ON MISS JO’S SCORECARD OF SAN FRANCISCO ICONS, THE CABLE CARS win hands down. In use sine 1861, they’re romantic, a little daring, full of lore and offer a window into the Golden Gate City’s early days.
Miss Jo’s mom, June, snapped the photo above in 1949 as a Pan American flight attendant living on Nob Hill. The cable car appears to be the Powell/Hyde line on a street Miss Jo can’t identify, but is one of two remaining routes. The other line follows California Street. Today a one-way ride on either costs $5.
The clang, clang, clang of the cable car bells is unmistakable. Even after living in SF for awhile, the sound still triggers giddiness in Miss Jo and Jeff. “Rice a Roni,” they always say when hearing brake men sound the bell. It’s a laugh the two Js first shared as SF visitors from their overly serious lives in Washington, D.C.
As it turns out, they’re not the only ones attached to the decades-old jingle for pre-seasoned dried rice— “A San Francisco Treat” as the song goes and which you’ll never find on Fog City menus.
Routinely, Miss Jo now spots others on street cable car routes, looking adoringly at them and joyously exclaiming “Rice A Roni,” to the confusion of foreign tourists.
Could Rice A Roni be a precursor to SF viral advertising like the Big Red Yarn Ball-– brought to you by Ray Ban— that’s been rolling through town ?
In case you haven’t a clue about Rice A Roni, here’s a video of a tourist named Pam who was inspired to sing the jingle while riding an SF cable car:
One Comment
And you know what? June would never let us have any Rice A Roni…even though it was my favorite commercial when I was a kid.