Cable Car Day

In the book of little-known observances you'll find that January 17th is Cable Car Day. As you might suspect, it's a San Francisco-centric holiday, honoring the city's position as first in the nation to have an operating cable car system and the only US city to still operate that system. Instead of going down the easy route and finding a picture of the vertigo-inducing hills of SF, I opted for something a little more noir.

This is a picture from the Shorpy archive showing downtown Charleston, NC's King Street after dark. Love the long exposure and the motion blur. I'm expecting Sam Spade to amble across the street to pick up a smoke at Pinkusshon's Cigar Shop. He'd pause in the doorway, catching a glimpse of a lovely dame lingering in the window just above the jewelry shop and then she'd disappear into the shadows. A few minutes later there'd be a shot, a scream, and a whole lot of trouble.