Postcards From the West: San Francisco

The cable cars are an iconic part of the San Francisco landscape.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A cable car begins its journey from the turnaround at Hyde Street by Fisherman’s Wharf. The cable cars are an iconic part of the San Francisco landscape, with most of the 7 million annual riders being tourists. A one-way fare is $6.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The last rays of sunshine light the towers and spans of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A sailboat passes Alcatraz on a sunny day in San Francisco.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Cable cars being fixed and restored are lined up in the car barn on the upper floor of the powerhouse in San Francisco.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Cable cars pass each other on Powell Street.   (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Trini Whittaker, veteran conductor and grip operator on San Francisco’s California Street cable-car line, sometimes welcomes passengers this way: “OK, the black guy doesn’t die early in this movie. So you’re all safe.â€� In other words, Whittaker, 46, understands that cable-car travel is theater.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A brightly colored trolley cruises down the Embarcadero past the Ferry Building in San Francisco.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Tourists aboard a sightseeing bus roll by a giant sign at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Visitors to the Cable Car Museum in San Francisco watch the big heavy metal wheels in the powerhouse turn and pull the cables that power the city’s cable car system.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A cable car on the Powell and Mason line passes Bush Street in San Francisco.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Cable cars on the Powell and Market line pass each other.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The price of a one-way fare and passenger instructions are clearly marked.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A cable car on the Powell-Hyde line climbs Hyde Street.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

As the doorman at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, Lavan Wade greets customers with a smile and a wave.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Grace Cathedral located on San Francisco’s Nob Hill provides a quiet place to get away from the bustle of the city.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Chinatown in San Francisco has brilliant murals.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Crabs are lined up at an open-air market on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A young girl walks through the man-made fog on the Fog Bridge at the Exploratorium located on Pier 17 in San Francisco.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Passengers spy another cable car, heading in the opposite direction.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Children play in Huntington Park. Grace Cathedral looms in the background.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A group of riders with the Electric Tour Company cruise past the Buena Vista on Segways.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A cable car waits to make the turnaround at Fisherman’s Wharf.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The lights at Ghirardelli Square twinkle at dusk.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Two cable cars pass in the night on Powell Street in San Francisco.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Riders wait at the Friedel Klussmann Memorial Turnaround in San Francisco.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The Golden Gate Bridge glistens in the evening light as traffic moves along the landmark.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)