The late Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in a major U.S. city, is once again riding the city's F-line trolley route along Market Street.
During his historic 1977 campaign for a seat on the Board of Supervisors, Milk rode the city's transit system as a method to find votes.
"Harvey used Muni as a part of his campaign strategy," recalled Anne Kronenberg, who worked for Milk as an aide. "He handed out fliers at bus stops and he got on the trolleys that rode up and down Market Street to talk to voters. He had a captive audience. He used it as a moving campaign office."
Once elected, Milk was the only supervisor at the time to use a monthly Fast Pass and each day rode Muni's trolley cars from his home in the Castro to City Hall.
"Harvey and I knew the same thing: the cruising on Muni is fabulous," joked openly gay Supervisor Tom Ammiano as held up his own Fast Pass for the cameras.
Nearly 30 years after his untimely death in November 1978 at the hands of ex-Supervisor Dan White, Milk can once again be found on the public transit route. Tuesday morning (October 28) city leaders dedicated trolley car #1051 in honor of Milk. His friends and family hailed it as a fitting tribute to a man they described as a vocal advocate for mass transit.
Stuart Milk, Harvey's openly gay nephew, said the memorial to his uncle will be an inspiration to people worldwide.
"This streetcar will ride not just the streets of San Francisco but the streets of the nation and the world," he said.
Riders of the car, which has been in service in San Francisco since 1992, will find placards detailing Milk's life and legacy above the trolley's windows. Black and white photos of Milk adorn the car, including a promotional shot of the man known as the "Mayor of Castro Street" standing with then-Muni general manager Curtis Green.
"We would like to share the supervisor's story, which many of you know so well, with people from around the world," said Nathaniel P. Ford Sr., executive director and CEO of the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency. "The best way to be surprised with information is for you to get onto one of our railcars during the morning or evening commute."
Built in 1948 and employed on the streets of Philadelphia until 1989, the car is one of the PCC models, designed by the presidential conference committee at the request of transit executives who wanted more modern, quieter fleets to attract riders.
The car's green paint scheme is similar to those used on the trolleys Milk would have ridden. It has a cameo appearance in Milk , the new biopic by director Gus Van Sant starring Sean Penn in the title role that premieres at the Castro Theatre tonight.
"They were so easy to disable. We would yank down the cables, there would be sparks and traffic would stop," recalled Milk confidant Cleve Jones of how they would employ the trolleys as part of demonstrations in the Castro back in the 1970s. "The police would get so upset. There is a scene of that in the film."
A trolley tribute to Milk has been discussed since at least 2000, when local architects Byron Kuth and Liz Ranieri include it in their redesign proposal for Harvey Milk Plaza above the Muni stop at Castro and Market Streets. The concept was revived in 2005 and the Market Street Railway, the nonprofit group that helps maintain the F-line cars, had hoped to unveil Milk's trolley in the summer of 2006.
When the movie went into development last winter, Jamison Wieser, an openly gay member of the transit booster group's board, pushed to have the trolley be dedicated to Milk in time with the film's release.
"We were able to put this together in about eight weeks," said Wieser, a member of the SFMTA citizens' advisory council.
Tonight's Milk premiere begins with a red carpet entrance of the movie's stars at 5 p.m. in front of the Castro Theatre. The film will be released theatrically November 26 and has already generated Oscar buzz.
"I got to see a screening of the movie, it is so wonderful and so powerful," said Ammiano, who has a cameo in the film. "I did not do full frontal as rumored."