Cable Cars and Cookies

Winding Wheels in Cable Barn Powerhouse

Stuck Cable Car on Washington Street

One of the interesting stops on our tour with Randy and Seb was the Cable Car Powerhouse & Museum, the working center for the City’s cable cars. From a viewing platform we could see the huge engines and winding wheels for the cables and also saw the large sheaves (pulleys) located in the basement where the cable line enters the building. Each cable line has a set of three sheaves: an idler sheave, a driving sheave, and a tension sheave located at the back of the powerhouse. Together, the set of three sheaves move one loop of cable through the channels beneath the streets. Each cable line has its own electric motor with gear reducers that allow the sheaves to turn at a slower speed than the motor. Repairs are necessary from time to time to replace worn cables, grips, or other equipment. Interestingly when we arrived at the Powerhouse & Museum, a cable car had come to a halt at the intersection of Washington & Mason Streets, temporarily stranding its passengers. On display in the Museum are various mechanical devices such as grips, brake mechanisms, tools, and a large collection of historic photographs as well as a few historic cable cars. Another stop on our tour of the City was at the best kept secret in Chinatown. Randy pulled up to a curb and told us, "you and Seb can get out here" – Seb led us down a dark narrow alleyway heading for a side door. “Oh my God, where is he taking us!” I thought to myself. The door flew open and we stepped inside – there sat two ladies hand-folding fortune cookies! The ladies were busy plucking flat discs of warm dough from a small conveyer apparatus, placing a fortune on each piece of dough, and then folding the dough to cool in a special pan. The older gentleman in charge granted permission to take a picture - of course we obliged him with the purchase of a big bag of fortune cookies. It was great fun and we never would have found this special place without Randy and Seb showing us the way! The following day after lunch, Leonard handed me a cookie and the fortune that went with it. The fortune seemed defective because a line was marked through the words so I turned the paper over to look on the other side. The hand-written message said “Happy Anniversary, let's celebrate.” What a cute and creative Anniversary message. Leonard then opened his cookie and read his fortune, it said “Good things come to those who wait, be patient.” Wow! Fortune Cookies really do work, ha.