyde Street line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Starting at Market Street, both routes feature a climb past the hotels and shops of Union Square, up and over Nob Hill, and a nice squeal-inducing turn onto Jackson Street at the edge of Chinatown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the next intersection (Mason St.) the Powell\/Mason line makes a hard right turn and heads downhill through North Beach to Fisherman\u2019s Wharf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Powell-Hyde riders keep on climbing. Their big payoff comes soon enough, with an exhilarating descent toward the bay and the tall ship Balclutha on the Hyde Street Pier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Maritime Park, the Powell-Hyde cars are shunted onto a turntable, where they\u2019re spun around and reloaded with passengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the most scenic cable car turnaround in the city. Pull out your camera and you can get San Francisco\u2019s two most famous icons \u2014 the Golden Gate Bridge and a cable car \u2014 in the same picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RELATED LINKS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Streetcar.org: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.streetcar.org\/cablecars\">San Francisco&#8217;s Cable Cars<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sfcablecar.com\/routes.html\">Cable Car Routes Compared<\/a> (Animated GIF)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sfcablecar.com\">Cable Car Lore<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d3152.797670814615!2d-122.4139039846818!3d37.7947811797559!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x808580f2beff9215%3A0xb9657c1da35745c9!2s1201+Mason+St%2C+San+Francisco%2C+CA+94108!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1510164895789\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Other than the Golden Gate Bridge, it&#8217;s hard to think of anything that says \u201cSan Francisco\u201d better than the sight and sound of a cable car clawing its way up a ridiculously steep hill, \u201chalfway to the stars.\u201d For tourists and locals alike, the urge to hop aboard, grab a pole and ride to the &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/viewfinders.com\/scenecards\/2009\/08\/29\/cable-car-routes\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Cable Car Routes Compared&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[6,7],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-california","category-san-francisco","tag-cable-car-museum","tag-cable-cars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/viewfinders.com\/scenecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/viewfinders.com\/scenecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/viewfinders.com\/scenecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/viewfinders.com\/scenecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/viewfinders.com\/scenecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/viewfinders.com\/scenecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11,"href":"http:\/\/viewfinders.com\/scenecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/viewfinders.com\/scenecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/viewfinders.com\/scenecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/viewfinders.com\/scenecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}