A Streetcar Named Desire

Ok, that was cheesy, but oh well. It seems as though some of the more interesting things to be seen are easily missed when you walk by them all the time. This is the way it was with this particular piece of the collection of the East Tennessee History Center, one of my places of employment. I had always seen it there, I walked in and out if it whenever I was at work, but I never really sat down and enjoyed it as a piece of Knoxville until today, when I snapped this photo of its interior after closing up the museum. Streetcar #416 of Knoxville, circa 1940. Number 416 has been beautifully restored to its condition when it was in operation on the streets of Knoxville. Complete with green velour seats, hardwood and polished brass trim, and brite yellow and white paint, this piece of art-deco engineering might seem more at home in New York or San Francisco than an Appalachian city. Too bad we no longer have such modes of transportation in this traffic-laden town.