Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway in Palm Springs, California, is the largest rotating aerial tramway in the world. It was opened in September 1963 as a way of getting from the floor of the Coachella Valley to near the top of San Jacinto Peak and was constructed in rugged Chino Canyon. Before its construction, the only way to the top of the mountain was to hike hours from Idyllwild. The rotating cars were added in 2000.

Route

The twelve-and-a-half minute ride begins at the Valley Station (coordinates: ) at above sea level and passes up a sheer mountain face through five life zones (biomes) on its way to the Mountain Station (coordinates: ) at above sea level. Travelers start in the Sonoran Desert and arrive at an alpine forest.

The floor of the aerial tram cars rotates constantly, making two complete revolutions throughout the duration of the journey so that the passengers can see in all directions without moving. With a maximum capacity of 80 passengers, it is the largest of the four rotating aerial trams in the world. The other "Rotair" aerial trams are located in Cape Town, South Africa, Titlis, Switzerland and Sky Way, Courmayeur, Italy.

Passengers disembark at the
Mountain Station in the alpine wilderness of Long Valley and Mount San Jacinto State Park. The air can be as much as 40 °F (22 °C) cooler at the top than in the desert. Visitors can walk along nature trails or play in the snow in the winter months. Back-country hiking can be done with a permit from the U.S. Forest Service. There are two restaurants at the summit, one of which specializes in fine dining. Both stations have gift shops specializing in Aerial Tramway-related merchandise as well as educational toys. A video presentation of the history of the attraction plays continuously in a theater at the Mountain Station. It was produced by Palm Springs television station KESQ-TV with voiceovers provided by Palm Springs radio personalities.

The view at the top can stretch northward for more than on a clear day, all the way to Mount Charleston north of Las Vegas, Nevada. Views to the east and west can stretch as far as . California's Salton Sea is plainly visible to the southeast.

As it was in 1963, the only way up the mountain to deliver supplies and water is via the aerial tram cars themselves. Supplies are loaded into the passenger area before the attraction's opening while fresh water is pumped into storage tanks in the car's underbelly.

The original aerial tram cars are now on static display near the entrance to the Valley Station.

History

The aerial tram was first proposed by electrical engineer Francis Freeman Crocker (1901-1992) during a 1935 trip to Banning, California, with the '' Desert Sun'' newspaper publisher Carl Barkow. During the heat of the day, Crocker's gaze fell upon the snow-capped, peak of Mount San Jacinto to the east. Crocker then proposed building an aerial tram up the face of Chino Canyon, an idea that one newspaper dubbed "Crocker's Folly".

Toward the end of the decade, Crocker named the comanager of the Palm Springs Desert Inn, O. Earl Coffman, to chair the construction committee.

Both World War II and the Korean War shelved the project. Construction began in 1960. The unprecedented use of helicopters in the construction of four of the aerial tram's five towers helped the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway earn a reputation as a great engineering feat. It was opened in September 1963.

In 1963, a tram car became stuck for 13½ hours because of an electrical problem in the control room."Accidents at tramway have been few, but not far between". ''The Desert Sun''. Palm Springs, California. August 27, 2000.

In June 1984, a tram car was headed down the mountain when a bolt from a shock absorber snapped, causing a piece of metal to crash through a Plexiglas window along the car's roof. Tram passenger Elaine Tseko of Ontario, California, was struck by the piece and later died as a result of the injury.

In September 1984, during routine maintenance, an auxiliary cable snapped and wrapped around the main cable tracks. ''The Desert Sun'' newspaper reported that if the broken cable hadn't wedged itself under the main track cables, a rescue car with the tram's workmen in it could have plummeted down the mountain into the lower tramway station. "Without the snag," a state investigator said, "those two men wouldn't be with us today."

In 1985, a flash flood buried vehicles parked in the Valley Station's parking lot in mud and tore up about three-quarters of a mile of Tramway Road. Stranded passengers had to be airlifted from the area.

Not all Tramway accidents happened on the passenger lifts. On July 31, 1991, a bus carrying approximately 60 Girl Scouts careened out of control as it was heading downhill on Tram Road, killing the driver and six passengers.

In 2000, the original tram cars were replaced by new cars that rotate slowly, offering riders a 360° panoramic view of Chino Canyon and the desert valley floor.

In October 2003, a steel cable broke and caused a mechanical failure that left more than fifty tramway customers hanging in mid-air and one hundred passengers stranded at the Mountain station for 4½ hours. During the crisis, tramway officials sought a rescue helicopter but could not locate one. The obstruction was removed by a tram operator with no training in maintenance, utilizing a borrowed Leatherman utility knife. ''The Desert Sun'' later reported that a cable inspector had discovered a break in the rescue line almost two hours before the incident occurred.

Animal park

In the late 1960s, the Tramway Animal Park, now defunct, was owned and operated by Animal Behavior Laboratories of Los Angeles. It was located on of land leased from the Mt. San Jacinto Winter Park Authority. A portion of the park included a fenced area for reindeer that were allowed to roam throughout Chino Canyon. In addition to reindeer, the park featured tame deer, cockatoos, two dolphins named Buttons and Beau, macaques, and various other species of primates (including "Suzie, the show-off chimpanzee"). The animals performed in regularly scheduled shows.

Station architecture

Both tramway stations were designed by notable mid-century modern architects.

The Valley Station was designed by Albert Frey with assistance from his business partners John Porter Clark and Robson Chambers. The building has a bridge-like structure that straddles a gully, allowing water, and the occasional boulder rolling down from the mountain to pass underneath without damaging the building. Extensive use of glass affords passengers waiting to board a tram views of the mountain they are about to scale. The firm of Clark, Frey and Chambers also designed the iconic Tramway Gas Station at the bottom of the entrance road.

The Mountain Station was designed by architect E. Stewart Williams, with assistance from his brother and business partner H. Roger Williams. The lodge style building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In popular culture

The tramway has been featured in many films and television programs since its inception.

In the fall of 1966, two episodes of ''I Spy'' were filmed in Palm Springs, one of which included footage of the tramway (Season 2, Episode 1), and the other included a brief discussion of the tramway (Season 2, Episode 8).

On September 16, 1967, the first episode of the TV show ''Mannix'' was broadcast with the tramway as a scene in the show.TV.com: ''Mannix'', Season 1, Episode 1, "The Name is Mannix".
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The fourth and final ''Matt Helm'' movie, '' The Wrecking Crew'', contained an action scene filmed at the tram station that featured actors Dean Martin, Nancy Kwan, and Sharon Tate.

On October 2, 1971, an episode of '' Mission: Impossible'' (Season 6, Episode 3: "The Tram"), filmed at the tramway, first aired.

The 1972 ''Columbo'' episode "Short Fuse" featured the tramway as the location of the climactic scene at the end of the show where Columbo tricks the murderer into revealing his guilt.

The 1974 television movie ''Skyway to Death'', shown on the ''ABC Movie of the Week'', had its exterior scenes filmed at the tramway.

In the 2010 ''Life After People'' episode "Holiday Hell", the dry desert environment allows the tramway to survive for 120 years without maintenance; however, corrosion eventually sets in on the cable and towers, leading it to collapse into Chino Canyon.

Further reading

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* Wheeler, George O. (1963). ''Geo. O. Wheeler's 50 tramway pictures''. Palm Springs, CA: Wheeler's Desert Letter. pp. 63.

References

External links

Official website

Palm Springs tourism website page for Santa Rosa & San Jacinto Mountains

Palm Springs Aerial Tramway: Miracle at Palm Springs, c. 1970 (video)

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{{United States aerial tramways

1963 establishments in California
Aerial tramways in the United States
Albert Frey buildings
Aerial
E. Stewart Williams buildings
Modernist architecture in California
San Jacinto Mountains
Aerial
Transport infrastructure completed in 1963
Transport infrastructure completed in 2000
Transportation buildings and structures in California
Transportation buildings and structures in Riverside County, California