Historical Map: San Francisco Market Street Railway Company Routes, 1931
An absolutely stunning overhead perspective drawing of San Francisco in this old cable car company map of services. The Golden Gate bridge does not exist yet, and fares to any part of the city (including transfers) are just five cents.
Have we been there? Yes, but the remaining cable cars are now just a sad, touristy reminder of what there once was.
What we like: Just about everything. The draftsmanship, and detailing is extraordinary - this is all drawn by hand! The unusual aerial perspective of the city is both effective and eye-catching. Nice use of limited colours: this looks like a three-colour print job (black, red, green).
What we don’t like: Perhaps a little difficult to decipher individual services, but it seems this map is part of a booklet that provides greater detail on other pages, so even this is not much of a fault.
Our rating: 5 stars!
(Source: Eric Fischer/Flickr - visit to see a high-res version!)
