Talking Points: Hyatt Regency San Francisco’s “Icons of San Francisco” Exhibit
Good evening and welcome. The SFMTA is honored to have its fleet of historic cable cars represented here today as part of Hyatt Regency San Francisco’s “The Icons of San Francisco” exhibit. We thank our friends and partners here at the Hyatt Regency for recognizing the iconic status these national landmarks have achieved. We are thrilled to be sharing space in this stunning atrium with two other symbols of our great city, our longtime partner Ghirardelli Chocolate and the long‐running Beach Blanket Babylon. December 28, 2012 will mark Muni’s centennial anniversary and the 100th year our cable‐propelled “museums in motion” have been delivering San Franciscans and visitors alike to key destinations throughout the city. Originally designed to accommodate the city’s notoriously hilly terrain, the simple technology that propels the cable car has long since been eclipsed by more modern—and perhaps more efficient—means of transportation. Yet the cable cars remain—a testament to their endurance—having survived the “great shake” of 1906 and two attempts to replace them with more modern means of transport in the 1940s and ‘50s. Like the people of San Francisco, the cable car has soldiered on in the face of natural disaster and risen to the challenge of the city’s infamous topography. They have evolved from a mobility option to a national treasure, and have become a worldwide symbol of our great city. We would like to thank the Hyatt Regency, Ghirardelli Chocolates and Beach Blanket Babylon; the SFMTA Cable Car Division led by David Banbury; the Cable Car Museum; the SFMTA Cable Car Carpenter Shop; Wes Valaris; the SFMTA Marketing Department: Deanna Desedas, Eric Lavina, Chimmy Lee and Mark De Anda; and finally the men and women who maintain and navigate these iconic vehicles daily. We invite you to take a moment and visit our cable car exhibit to learn more about these storied workhorses who for a century have been taking customers “halfway to the stars.” Thank you.