Current:Home > ScamsRiders can climb ‘halfway to the stars’ on San Francisco cable car dedicated to late Tony Bennett -TradeBridge
Riders can climb ‘halfway to the stars’ on San Francisco cable car dedicated to late Tony Bennett
View
Date:2025-04-17 03:54:02
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A cable car recently dedicated to the late Tony Bennett rolls past the landmark Fairmont hotel where the singer in 1961 first performed the song that would forever tie him to San Francisco.
San Francisco officials on Valentine’s Day dedicated one of the city’s iconic cable cars to Bennett, whose “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” included a line about “the city where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars.” He died at age 96 last summer.
The song was an enormous hit and Bennett returned to the city often, even appearing with the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein when she was mayor to toast the rebuild of the cable system in 1984. His statue is on the front lawn of the Fairmont San Francisco and a short street by the hotel is named for him.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has 42 cable cars of which four are dedicated to individuals, including baseball’s former center fielder Willie Mays, says Arne Hansen, superintendent of cable car vehicle maintenance.
“Some people specifically wait for this car because they want to ride the Tony Bennett cable car just like they want to ride the Willie Mays car, which is Car 24,” he said.
Car 53, built in 1907, was in the process of being restored after an accident when the idea came up to dedicate the car to Bennett. It is shiny red with blue and and white trim and features plaques explaining the singer’s connection to San Francisco.
Also unique to the car, the traditional “ribbons” on both ends say “Halfway to the Stars, Since 1873,” referencing a lyric and the year the city’s cable car system was born. Regular cable cars have ribbons listing names of the streets on their routes.
The car also gives a nod to the song’s writers, George Cory and Douglass Cross, who had moved to Brooklyn and were nostalgic for San Francisco. The song received little attention until Bennett came along.
As Bennett’s cable car pulled out of the barn — where cable cars sleep at night — and into Chinatown on Thursday, a group of children on the sidewalk yelled, “Ring the bell.”
The Bennett route is not just for tourists, but also takes people to work and to grocery markets, while treating them to a view of the Fairmont.
veryGood! (3)
Related
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- CEO predictions, rural voters on the economy and IRS audits
- Celebrity Makeup Artists Reveal the Only Lipstick Hacks You'll Ever Need
- Big Rigged (Classic)
- Average rate on 30
- Warming Trends: Outdoor Heaters, More Drownings In Warmer Winters and Where to Put Leftover Turkey
- UN Report: Despite Falling Energy Demand, Governments Set on Increasing Fossil Fuel Production
- America, we have a problem. People aren't feeling engaged with their work
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Inside Clean Energy: A Michigan Utility Just Raised the Bar on Emissions-Cutting Plans
Ranking
- Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
- Warming Trends: Outdoor Heaters, More Drownings In Warmer Winters and Where to Put Leftover Turkey
- Get a First Look at Love Is Blind Season 5 and Find Out When It Premieres
- In 2018, the California AG Created an Environmental Justice Bureau. It’s Become a Trendsetter
- Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
- BP’s Net-Zero Pledge: A Sign of a Growing Divide Between European and U.S. Oil Companies? Or Another Marketing Ploy?
- The Corvette is going hybrid – and that's making it even faster
- 2 boys dead after rushing waters from open Oklahoma City dam gates sweep them away, authorities say
Recommendation
IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
Inflation cooled in June to slowest pace in more than 2 years
Senators slam Ticketmaster over bungling of Taylor Swift tickets, question breakup
Khloe Kardashian Congratulates Cuties Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker on Pregnancy
Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
Historic floodwaters begin to recede as Vermont dam stabilizes after nearing capacity
Colorado woman dies after 500-foot fall while climbing at Rocky Mountain National Park
Elon Musk takes the witness stand to defend his Tesla buyout tweets
Like
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- A Week After the Pacific Northwest Heat Wave, Study Shows it Was ‘Almost Impossible’ Without Global Warming
- California’s Almond Trees Rely on Honey Bees and Wild Pollinators, but a Lack of Good Habitat is Making Their Job Harder