Blanche is mentioned in the play to arrive at Stella's apartment riding in a streetcar of the Desire streetcar line. Tennessee Williams was living in an apartment on Toulouse Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter when he wrote A Streetcar Named Desire. The old Desire streetcar line ran only a half-block away.
In the 1951 film Blanche is shown riding the car. In the interim between writing the play and shooting the film, though, the line was converted into a bus service (1948), and the production team had to seek permission from the authorities to hire out a streetcar with the "Desire" name on it.[4]
