Neighborhood groups want to ‘reimagine’ cable car stop at Van Ness and California * The Lower Polk Community Benefit District

Neighborhood groups want to ‘reimagine’ cable car stop at Van Ness and California

The sound of a cable car trundling down California Street is iconic San Francisco, a constant against decades of change that have transformed the City on the Hill. The City’s oldest cable car line, a rare vestige of San Francisco’s rich past, includes one car from 1906 that still carries passengers.

But residents in the Lower and Upper Polk neighborhoods say the current terminus at Van Ness Avenue and California Street doesn’t live up to that legacy, and they’re beginning to envision changes they hope would jumpstart interest from tourists and locals alike once the cable car returns, create an entryway to the Polk Street corridor and provide a safer environment for pedestrians boarding the historic vehicles.