Stunning Vintage Photographs of San Francisco’s Sky Tram, 1955-1961

From late 1955 to 1966, an aerial tram ran from the Cliff House to Point Lobos.

The Sky Tram opened on May 3, 1955. Up to 25 passengers, paying a quarter each, had a slow ride from just below the Cliff House across the Sutro Baths basin to a Point Lobos promontory that had been outfitted with a two manmade waterfalls. This was not a roller-coaster, but a very slow sight-seeing glide on a couple of steel cables a few hundred feet above the ground. The whole trip took four minutes and you had to walk back.

h/t: vintag.es

Fog, wind, and perhaps general boredom shut down the Sky Tram in May 1966. For many years the former Cliff House Sky Tram “station” served as a Golden Gate National Recreation Area visitor’s center. That building was torn down during the 2000 renovation of the Cliff House.