Carville-by-the-Sea: San Francisco's Streetcar Suburb, a book by Woody LaBounty, vividly recalls one of the quirkiest communities in San Francisco's rich history.

In the mid-1890s, San Francisco transit companies started selling surplus horse cars and cable cars to the public--$20 with seats intact, $10 without.

Obsolete public transportation soon became bars and restaurants, shoe repair shops, playhouses, laundries, artists' studios and even houseboats.

A bohemian settlement erupted at the beach as writers, judges, and lady bicyclists arranged, combined and even stacked old transit cars to create "Carville-by-the-Sea."

This hardcover book contains 144 full-color pages with extensive footnotes. The lush design recalls an antique scrapbook with hundreds of rare images from libraries, archives and private collections.