2 San Diego Uptown News | September 2–15, 2011


NEWS


Vintage streetcars embrace past and future All aboard the Silver Line


By Jocelyn Maggard SDUN Reporter


ego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) will be selling commemo- rative tickets to ride the recently opened vintage streetcar around the Silver Line loop. A refurbished streetcar,


L


built circa 1946, began taking the public on a roundtrip ride through Downtown on Saturday August 27. After 3,000 volunteer hours


and $85,000 of private money, the trolley was ready to ride. MTS Chairman Harry Mathis


had the dream to bring streetcars back to San Diego. Mathis found a vintage trolley car in Lake Tahoe where it had been rusting under pine trees. “The car you see today is in


many respects better than it was when it left the factory in 1946,” said Mathis. “This beautiful ve- hicle is like a time machine. Rid- ing on it can take you back to the


abor Day weekend marks the last weekend the San Di-


days when these wonderful street cars were in service all over San Diego.” In July 2005, The San Diego


Vintage Trolley Inc., a non-prof- it subsidiary, was approved by the MTS Board of Directors to raise funds to restore the trolley so it could run on San Diego’s streets again. In 1892, John D. Spreckels


used his entrepreneurial smarts to launch the San Diego Electric Railway Company after buying a failed streetcar operation, bring- ing streetcars to the city. When streetcars declined in


popularity during the 1930’s in the wake of busses and the success of Henry Ford, the President’s Conference Committee created the PCC Streetcar by improving the style and comfort of the cars, spurning a renaissance in the mode of transportation. The vintage trolley, also


called streetcar #529, is one of the 5,000 PCC cars that were manufactured between 1937 and 1949. San Diego operated 28


Robb Schupp, Director of Mar-


keting and Communications for MTS, said MTS is conducting the City/Park Streetcar Feasibility Study


The project was first present-


ed in April and it will go through workshops until the report is ex- amined in November according to the project’s Steering Commit- tee calendar. The report will cost $117,500.


SDG&E will put forth $11,400 and a little over a thousand dol- lars will come from MTS, and Caltrans will pay the rest, said Schupp. No public money has been used in the restoration and no public money will be used for the study, he added. When the uptown neighbor-


Conductor John De Lalla stands out front of the refurbished vintage streetcar that opened for rides around Downtown on August 27. (Photo by Jocelyn Maggard)


cars during that time. Ray Krum, resident of San


Diego and enthusiast of anything that runs on a track, remembers riding the streetcars around the city as a teenager; he took a ride and said he enjoyed his ride on the refurbished car he took on the morning of August 28. He noticed many similarities be-


tween streetcar #529 and the origi- nals, but said the window cranks were new additions and that push- ing in knobs on the side of the win- dow opened the old windows. Along with Krum, there were


approximately 20 passengers aboard the trolley, and an MTS


URBAN OPT IKS OPT OMETR Y


BEST OPTOMETRIST 2010 & 2009 San Diego


Uptown News Reader’s Choice


BEST OPTOMETRIST 2010 GLT Readers Poll


EMERGING BUSINESS OF THE YEAR


2010 GSDBA Business Awards


representative selling tickets at the transit center said there were almost 200 riders the previ- ous day. The Silver Line starts at the


transit center on 12th Street and Imperial Ave. and travels along Harbor Drive to C Street and then goes to Park Boulevard, returning to the transit center. Mathis says streetcar #529


isn’t it for San Diego; there are five more ready to be restored. Balboa Park celebrates its


100th birthday in 2015 and there is the hope a vintage trolley will run from Downtown to the Park in time for the Centennial.


hoods were being developed, PCC cars offered access to the neighborhoods from the down- town area, and the Feasibility study looks into adding cars back into these areas. City Council Member Todd


Gloria rode streetcar #529 on its maiden voyage on August 18 and spoke favorably of the new mode of transportation. “Looking to the past has giv-


en us great ideas for improving public transportation for San Di- ego,” said Councilmember Todd Gloria. “The Silver Line will add a fun and useful element to our current trolley service, and more streetcars will improve mobil- ity through our urban neighbor- hoods.” Streetcar #529 will run around


the Silver Line loop on the week- ends and select holidays. Tickets are $2 for adults and $1 for se- niors and disabled passengers.u


“


You will realize that this is no ordinary optometrist the moment you walk into the store. You’ll see that this is a doctor who cares about the experience of his patients…”


-A.M. via Yelp


exceptional eyewear for a different point of view


• Fashion-Forward and Retro Eyewear • Custom Made Eyewear • Superior Lens Quality • State-of-the-Art Eye Exams • Specialty Contact Lenses • Laser Vision Services • Most Vision Insurance Accepted


Dr. Gary A. Klein Optometrist Kristy Cambone, Holly Linden & Nathan Caracter Opticians 619.683.2020 • urban-optiks.com The Cairo Building in Hillcrest • 3788 Park Blvd • Suite 5


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32