Tony Bennett and Mayor Dianne Feinstein at a celebration for the cable cars returning to service 06/21/1984 (Photo by Frederic Larson/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO - The cable car has long been a hallmark of San Francisco, the only city in the world with these unique transportation systems.
This year marks 150 years since the cable car's creation and San Francisco has already kicked off its celebration. Mayor London Breed rode the city's oldest cable car today, June 13 at 11 a.m., and more special celebratory events were announced earlier this month, including public tours of the Muni shop and walk/ride tours of neighborhoods with cable car lines.
"For the last 150 years, residents and visitors have enjoyed the incredible experience of riding our cable cars through our neighborhoods to experience stunning bay views that are famous all over the world," said Breed in a San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency press release. "You cannot imagine San Francisco without our iconic cable cars. In celebration of the 150th anniversary, we invite everyone to ride our wonderful cable cars to experience the magic of San Francisco."
Below, view special images of the city's iconic cable cars, with some photos dating back as far as 1880.
Through The Years
(Original Caption) San Francisco cable car at Market, Post and Montgomery Streets. Photograph, 1880.
Photo: Getty Images From: Getty Images Cable Car, San Francisco, California, USA, Albumen Photograph, circa 1880. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) From: Getty Images (Original Caption) San Francisco cable street cars. Tabor Photo., San Francisco. Undated. From: Getty Images Half of a stereoscopic image of a man driving a roofless horse-drawn bus underneath cablecar wires on the streets of San Francisco as passengers stand in the back in the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake and citywide fires, San Francisco, California, 1906. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) From: Getty Images Cable cars on the Fillmore Street hill looking down at the Marina with Angel Island in the background, San Francisco, California, circa 1920. (Photo by Underwood Archives/Getty Images) From: Getty Images Cable Car on California Street in San Francisco, California, circa 1925. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images) From: Getty Images UNITED STATES - JANUARY 01: San Francisco Cable Car In Usa-Western World-North America On 1930 (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images) From: Getty Images Cable Car in San Francisco, California, circa 1945. (Photo by American Stock Archive/Archive Photos/Getty Images) From: Getty Images San Francisco residents fight to saves the Cable Cars October 1949 (Photo by Bob Campbell/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) circa 1953: A passenger on one of San Francisco's famous cable cars watches as it nears the top of a steep slope. This mode of public transport has been used in the city for decades and is operated by the traction of an underground cable, which moves along at approximately four and a half miles per hour. (Photo by Orlando /Three Lions/Getty Images) From: Getty Images Buildings great and small, wagons, cable cars, and pedestrians all make San Francisco's Third Street a busy thoroughfare. San Francisco, California, USA. (Photo by Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images) From: Getty Images "San Francisco" travel poster depicting a "Van Ness Ave.California and Market Streets" streetcar full of happy riders, illustrated by Stan Galli for United Airlines, 1960. (Photo by Potter and Potter Auctions/Gado/Getty Images) 1960: From left to right, Joe Paoli, proprietor of the first singles bar in San Francisco, Lefty O'Doul, an ex baseball player, Barnaby Conrad, model Lily Valentine, Don Steel, night club owner and polo player Charlie Low, ad-man Howard Gossage, Herb Caen and in the forefront, the Mayor of San Francisco George T Christopher. A Wonderful Time - Slim Aarons (Photo by Slim Aarons/Getty Images) From: Getty Images Passengers board a cable car on a turntable at the line terminus (at Market & Powell streets) outside a Woolworth's department store, San Francisco, California, August 1963. (Photo by Walter Leporati/Getty Images) SAN FRANCISCO - 1967: The cable cars are a noted feature of the city, even if they don't climb halfway to the stars, in early summer 1967 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) From: Getty Images Postcard shows the Powell Street cable car on its turntable at Powell & Market streets, San Francisco, California, early twentieth century. (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images) From: Getty Images Cable cars were backed up on Powell Street due to mechanical failure, December 27, 1974. (Photo by Stephanie Maze/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) From: Getty Images View of an unidentified woman, in a t-shirt that reads 'Old,' as she steps off a streetcar with a sign that reads, in part, 'Lesbian and Gay Seniors' during the International Lesbian & Gay Freedom Day Parade, San Francisco, California, June 28, 1987. (Photo by Bromberger Hoover Photography/Getty Images) This is a Cable Car riding from Nob Hill, There are passengers holding on to the poles, standing and also sitting down in the car, It is slightly blurred as it is moving down the road. (Photo by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - 2005/02/11: The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last manually operated cable car system, and is an icon of San Francisco, California. The cable car system forms part transport network operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway, or Muni as it is better known. Cable cars operate on two routes from downtown near Union Square to Fisherman's Wharf and a third route along California Street.. (Photo by John S. Lander/LightRocket via Getty Images) San Francisco, UNITED STATES: A cable car climbs a street of San Francisco, 22 December 2007. The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last permanently operational manually-operated cable car system, and is now an icon of the city of San Francisco in California. The cable car system forms part of the intermodal urban transport network operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway, or Muni as it is better known. While the cable cars are used to a certain extent by commuters, their low speed, small service area, and premium fares make them primarily a tourist attraction. AFP PHOTO/GABRIEL BOUYS (Photo credit should read GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images) From: Getty Images SAN FRANCISCO - JUNE 9: San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI) cable car operator Frank Ware competes during the 47th annual Cable Car Bell Ringing contest June 9, 2009 in San Francisco, California. San Francisco Municipal Railway cable car operator Leonard Oats won the annual bell ringing contest for the second year in a row. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Cable cars meet at the corner of Hyde and Lombard Streets on Thursday Sep. 9, 2009 in San Francisco, Calif. (Photo by Mike Kepka/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) Cable car riders at the intersection of Powell and California Streets in San Francisco, Calif on Thursday January 28, 2010. With the Municipal Transportation Agency facing a $53 million budget deficit next year, they are considering the following recommendations: reduce the frequency of bus and rail service on most routes, equivalent to a 10 percent cut systemwide; charge Fast Pass users a premium for using express buses or cable cars; double the cost of discounted monthly passes for seniors, youth and the disabled to $30. (Photo by Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) Cable car #23 is seen at the Cable Car repair shop in the Dogpatch neighborhood, in San Francisco, California, on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. (Photo by Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) Carpenter Todd Hurley does repair work to a cable car at the Cable Car repair shop in the Dogpatch neighborhood, in San Francisco, California, on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016. (Photo by Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) A cable car with tourists stops to let passengers take pictures at Lombard and Hyde Streets, one of the more popular tourist stops in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, February 6, 2020. (Photo By Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) Famous Passengers
Tony Bennett and Mayor Dianne Feinstein at a celebration for the cable cars returning to service 06/21/1984 (Photo by Frederic Larson/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) From: Getty Images Malia and Sasha Obama ride on the #15 Cable on Washington Street near the Cable Car barn on Monday June 22, 2009 in San Francisco, Calif. (Photo by Mike Kepka/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) Princess Margaret on a cable car with Lord Snowdon at the corner of beach and Hyde, November 5, 1965 Photo ran 11/6/1965. P. 1 (Photo by Bill Young/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) From: Getty Images (Original Caption) One of San Francisco's famed cable cars became a platform for Senator Robert F. Kennedy's campaign for votes in the Golden State's June 4th Primary election. Here, well wishers crowd around cable car which brought Kennedy and his party from the top of Nob Hill to Market Street. From: Getty Images March 11, 1982: San Francisco mayor Dianne Feinstein accepts $1 million from Atari Corp. to the Save the Cable Cars fund. She tested am Atari computer and met a life-size Pac-Man character. (Photo by Steve Ringman/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) From: Getty Images Zeros punk band cause a stir, posing on a steep hill as the Cable Car came roaring by. The hippie look was still in vogue. 1979 (Photo by Ruby Ray/Getty Images) From: Getty Images