It was the summer of 1968, the so called "Summer of Love" was already a year in the past. The war in Viet Nam raged on with no end in sight and Lyndon Johnson had declared he "would not seek and would not accept" his party's nomination for that falls presidential election making himself a lame duck and thrusting V/P Hubert Humphrey into the race against Richard Nixon who had oozed himself back into the political spectrum.

MUNI PCC #1142, purchased from St. Louis in the 1950's, was outbound on what had been the inbound track on Market at Powell St. A new inbound track had been constructed in the curb lane to accomodate MUNI's street cars during BARTD construction on Market St., in this case the Powell St. Station.

In the background is the Emporium, a Market St. fixture for decades and Leed's which would later fall to make room the Galleria shopping center. You may note the destination sign on #1142 is, shall we say, non-standard, probably the result of a MUNI repair job following a collision. Almost out of sight is one of the MUNI's Twin trolley coaches and in the distance, a PCC heading for the Trans Bay Terminal which today, in 2010, is living out its last days.
The facade of the Emporium building still stands but the rest of the building was demolished for a new shopping (and lightly patronized) mall.