San Francisco's cable cars are one of the most unique pieces of Bay Area history. NBC Bay Area’s joerosatojr takes us along for a ride with one operator who's also making history.
Every time Willa Johnson rolls out of San Francisco's cable car barn at the helm of one of the city's famous wooden ambassadors, she is in a sense history driving history.
For Johnson, life happened. Landing in the cable car fleet was just another unexpected point on a journey as winding as the Powell-Mason line. "I actually wanted to be a firefighter, but I applied many times and they never did call me," she laughed."So this is what I got." Willa Johnson, the second woman and second woman of color to work as a cable car grip, operates cable car 8 along Hyde Street.
But after many years, she was itching for change and pursued a job as a bus driver in the Muni fleet. She was daunted by the prospect of having to navigate a 60-foot bus through the city's chaotic streets, so she decided to try for a job as a conductor in the cable car division. Her co-workers didn't exactly wish her luck.
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