Photo Essay: The Ups and Downs (And Ins and Outs) of San Francisco's Historic Cable Car System

I remember riding at least one cable car during my San Francisco visit in 2006. 

It seemed like a novelty to me at the time—something I'd only seen in Rice-A-Roni TV commercials as a kid. 

 

 

I was less into trains back then than I am now—so I wanted to re-experience this mode of public transport upon my return visit to SF earlier this year. 

 

Trying to get around in the rain with a bum foot made the cable car a necessity this time around.

This time around, there was something else at the top of my list, too: the city's cable car museum, which I had no clue about until after I'd returned home to NYC from my SF trip, nearly 20 years ago.

 

Sure, I wanted to learn about the history of cable cars—but this is no ordinary historical museum. 

Photo Essay: Glimpses of Grace Cathedral's Art and Architectural Treasures

We had some time to kill while we were exploring San Francisco back in January. 

 

So, I asked my friend—who's not religious, but neither am I—if we could go to Grace Cathedral to take one of the tours they offered.

Photo Essay: Taking the CBS Out of Television City

CBS Television was a big part of my childhood—whether it was summer mornings spent playing along with The Price is Right or every afternoon joining my mother to watch the soaps. 

circa 2024

So, it always kind of astounds me that CBS Television City is just down the road from me, now that I live in Los Angeles. 

Photo Essay: The Camarillo White Horses and the Ranch They Once Called Home

The "ranch house" of Adolph Camarillo is really a Victorian mansion—built in the Queen Anne style by the architecture duo Herman Anlauf and Franklin ("F. P.") Ward in 1892.

 

I'd seen it once, at night, at Christmastime, back in 2018—but I knew I had to go back and see it in the broad daylight.

Photo Essay: Piru's Newhall Mansion is a 130-Year-Old Queen Anne Design in a 40-Year-Old Body

I first became intrigued with the Ventura County town of Piru because of its position in the path of the St. Francis Dam flood. (It's also home to a filming location from the music video to "Hot Legs" by Rod Stewart.) 

 

But then my interest was piqued even further when I found out there was a sprawling Queen Anne mansion in Piru—known simply as the "Piru Mansion," but also "Cook Mansion" and "Newhall Mansion."

Photo Essay: The Center of Enterprise in San Bernardino's Once Thriving Downtown

When I visited the (now-demolished) Carousel Mall in San Bernardino, I was intrigued by the two historic buildings that it butted up against—and I hoped one day I'd get inside to see what they were all about. 

That hope came true in March 2024 with one of them—the former Andreson Building, recently rebranded as The Enterprise Building. 

 

Photo Essay: The Mirage Disappears from the Las Vegas Strip, Where a Giant Guitar Will Replace the Erupting Volcano

There's only one Vegas hotel I've liked enough to stay at more than once—or, unlike the Riviera, that stuck around long enough for me to stay at more than once.

 

circa 2022

That's The Mirage—which just closed in July 2024 to begin its conversion into the Hard Rock Las Vegas. 

A Last Look at the Historic Charlie Chaplin Studios Lot (Before The Jim Henson Company Sells It)

Let's just get this out of the way: The Henson Studios lot on La Brea in Hollywood is for sale. The Wrap broke the news in late June.

circa 2020

And although I'd been able to walk around on my own once before, as a ticketholder for the puppet improv show Puppet Up!—Uncensored that's performed on the lot, word of the sale was enough to light a fire under me to go back and finally take an official tour.  

Photo Essay: A Long-Awaited Celebration for Long Beach Airport's Historic Streamline Moderne Terminal

It had been the year 2010 since I'd flown in or out of Long Beach Airport—LA's oldest municipal airport, originally known as Daugherty Field, established in 1923. 

It's just not convenient to where I currently live. 

But I love it so much, I arranged to tour its Streamline Moderne-style terminal building (by architects William Horace Austin and Kenneth Smith Wing, circa 1941) back in 2016. 

And then in February 2023, it ceased operations as LGB's main passenger terminal and closed for a renovation that would last over a year. At the time, I thought, "Aw, too bad"—because it had been such a delight to travel through there, I was sad for the passengers who'd never get to experience it.