In the late 1890s, San Francisco began modernizing public transportation, replacing horse-drawn streetcars with those powered by electricity. But what to do with the old street cars?

Transportation companies hauled the relics to the sandy dunes of the undeveloped Outside Lands near the ocean. The streetcars were put on sale for $20 each (about $730 in 2024 dollars). People looking for bargain housing bought them.

Creative reuse flourished. Buyers would expand the streetcars, join them together, even stack them to make two- and three-story buildings. Porches and siding added style and an air of permanence. 

The streetcars took on many roles. They were popular clubhouses, attracting a women’s bicycling club and a men’s beach walking group. The streetcars served as weekend getaways. Others were reborn as cafes, restaurants, and after-hours clubs.

By the turn of the century, about 100 streetcars were scattered among the dunes. The area became known as Carville, which extended from Lincoln Way to present-day Moraga Street.

Real estate speculator Jacob Heyman rented out oceanfront lots for $7.50 a month and sank a well to provide water for Carville.

The community of recycled streetcars attracted a bohemian crowd of artists, writers, and musicians including such literary luminaries as Jack London, George Sterling, and Ina Coolbirth. 

The eccentric community was featured in local and national press. But change was coming. In the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Franciscans made homeless by the devastation turned to an affordable housing option in the undeveloped dunes of the Outer Sunset.

By 1908, Carville boasted some 2,000 residents. But as more families arrived, they opted to build permanent homes, some incorporating the old horse cars. They sought urban amenities such as streets, utilities, and schools. 

The newcomers called their neighborhood Oceanside and considered the old horse-drawn streetcars an eyesore. Their destruction began in 1913 and by the end of the 1920s, few survived. If any horse cars remain in the structure of present-day Sunset homes, they are hidden from public view.

Learn more
If you want to learn more about Carville, be sure to read "Carville by the Sea: San Francisco's Streetcar Suburb" written by Woody LaBounty. You can find the book here. 

Western Neighborhoods Project
If you want to learn more about Sunset history, visit the Western Neighborhoods Project. Founded in 1999, WNP is a neighborhood history nonprofit that preserves, interprets, and shares the diverse history and culture of San Francisco's west side (including all of the Sunset and District 4). In support of this work, WNP also manages a citywide archive of historical San Francisco images called OpenSFHistory. You can learn more about all the work they do at wnpsf.org.

Reported and written by volunteer community journalist Jan Cook. We encourage residents with journalism experience, retired journalists, and student journalists in high school and college to volunteer as writers for Supervisor Engardio’s newsletter. Interested? Apply here. Do you know a story you would like to see featured in the newsletter? Tell us about it here.