Cable Car Museum

The Cable Car Museum in San Francisco's upscale Nob Hill neighborhood offers a free look at the history of the city's famous cable car system. Since opening in 1974, the museum on Mason Street has housed historic exhibits and preserved cars, including a vehicle from the 1870s and the only surviving car from the first cable car company. A special experience awaits in the adjoining galleries, where you can look out over the powerhouse. A passage also leads down into a large chamber beneath the intersection of Washington and Mason Streets, where the cables are routed over huge wheels out to the streets. In this way, the museum pairs static exhibits with a view of the living machinery behind the moving cars.