An Evening On The Embarcadero

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

Probably my favorite street in the United States -- at least for photography -- is The Embarcadero in San Francisco. MUNI's historic F-Line operates over much of The Embarcadero from the Ferry Building at Market Street down to Fisherman's Wharf. On March 9, 2014, inspired by the MUNI photography of Christian Goepel, I spent an evening watching the changing light as darkness settled in along the bay. First up was MUNI PCC No. 1052, painted in the colors of the Los Angeles Railway (all the MUNI historic streetcars are painted in various schemes of streetcar routes from across the North America). It's headlight reflected off the roadway as darkness moved in (above).

Up next was car No. 1062 representing Louisville, Kentucky, making its stop at Pier 39.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

Car No. 1052 made its two left turns at Fisherman's Wharf and headed back east one block over from The Embarcadero.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

It was just about fully dark by the time car No. 1078 (painted for San Diego) appeared. The lights of the Bay Bridge appear in the background.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

Finishing off the dusk-to-dark parade was car No. 1075, wearing colors from Cleveland.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

As I went to change locations I encountered the San Diego car (1078) returning from Fisherman's Wharf so I decided to try a pan shot as it went by.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

From here I went up to the Ferry Building near the intersection of The Embarcadero and Market Street. This is one of the best intersections for shooting transit in the country, as you also have the famous cable cars just a block away. The first car I caught at the Ferry Building was No. 1072, painted for Mexico City!

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

Turning around, car No. 1053 was making its return from Fisherman's Wharf. It is painted for the street railways of Brooklyn, New York.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

We finish the night with car No. 1010, painted for the hometown San Francisco Municipal Railway. It is also the only native San Francisco car photographed on this evening -- all the rest came to San Francisco from Philadelphia or Newark. No. 1010 made a fitting end to an interesting evening.

MUNI; The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California; March 9, 2014

All the historic MUNI streetcars are equipped with GPS, so you can see which cars are where at any given time by looking at the map here.

And you can find more photos from this evening (as well as stuff from Niles Canyon that I shot earlier in the day) in the gallery here.