#12, Folsom/Pacific MUNI Route, approaching from the south, starts deep in the Mission District near Cesar Chavez Street and from south to north travels north, northeast, northwest, north, west, north again, and then west again to Van Ness, and travels back along a similar route in the opposite direction with a few variants. Along the way, it travels through the Mission District, SOMA, Downtown San Francisco, North Beach, and Chinatown, and is one of the most relaxing and peaceful MUNI rides you can take. I only covered a small portion of it, from Drumm Street to Powell Street, and back to Drumm. (Thumbnail images)
I usually catch #12 at Drumm and California Streets heading north, about left center in the vintage picture. My match-up is further west on California Street because California Street cable cars are backed up almost the whole block here. As often in the past, I found vintage photos along the portion I traveled from the terrific opensfhistory.org web site.
From Drumm Street, #12 travels west along Sacramento Street, looking north along Davis Street from Sacramento in 1921.
Sacramento at Front Street, looking west toward Nob Hill in 1914: You can see the Fairmont Hotel at the top of Nob Hill in the vintage picture, and the Fairmont Hotel Tower in my photo.
#12 turns north onto Sansome, seen here in 1938. #12 runs every ten minutes on weekdays, so I got off the bus for pictures I was taking in different areas before re-boarding another #12 that came along. The old Federal Reserve Bank Building is on the right in both photos.
The north bound bus turns west on Pacific Avenue, and we traveled through lower North Beach into Chinatown. The 1949 photo is looking south along Grant Avenue from Pacific.
The route continues west along Pacific before looping around at Polk Street to Jackson Street to Van Ness, back to Pacific Avenue, and heads back to Powell Street, where it turns north to Broadway. Along Broadway it heads east back to Sansome Street. The vintage picture is looking north from the intersection of Broadway and Stockton Street during the 1940s.
At Sansome Street, #12 turns south. The De Soto and West Paint buildings on the northeast corner of Broadway and Sansome Street, and the National Biscuit building (Nabisco), now the KPIX building, are still around. That’s always a comforting sight for me.
From Sansome Street, #12 turns east on Clay Street and heads back to Drumm Street. The view east along Clay from Drumm Street is not as quaint as the 1915 picture, but it still has the cobblestone and the north wing of the Ferry Building.
San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now 
This was a quick one for me to peruse through. It seems to feature more than the typical ratio of pictures that lack much to compare. I mean that not much remains of the old scenery. Although the new certainly has its attributes, I still prefer the old, . . . which is sort of what makes the scenery of San Francisco as well as Oakland so much more appealing than that of San Jose.
Saw in the news this morning that SF Muni is discontinuing routes. Checked to see if 12 is on the chopping block. For now it’s safe and probably will be.
I know, Nora, and also they’re talking about discontinuing the California Cable Car Line! That’s the oldest cable car line in existence, and that’s not going to happen.