SAN FRANCISCO– A cable car recently dedicated to the late Tony Bennett rolls past the landmark Fairmont hotel where the singer first performed the song that would forever tie him to San Francisco in 1961.
San Francisco officials on Valentine’s Day dedicated one of the city’s iconic cable cars to Bennett, whose “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” included a line about “the city where little cable cars climb halfway up the stars.” He died last summer at the age of 96.
The song was a huge hit and Bennett returned to the city often, even performing with the late Senator Dianne Feinstein when she was mayor to toast the rebuilding of the cable system in 1984. His statue sits on the front lawn of the Fairmont San Francisco and a short street near the hotel is named after him.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has 42 cable cars, four of which are for individuals, including former baseball player Willie Mays, said Arne Hansen, cable car maintenance superintendent.
“Some people are waiting for this car specifically because they want to ride the Tony Bennett cable car, just like they want to ride the Willie Mays car, which is Car 24,” he said.
Car 53, built in 1907, was undergoing restoration after an accident when the idea arose to dedicate the car to Bennett. It’s glossy red with blue and white borders and features plaques explaining the singer’s connection to San Francisco.
Also unique to the car, the traditional ‘ribbons’ at either end say ‘Halfway to the Stars, Since 1873’, referencing a text and the year the city’s funicular system was born. Normal cable cars have ribbons with the names of the streets on their routes.
The car is also a nod to the song’s writers, George Cory and Douglass Cross, who had moved to Brooklyn and were nostalgic for San Francisco. The song received little attention until Bennett came along.
As Bennett’s cable car pulled out of the shed — where cable cars sleep at night — and into Chinatown on Thursday, a group of children on the sidewalk shouted, “Ring the bell.”
The Bennett Route is not just for tourists, but also takes people to work and to grocery stores while treating them to views of the Fairmont.