Business Opportunities Weblog

January 31, 2008 by Dane Carlson | 1 Comment

Do you have a burning desire to slide down a thirty foot brass pole and jump into an exciting and fiery life? The San Francisco Fire Engine Tours & Adventures is for sale!

The San Francisco Chronicle has more:

Wearing a 19th century firefighter’s shirt and hat, Marilyn Katzman climbed into the shotgun seat of an open-air fire truck and burst into song with the gusto of a Busby Berkeley showgirl.

“Welcome aboard our big red shiny Mack fire engine,” she warbled as a dozen tourists packed into the seats behind her – also dressed in vintage firefighting apparel plus red scarves to ward off the January chill – clapped and cheered.

The driver, Marilyn Katzman’s white-bearded, similarly attired husband, Robert Katzman, chimed in with a gravelly baritone, “We’re off to the rescue now.”

The Katzmans, “two of San Francisco’s most flamboyant fire buffs,” according to the San Francisco Fire Museum, have made a business and life out of their devotion to firefighting history.

Their San Francisco Fire Engine Tours & Adventures business, which takes visitors on a 90-minute ride from the Cannery over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and back, is publicized in guidebooks, magazines and travel shows worldwide, they say.

The couple live in a 112-year-old former firehouse in San Francisco’s Ocean View district that they have crammed with firefighting memorabilia. Needless to say, they have a Dalmatian – the aptly named Sadie LaFlame – but she’s getting on in years and is taking her retirement in the country.

Now the Katzmans, who give their ages only as “nearing retirement,” also want to move on, and are seeking a buyer for their home and business.

In Biz Ops, Buying a Business, Fun, Ideas, Tourism, Video | 1 Comment