Earth Day in San Diego is always a big deal— we should all be concerned with our environment and carbon footprint, but when you live in a city surrounded by natural beauty the imperative of “being green” becomes all the more apparent. On Sunday, April 22nd, America’s Finest City celebrates environmentalism with the 23rd Annual Earth Fair in Balboa Park! We’ll be there from 10am ’til 5pm with Class 1 streetcar #138 and we hope you’ll come down to a look at the past and, if we have our way, future of San Diego’s energy efficient public transportation. There will be lots of great exhibitors to check out, so be sure to come down, have fun, and learn how we can all do our part to make our world a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable place.

Considering that there will be an estimated influx of 60,000 attendees during this event (wow!), we’re also hoping we can round up a couple volunteers to help us out on Sunday. If you have some time to contribute, please send us an e-mail at contact@sdstreetcars.org or give us a call at (619) 752-0151… we’d love to have you on board!

San Diego Historic Streetcars, Inc. Board President Christian Chaffee and TECO Streetcar #163

Back on February 10th, San Diego Historic Streetcars, Inc. president Christian Chaffee took a trip out to Tampa, Florida to get an up close look at the wildly successful TECO historic streetcar line. As one of our organization’s primary inspirations and models for development, the TECO line holds a special place in our hearts, so this was an especially exciting visit for Mr. Chaffee.

First stop was the central TECO maintenance yard where Christian met with Joseph Delgado, Streetcar Maintenance Supervisor for Tampa Historic Streetcar, Inc, and a streetcar mechanic who went by “K.B.”. These two gentlemen provided a thorough tour of the facilities and shared some interesting tidbits on the task of maintaining a historic streetcar line. The 11th Street car barn was an impressive sight, full of beautiful old style streetcar replicas made in the image of an antique Birney car. Mechanics were performing regular upkeep on the vehicles and K.B. was in the process of working on a set of antique 1920′s era trucks, which was his maintenance specialty.

Joe and K.B.

Joe walked Mr. Chaffee through some of the streetcars, drawing attention to the beautiful oak woodwork and the distinct character of the cars. They discussed not only the artistic quality of the cars, but also how the system had spurred growth and development, notably improving the neighborhoods that the Tampa streetcar runs through. They even went out to look at the Birney streetcar that the system is modeled after. That restored original also runs on the TECO line for holidays and special events, providing a window into the charm of a time long since past. A little later, Mr. Chaffee took the opportunity to ride on one of the streetcars and chatted with the motorman, who spoke fondly of his job and the popularity of the line.

A beautiful Tampa streetcar runs on the rail

After returning from Tampa and having been reminded of how many benefits a streetcar project could provide to our urban neighborhoods, Christian spoke to me with a renewed excitement. As we move forward, the TECO streetcar line remains an important inspiration for our organization and represents the kind of success we aim to bring to the streets of San Diego.

Hello out there in streetcar land!

It’s been a busy start to 2012! We’ve been hard at work with our 501(c)(3) non-profit board of directors to get the Class 1 streetcars back on the streets of San Diego. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but we’re feeling excited and focused as we move closer and closer to that dream becoming a reality.

As we continue to build a coalition of partners, donors, and supporters, we wanted to take a moment to honor the volunteer service and support of Betsy McCue at La Vida Creations Photography. Betsy has been an enthusiastic supporter of our project since the very early stages and has donated her voice in spreading the word about our organization, her contacts in connecting us with a social media expert, and mostly recently, her professional skills as a photographer.

Last October, we brought out Class 1 #138 out to Little Italy’s Festa! and, given the estimated 120,000 attendees, we needed all hands on deck to interact with the public. However, that left no one to take photos for this event. Lucky for us, Betsy was kind enough to step in and take some wonderful photos that captured both the beauty of Class 1 #138 and the excitement of the public throughout the day. Head over to the the La Vida Creations blog to take a look at some of those excellent shots and read about how Betsy got involved with our project. Thanks again Betsy, we hope to work with you again soon!

We are working hard to bring these streetcars back to the streets to serve as a practical transportation solution and a vehicle for economic improvement… but we definitely can’t do it alone. If you have any special skills, spare time, or just a desire to help preserve this charming slice of San Diego history and help improve our city, we’d love to have you on board. Please take a moment to head over to the volunteer section of our website and fill out a brief form to get involved. Or just send us an e-mail, if you’d like.

We need you, San Diego needs you. Thanks in advance!

Here at the San Diego Historic Streetcar Project, we sincerely hope you all had as great of a year as we did! 2011 marked a significant year of growth for our organization and we feel that much closer to making the vision of a historic streetcar system in San Diego a reality. To close out the year, we attended some lovely events: The North Park Toyland Parade, The Little Italy Tree Lighting and Christmas Village, and The La Jolla Christmas Parade. Take a minute to check out some great photos from these events (taken by Bri Cross) over at our website!

For now, we’d just like to wish all of you Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year! Expect big progress next year for historic streetcars in San Diego– we’re gearing up for some big moves and we’ll hope you’ll want to be a part of them. We certainly can’t do it without your help, so how about we all make a New Year’s resolution to bring these Arts & Crafts beauties back to our streets? See you in 2012!

It’s that time of year again… Class 1 streetcar #138 is getting ready to make the rounds for the holiday season. We hope we’ll see you out at one or all of these fun and festive events!

Saturday December 3rd, North Park Toyland Parade — Head over to University Avenue between Utah and Idaho for the 48th annual North Park Toyland Parade. Things kick off at 11am… don’t miss seeing jolly ol’ Saint Nick and a Class 1 streetcar ride through the heart of North Park!

Saturday December 3rd, Little Italy Tree Lighting & Christmas Village — Holiday shopping, delicious food, talented entertainers, Santa Claus, and a Class 1 streetcar? Sounds like a festive and classy affair if you ask us; head down to the corner of W. Date and Columbia from 4pm to 7:30 pm to get a look at car #138 all dolled up for the holidays. Oh, and don’t forget about the “Bring Joy by Giving a Toy” toy drive! We hope everyone comes down with some goodies to donate…

Sunday December 4th, La Jolla Christmas Parade & Holiday Festival — Yep, the Class 1 streetcar returns to another one of its old haunts for the 54th annual La Jolla Christmas Parade! We’ll be rollin’ on down Girard Ave. at 2pm.

This year has been a great year for the historic Class 1 streetcars! We’ve grown our organization significantly, formed our non-profit 501(c)(3), expanded our profile through social media, and have started to piece together a worthwhile coalition of community leaders, politicians, non-profits, businesses, and citizens who want to see these streetcars back on the streets of San Diego. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but we couldn’t be more excited to fight to improve San Diego’s transportation system and preserve one of our city’s most important historic resources.

We would have never made so much progress without connecting with some wonderful local organizations and individuals in our efforts to push our campaign from the grassroots on up. We’ve attended some excellent events over the year and we recently put up some new photos in our gallery; take a gander over at our website! Photography courtesy of the talented Mark Brlej, Betsy McCue, Allison Welch, and Brianne Cross.

We look forward to seeing everyone out there at our events and we should have some coming up, including the much loved holiday parades. Keep your eyes peeled for some announcements!

Join San Diego Historic Streetcars, Inc. on October 27th down at Port Pavilion on the Broadway Pier as we help MOVE San Diego celebrate various achievements in San Diego’s clean transportation infrastructure. We’ll be out in front of the Port Pavilion from 3pm to 6pm as a featured sponsor of the Green Streets EXPO with one of the historic Class 1 streetcars, which ran on the rails in San Diego from 1912 to 1939, on full display! Come take a look at one of San Diego’s historic treasures and imagine what it would be like to have them back on their original routes, providing energy efficient public transportation for our city once again!

A few weeks ago, we had a great conversation with Anne and Peg Marston about the Class 1 streetcars and Balboa Park for our television program “San Diego’s Lost Treasure: The Historic Class 1 Streetcars, 100 Years Later” (which you can view right now on our website). We hope you’ll enjoy watching the extended interview with the Marston’s up above. This conversation definitely got us thinking a lot about San Diego, the historical and cultural roots of our community, and historic preservation…

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At a recent TED event, historic preservationist Rhonda Sincavage, stated: “It’s not about saving an individual building; preservation is more about building community.”

Historic preservation not only preserves our physical historic resources, but also protects the roots of culture that allow the present community to feel connected to their past. In a city like Charleston, SC, the history of the community is immediately apparent in the beautiful architecture as well as the regular recognition of historical events. Visitors flock to learn, experience, and understand the history of the city. Moreover, by retaining the relics of the past, locals are raised in a community where their history is simply apart of everyday life. In their preservation, the Charlestonians of today are inextricably tangled in the roots of their culture. Such roots tie people to their communities as they make life decisions. As we build careers and have families, we are more likely to create our own roots within our community if we feel that deep connection. In San Diego, many residents, especially younger people, often express that they feel there is no real history, no real culture. Perhaps these people feel that the soil here holds no real roots, so as they move forward and look to plant their own they turn to cities like Charleston, Portland, Seattle, or Austin that make a point to protect and build upon their history. However, in our estimation, the cultural and historical soil in San Diego is surprising fertile.

George Marston, the patriarch of the Marston family who came to San Diego in 1870, was known as “San Diego’s First Citizen.” In our recent conversation with Ann and Peg Marston regarding their memories of San Diego’s streetcars and Balboa Park, Peg charmingly recounted her husband Hamilton Marston’s experience of the opening day of the 1915 Exposition. The Marstons have long been known for their community involvement and historical preservation of many landmarks in San Diego and beyond, including Balboa Park, the Marston House, Presidio Park, and the Anza Borrego Desert. Hamilton himself was instrumental in the important “Temporary Paradise?” urban planning study and was known for emphasizing the balance between progress and preservation. Because of families like the Marstons, San Diego has created and retained considerable roots for future generations.

When thinking of San Diego history, many think of wonderful and iconic places like Balboa Park, The Hotel del Coronado, the Missions, the Point Loma Lighthouse, and the Whaley House in historic Old Town. But we shouldn’t forget our historic communities like Golden Hill, South Park, North Park, The Boulevard, Hillcrest, Mission Hills, and Banker’s Hill. They may be less tourist-driven, but they are still invaluable in the story of San Diego’s past. And as we San Diegans become both more appreciative of our history and more forward thinking, it’s up to us to continue to protect our historic resources as we make our city an even better place to live.

San Diego should be seen as more than just a place with nice weather or a transient city where folks come for school and head out to more fertile pastures after graduation. We think the Class 1 streetcars will be a key element in revitalizing the history of our urban neighborhoods and encouraging our roots to continue to grow and expand. Let’s help connect new generations to San Diego’s past by laying the rails to San Diego’s public transportation future — we deserve it.

Our autumn events just keep on rollin’!

On Sunday, October 9th, Class 1 streetcar #138 will be making an appearance at the Little Italy Festa! From 10am to 6pm you can head out to one of San Diego’s finest neighborhoods and enjoy Italian food, cooking demonstrations, Gesso Italiano chalk painting, great music, and more!

We’ll be at the corner of Grape and India all day. Come say hi, take a look at one of San Diego’s historic treasures and imagine what it’d be like to have these streetcars providing public transportation in Little Italy, and beyond, once again.

And if there’s anyone out there who’d like volunteer for this event, we’d love to have your help! Please send us an e-mail at sdstreetcars@gmail.com if you’re interested.

If you missed the premiere on San Diego’s Channel 4 this past Saturday, you can now watch the television program we produced via Vimeo!

We hope you’ll find this entertaining and informative look at the past and potential future of the Class 1s to be an education in the history of streetcars in San Diego as well as a clear demonstration of what returning these historic treasures to the rails would mean for our city. Let’s preserve our history, boost our local economy, and improve our public transportation in one fell swoop… San Diego deserves it!

Thanks for your support thus far. We’re look forward to working with all of you in order to make this dream a reality.