Let’s remember when the South Lake Union Streetcar began service, on this day in 2007 (December 12)
The South Lake Union Streetcar, which began service exactly twelve years ago today, was never actually called the South Lake Union Trolley even though it would be extremely funny had it been. So, while we don’t really have a mode of public transportation abbreviated S.L.U.T., we do have something that answered the prayers of those who wished to eat at the 6th and Virginia McDonald’s and then immediately head to Guitar Center. That’s not nothing!
Anyway, as HistoryLink’s Paula Becker put it:
On December 12, 2007, the South Lake Union Streetcar begins service on a 1.3- mile route through Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. Operated by King County Metro, the South Lake Union Streetcar marks the neighborhood’s first streetcar service since 1941 and the first new rail line in Seattle since the waterfront streetcar (out of service since late 2005) was put into service in 1982.
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels (b. 1955), state senator Ed Murray, King County Council member Larry Phillips (b. 1956) and other dignitaries gathered in near-freezing weather at the streetcar line’s Westlake Hub and addressed a festive crowd of streetcar supporters, streetcar critics, office workers, families with strollers, and other Seattleites eager to take a ride. Streetcar service was free and scheduled to remain so through the end of December 2007.
The first car to go into service waited at the curb, its LED sign programmed with the jaunty message “HELLO SEATTLE.”
Well then.
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