Moving San Francisco
The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) Art in City Hall program, in partnership with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's (SFMTA) Photo Archive, are proud to present Moving San Francisco: Views from the SFMTA Photo Archive 1903 - Now, an exhibition that celebrates the history of Muni and the evolution of our city with a collection of images from the SFMTA Photo Archive.
Moving San Francisco will be on display on the Ground Floor and North Light Court at City Hall through June 18, 2026. The exhibition features photographs taken between 1903 and 2025 and focuses on the City's iconic public transportation system. Through this lens, it tells the story of San Francisco and the people who live and work here.
A public reception to celebrate the opening of the exhibition will be held on the Ground Floor of City Hall on Thursday, January 15, 2026, from 5 - 7 p,m.
The SFMTA Photography Department traces its origins back over 120 years through a series of photographers working for public transit agencies in San Francisco. Made up of more than 200,000 images, it it one of the largest collections of photos focused on transportation in the City.
Moving San Francisco pulls just a fraction of these photos to transport you from familiar scenes to a city unimaginable today. From the close of the Victorian Era into the 21st Century, see the people, places, and things that move in our city. Cable cars transition to buses and Muni Metro trains, neighborhoods sprout from sand dunes and San Franciscans make their way from point A to point B. Throughout the exhibition are favorite Muni memories and favorite routes shared by San Franciscans; a love letter to the iconic transit system.
The exhibition features images from photographers working for the City’s transit agencies past and present including: Horace Chaffee, Lionel DaSilva, George Fanning, Carmen Magana, John Henry Mentz, Jeremy Menzies, Heather Moran, Marshall Moxom, Bill Owyang, Ken Snodgrasss, Alex Sutton, Lester Teal
Image credit: Ken Snodgrass, Municipal Railway Photographer. Cable Car with Passengers Passing Washington Mason Cable Car House Photographed for Annual Report | October 7, 1965 (detail). Courtesy of the SFMTA Photo Archive.
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