Cable Cars
Although they may not be San Francisco's most practical means of transportation, cable cars are certainly the best loved and are a must-experience when visiting the city. Designated official historic landmarks by the National Park Service in 1964, they clank up and down the city's steep hills like mobile museum pieces, tirelessly hauling thousands of tourists each day to nowhere in particular.London-born engineer Andrew Hallidie invented San Francisco's cable cars in 1869. He got the idea by serendipity. As the story goes, Hallidie was watching a team of overworked horses haul a heavily laden carriage up a steep San Francisco slope. As he watched, one horse slipped and the car rolled back, dragging the other tired beasts with it. At that moment, Hallidie resolved that he would invent a mechanical contraption to replace such horses, and just 4 years later, in 1873, the first cable car made its maiden run from the top of Clay Street. Promptly ridiculed as "Hallidie's Folly," the cars were slow to gain acceptance. One early onlooker voiced the general opinion by exclaiming, "I don't believe it -- the damned thing works!"Even today, many visitors have difficulty believing that these vehicles, which have no engines, actually work. The cars, each weighing about 6 tons, run along a steel cable, enclosed under the street in a center rail. You can't see the cable unless you peer straight down into the crack, but you'll hear its characteristic clickity-clanking sound whenever you're nearby. The cars move when the gripper (not the driver) pulls back a lever that closes a pincerlike "grip" on the cable. The speed of the car, therefore, is determined by the speed of the cable, which is a constant 9 1/2 mph -- never more, never less.The two types of cable cars in use hold a maximum of 90 and 100 passengers, and the limits are rigidly enforced. The best views are from the outer running boards, where you have to hold on tightly when taking curves.Hallidie's cable cars have been imitated and used throughout the world, but all have been replaced by more efficient means of transportation. San Francisco planned to do so, too, but the proposal met with so much opposition that the cable cars' perpetuation was actually written into the city charter in 1955. The mandate cannot be revoked without the approval of a majority of the city's voters -- a distant and doubtful prospect.San Francisco's three existing cable car lines form the world's only surviving system of cable cars, which you can experience for yourself should you choose to wait in the endless boarding line (up to a 2-hr. wait in summer).

Wells Fargo History Museum
Wells Fargo, one of California's largest banks, got its start in the Wild West. Its history museum, at the bank's head office, houses hundreds of genuine relics from the company's whip-and-six-shooter days, including pistols, photographs, early banking articles, posters, a stagecoach, and mining equipment.

Haas-Lilienthal House
Of the city's many gingerbread Victorians, this handsome Queen Anne house is one of the most flamboyant. The 1886 structure features all the architectural frills of the period, including dormer windows, flying cupolas, ornate trim, and winsome turret. The elaborately styled house is now a museum, its rooms fully furnished with period pieces. The Foundation for San Francisco's Architectural Heritage maintains the house and offers docent-led tours. The 1-hour tours (the only way to see the house) start every 20 to 30 minutes.

Marriott San Francisco
The spectacular San Francisco Marriott is located in downtown San Francisco adjacent to the Moscone Convention Center. Situated on Fourth Street between Market and Mission, the hotel is just minutes away from Chinatown, the Powell Street cable cars and Union Square shopping. The San Francisco Marriott features deluxe accommodations and superior facilities with one hundred thousand square feet of banquet, convention and meeting space including twenty-three conference suites, the forty thousand ...

Sir Francis Drake - a Kimpton Hotel
The Sir Francis Drake is located at 450 Powell Street on the corner of Sutter Street. The hotel is situated in the heart of Union Square, San Francisco's premier downtown shopping and business center. The financial district and Chinatown are less than 4 blocks away. Fisherman's Wharf, COIT Tower, Pier 39 and other exciting attractions are easily reachable by cable car which stops right outside our front door. Incredible dining spots surround the hotel and numerous nearby theaters make an ...

The Fairmont San Francisco
Located on Mason Street between California and Sacramento Streets and perched majestically atop Nob Hill. The Fairmont San Francisco provides a panoramic view of the City and San Francisco Bay. Centrally located to the city's major attractions, the hotel is one block from the Powell/Mason cable car line which runs out to the Cannery and Fisherman's Wharf 20 blocks away. A convenient 10 blocks north of the Moscone Convention Centre (20-minute walk), 3' miles from The Golden Gate ...