Photo: Streetcars Reborn

The cable cars are more famous, but they're strictly for tourists. In contrast, the vintage streetcars of San Francisco's F-Line — which runs from from the Castro District to Fisherman's Wharf via Market Street — are an essential part of the city's public transit system. San Francisco buys faded streetcars built during the 1940s, restores them, and returns them to service. The cars shown here ran in Minneapolis, Minn., and Newark, N.J., before they were acquired and restored. No. 1080, on the left, has been painted in the 1940s colors of Los Angeles Transit Lines, while the one on the right replicates the 1950s livery of Washington D.C. Transit. Watching the vintage cars roll down Market Street is always a time warp — they're colorful, elegant, functional, and (no surprise here) popular with the locals, which is why they've become such a vibrant addition to the fabric of the city.