San Francisco PCG photo
SAN FRANCISCO – It’s beginning to look like Pinoy Christmas with the launch of the first-ever Filipino Christmas-themed cable car in San Francisco.
The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF MUNI) rolled out its very first Filipino Christmas-themed cable car, with the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco joining the inaugural trip on November 29, 2023.
SF MUNI has traditionally decorated its iconic cable cars with holiday decorations, but this is the first time that the Filipino community was asked to adorn one of its cable cars. For this project, SF MUNI partnered with the Filipino American Arts Exposition (FAAE) in decorating Cable Car No. 17, which was built in the year 1887.
Vice Consul Adrian Baccay and Cultural Officer Clasara-Steylaerts joined the FAAE and other volunteers in decorating Cable Car No. 17 at the Cable Car Barn on November 25. Among the Christmas decors used were capiz shell and abaca parol, “Maligayang Pasko” garland, and #LoveThePhilippines ornaments. The Philippine Department of Tourism Office in San Francisco also provided support to the project.
“Filipino Christmas is definitely in the air in The City By The Bay. I thank SF MUNI for their initiative to promote Filipino Christmas traditions in San Francisco, and I laud the FAAE under its president Al Perez and the Fil-Am community in the Bay Area for the bayanihan spirit that they have shown to complete this project,” Philippine Consul General in San Francisco Neil Ferrer said.
The inaugural trip was driven by Filipino Celso Abueg, a cable car gripman for the last 24 years, who took pride in driving SF MUNI’s first Filipino Christmas-themed cable car. A newly arrived immigrant from the Philippines when he first took on the role of a gripman, it was a full circle moment for Abueg as he plans to retire next year.
Cable Car No. 17 with Filipino Christmas decors will ply the Powell Street/Market Street-Fisherman’s Wharf route (via Bay/Taylor Streets, and Hyde/Beach Streets) until the first week of January 2024.
San Francisco is home to the world’s oldest and largest, and last manually operated cable car system, where individual cars stop and start by releasing and gripping, respectively, an underground cable. The San Francisco Cable Car System is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. (PCGSF Release)
