San Francisco, California: Cable Car Museum

The Cable Car Museum is very well laid out and informative. One can purchase their tickets online and pay $13 for unlimited rides in one day. This by far beats the $7 price for one way.

San Francisco used to have a lot more cable car lines, and they were actually used for transportation, rather than serving primarily as tourist attractions like they do now. There's a pretty interesting museum that tells the history of San Francisco's cable cars from the late 1800s until now. There are three antique cable cars on display, along with lots of cable car artifacts, photographs, and models. But the coolest part is that the museum is in the actual powerhouse that drives San Francisco's four remaining cable car lines. From a walkway in the museum you can look down and see the big engines and giant wheels that actually move the cables under the street. Downstairs, you can peer through some windows and see the wheels and pulleys by which the cables turn corners. Best of all, this is free.