Happy Independence Day 250-- July 4, 2026

Mad Magazine, June, 1963

Happy Fourth of July to all. 250 years ago, we declared our independence. Our Dear Leader is doing his best to ruin it for everyone.

Alfred E Newman celebrates with a firecracker.

Red Devils Return to Pacifica #19 -- July 3, 2026

Pacifica is one of the two cities on the San Francisco peninsula that allow the sale of fireworks. The booths arrived last weekend and opened yesterday afternoon or today.  This is the stand at Pedro Point.  I took the photo on 26-June-2016. 

Many Pacificans agree that selling fireworks is a bad idea: We have steep, brush-covered hillsides that pose a fire danger. People use the "safe and sane" fireworks to mask the unsafe and insane variety. Not to mention my cat hates the Fourth of July.  Not to mention we cursed with the effects of a terrible drought. 

Unfortunately, our charities claim that fireworks are the only thing they can sell that will generate enough money. That can't be true. What about drugs? Weapons? They're not thinking outside of the box.

Due to health issues, this post is a rerun of a post from 2016.

We Lost -- June 26, 2026

Some people are saying that T***p is the first US President to lose a war. I don't know if that is entirely true. The War of 1812 was a draw. People debate what to call our outcomes in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, IRAQ and Afghanistan I guess he is the first US President to start a war (unprovoked) and lose it. He keeps saying it is over, but it keeps sprouting up. 

New Cat #128 -- June 25, 2026

I took the photo on 25-April-2026.

I Voted -- June 2, 2026

Yesterday I went to the gym at Saint Peter's church and voted on a touch screen terminal. Checking in, I filled out a form and they looked me up and gave me a white smart card. I put the card into a reader under the terminal. There were so many gubernatorial candidates that I had to scroll through the list twice to find Xavier Becerra. The candidates for other offices were easier to find.

June 2026 Version of the Cable Car Home Page -- June 1, 2026

 I launched The Cable Car Home Page on AOL thirty years ago in November 1996.

I just put the June 2026 version of my Cable Car Home Page on the server:
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/

It includes some new items:

1. Picture of the Month:
2. The only car of the Elgin Road Extension "on the day of the trial run." Tramway employees post with the car. (Source: Otago Witness, 10-October-1906). June, 2026 Picture of the Month.
3. On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A ten year update about Dunedin, New Zealand's short-lived Elgin Road Extension, which operated from 1906 to 1910
4. On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Added Crosscurrent/The Cable Car Murder, a 1971 television movie set in San Francisco and added one screen grab to In Love and War
5. On the Kansas City page: A promotion for the opening of the KC Streetcar's Berkley Riverfront extension
6. On the What is a Cable Car? page: Some minor updates.3
7. On the Miscellany page: An update about the reopening of the The Lookout Mountain Incline Railway. Added News items about the return of the Hyde Ride and the return of gripman Val Lupiz from disability

Ten years ago this month (June 2016):

1. Picture of the Month: Tracks along Elgin Road await the completion of the rest of the extension (Source: Otago Witness, 28-June-1905).
2. On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A new article about Dunedin, New Zealand's short-lived Elgin Road Extension, which operated from 1906 to 1910
3. On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: Thanks to Antonio Marquardt, added screen grabs to I Love a Soldier
4. On the Kansas City page: A new article about the Return of Electric Streetcars to Kansas City
5. Added News and Chronology items items about Powell Street Car 24 being dedicated to Giants great Willie Mays
6. Added News item about an auto driving onto the Powell and Market turntable

Twenty years ago this month (June 2006):

1. Picture of the Month: Geary Street cable cars run among the ruins in 1906.
2. Results of the 2006 Contest, conceived by Walter Rice, who has also generously provided the prizes
3. On the San Francisco in 1906 page, 1906 newspaper articles describing the return of the Geary Street cable cars, work on the California Street lines, and the replacement of United Railroads lines with electric traction:
   • GEARY-STREET CHIMNEY NOW READY FOR USE (San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, June 15, 1906)
   • GEARY-STREET CARS AGAIN IN OPERATION CABLE UNDAMAGED AND SLOT NOT BADLY HURT (San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, June 22, 1906)
   • CALIFORNIA STREET CARS/Cable Road Expects to Resume Operations by First of August (San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, June 15, 1906)
   • TOO MANY CARS JUMPED TRACK/Service on Hayes Street Line Abandoned Until New Rail Can Be Laid. (San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday, June 16, 1906)
   • WANT CABLE CARS TO RESUME OPERATION/McAllister Street Residents Would Have Old Line Run Again. (San Francisco Chronicle, August 3, 1906)
4. On the New York/New Jersey page: Five 1872-1899 newspaper articles about the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-operated elevated railroad
5. Added a Bibliography item about a California Street shutdown

In January 2024 I started on a long overdue process of cleaning things up on my site. I started with the development pages. Actually, I guess I started the year before with making most thumbnails 200 pixels instead of 100.

Coming in July 2026: On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A ten year update about Dunedin, New Zealand's Elgin Road Extension, the last new cable tramway built.

250 years ago - 1776
Jun 29 - San Francisco and Mission Dolores were founded

175 years ago - 1851
Jun 01 - Horse-drawn omnibuses began running between downtown San Francisco and Mission Dolores
Jun 09 - The First San Francisco Committee of Vigilance was organized in response to a wave of crimes, especially arson
Jun 10 - The Committee of Vigilance hanged John Jenkins of the Sydney Ducks gang for stealing a safe
Jun 22 - The Sixth Great Fire destroyed 14 blocks
Jun 25 - The New Mission Toll Road opened from Clay and Kearny, out Third to Mission, along Mission to Corbett Road

150 years ago - 1876
Jun 14 - The California Street Cable Railroad received its franchise

125 years ago - 1901
Jun 19 - Metropolitan Street Railway (New York, New York) converted its Lexington Avenue line to electricity

75 years ago - 1951
Jun 21 - A Powell Street cable car rolled along Atlantic City, New Jersey’s famous boardwalk, as part of San Francisco’s unsuccessful effort to obtain Lions Club’s 1952 convention (the 1952 convention was held in Mexico City). "Equipped with rubber tires and drawn by a jeep, the cable car was in constant use, furnishing free rides to all who could get on board." The cable car had traveled across the country on a railroad flat car. The display was complete with a gripman, and conductor who issued special transfers proclaiming "San Francisco -- Convention City." Through 28-June-1951.

The Cable Car Home Page now has a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/CableCarHomePage/

The Cable Car Home Page also has an Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/cable_car_guy/

Joe Thompson
The Cable Car Home Page (updated 01-June-2026)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/
San Francisco Bay Ferryboats (updated 31-October-2024)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ferry/
Park Trains and Tourist Trains (updated 31-May-2026)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ptrain/
The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion (updated spasmodically)
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com
The Big V Riot Squad (updated obsessively)
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/

May 2026 Version of the Cable Car Home Page -- May 1, 2026

I launched The Cable Car Home Page on AOL thirty years ago in November 1996.

I just put the May 2026 version of my Cable Car Home Page on the server:
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/

It includes some new items:

1. Picture of the Month: The Last Kaikorai cable tram in Dunedin, New Zealand (Source: Dunedin Evening Star, 01-August-1947).
2. On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A ten year update about Dunedin, New Zealand's Kaikorai Tramway, including newspaper articles.
3. On the Motion Pictures Which Feature Cable Cars page: I added a screen print to the article about the movie Foul Play
4. On the Cable Car Lines in the District of Columbia and Baltimore page: Added an item about the closing of Washington DC's DC Streetcar, which had revived streetcar service in the District of Columbia
5. On the Horse Car Home Page: The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man issues a schedule for its 150th season. Also a Chronology item
6. Added News items about a serious threat to cut cable car service, and information about Muni fare changes.

Ten years ago this month (May 2016):

1. Picture of the Month: A Kaikorai cable tram crests a hill. Note the pram hooked to the front dash. (Source: The Kaikorai Cable Tram. Amateur film by William Hood Davidson, 1947. Hocken Collections.)
2. On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A new article about Dunedin, New Zealand's Kaikorai Tramway.
3. Added News and Bibliography items about a news story that I got interviewed for.
4. On the Cable Trams in the UK: Thanks to Stefan Isaksson for some new information about London's Highgate Hill Cable Tramway, the first Hallidie-type cable tramway in Europe
5. Also on the UK page: Added the three cliff lifts in Bournemouth to the Cliff Lifts article. Added News story about a landslide that affected the East Cliff Lift.
6. On the Horse Car Home Page: The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man issues a schedule for its 140th season. Also News item.

Twenty years ago this month (May 2006):

Powell-Mason car 509 on the turntable at Powell and Market, scanned from a magazine ad by Walter Rice.
1. Try the new Contest, conceived by Walter Rice, who has also generously provided the prizes
2. On the San Francisco page: A new page of Cable Car Advertising Images, scanned by Walter Rice.
3. Also on the San Francisco page: Added a 1951 Collier's Magazine image to The Cable Car Lady & the Mayor by Walter Rice and Val Lupiz, showing Mrs Friedel Klussmann and other cable car supporters.
4. Also on the San Francisco page: Walter Rice scanned Samuel Kahn's signature from a stock certificate as part of his article "An Interview With Mrs. Barbara Kahn Gardner, Daughter of Market Street Railway Executive Samuel Kahn"
5. On the Cable Car Transfers, Tickets, Tokens and Signage page: Thanks to Val Lupiz and Walter Rice, a sign warning riders about the California Street line turnback because of the Chinese New Year parade, 2006.
6. On the New York/New Jersey page: Five 1870 newspaper articles about the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, a cable-operated elevated railroad and the Beach Pneumatic Subway
7. Added a News item about the 18-April-2006 celebrations

In January 2024 I started on a long overdue process of cleaning things up on my site. I started with the development pages. Actually, I guess I started the year before with making most thumbnails 200 pixels instead of 100.

Coming in June 2026: On the Cable Tramways in Australia and New Zealand page: A ten year update about Dunedin, New Zealand's Elgin Road Extension, the last new cable tramway built.

175 years ago - 1851
May 04 - The Fifth Great Fire destroyed San Francisco's entire business district

125 years ago - 1901
May 11 - Metropolitan Street Railway (New York, New York) converted its Columbus Avenue line to electricity
May 25 - Metropolitan Street Railway (New York, New York) converted its Broadway line to electricity

The Cable Car Home Page now has a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/CableCarHomePage/

The Cable Car Home Page also has an Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/cable_car_guy/

Joe Thompson
The Cable Car Home Page (updated 01-May-2026)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/
San Francisco Bay Ferryboats (updated 31-October-2024)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ferry/
Park Trains and Tourist Trains (updated 31-October-2025)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ptrain/
The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion (updated spasmodically)
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com
The Big V Riot Squad (updated obsessively)
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/