The Silver Cable Car Award, established in 1965, is an annual award honoring those who have made significant contributions to San Francisco's visitor industry. Past recipients include the Golden Gate Bridge, Herb Caen, Willie Mays and the San Francisco 49ers.

This year's award, presented by SFCVB president, John A. Marks, was accepted by Steve Seabolt, President, Chief Executive Officer and Publisher of Sunset Magazine and Sunset Books.

According to Dr. Kevin Starr, State Librarian of California, the word magazine was originally a military term, signifying an arsenal or a storage site for weapons and/or tools. "Magazines, in other words, provide the tools of self definition. For most of the twentieth century, Sunset Magazine, in both its cumulative identity and its individual articles, has helped California  evolve  its  culture  and  understand  the  culture  it  has  evolved."

Launched by the Southern Pacific Railroad company in 1898 to promote western settlement and travel, Sunset became the first regional lifestyle magazine in the United States. At the turn of the century, Eastern magazines had portrayed California as a land of quick money and questionable morals, a young state suitable for speculators but not for upstanding families To combat that negative image, the railroad company aimed to "chronicle the world of the West over which the dawn of future commercial and industrial importance is just beginning."

The first issue had just 16 pages. It took the good things about Western living and made them seem accessible and possible for the masses-an idea that became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sunset grew, consistently reporting the latest and best Western lifestyle news, breaking new ground and establishing trends, and travel has always been an editorial staple.

Today Sunset covers 13 Western states and publishes five zoned editions for 5 million readers. Generations of Western newcomers have turned to the magazine to learn how to garden in an unfamiliar climate, cook with new ingredients, and find a vacation destination in a new land. From Western living promotion to Western living authority, Sunset has been invaluable in promoting travel and tourism to San Francisco.

The San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau is a private, non-profit membership organization responsible, since 1909, for marketing San Francisco as a convention and visitor destination. With more than 2,200 member businesses, the bureau ranks as the city's largest business membership organization, promoting San Francisco's largest industry.