Market Street, San Francisco 1906

[shortliner]

I just had this sent to me - a true historic scene

 

 

1906 San Francisco Street Car Ride

 

This is unbelievable! When you look at it, you see everything just as it was

back in 1906. Actual film. Don’t miss it (the cars, clothes, traffic).

 

I didn’t realize there was this quality of motion pictures in this time

period. This is well worth viewing and filmed 4 days before the 1906

earthquake.

 

You'll appreciate the research that it took to date this film so be sure to

read this first.....

 

Here's a neat opportunity to enjoy some time travel. The film is

from a streetcar traveling down Market Street in San Francisco, four days

before the big earthquake/fire that destroyed the area. You can clearly see

the tall clock sticking up at the end of the street at the Embarcadero wharf

that's still there. The quality & detail is great, so be sure to view it

full screen.

 

The film, was originally thought to be from 1905 until David Kiehn

with the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum figured out exactly when it was

shot. From New York trade papers announcing the film showing to the wet

streets from recent heavy rainfall & shadows indicating time of year &

actual weather and conditions on historical record, even when the cars were

registered (he even knows who owned them and when the plates were issued!).

 

It was filmed only four days before the quake and shipped by train to NY

for processing.

 

 

Click on this Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=NINOxRxze9k

 

> .

 

 

[stewartingram]

What an incredible piece of historic film there! To be just an old film is good, but to think what happenned 4 days later - how many of those poor souls in that film actually perished? And the antics of everyone in the film, the walking and driving standards, must have been a dangerous place to be. Come to think of it, we haven't progressed that much today really I don't suppose. Thanks for the link, I've saved it to my favourites to watch again.

[Allegheny1600]

That is really brilliant, thanks Jack!

Amazing to watch how people simply danced out of the way of the automobiles, horse & carts just veered right across the path of the cable car and so on.

What amazes me is that (had he not already moved away!) you might have possibly seen Wyatt Earp in this film - there were certainly some savoury characters visible.

I wonder if any other famous historical characters really are visible here?

Cheers,

John E.

[Southernboy]

Thanks for posting - what a wonderful clip of film!

As others have already said, the behavior of some drivers and pedestrians was astounding in the way they just cut in front of other vehicles, but then again, I guess the pace of life (and speed of traffic) was much more pedestrian then.

[bertiedog]

Oddly enough it was not the earthquake itself that caused the widespread deaths, it was the massive fire that started and burnt out of control for days. Large sections of SF were damaged by the quake, but not seriously, but as the fires started people returned to property to rescue possessions and got trapped in burning buildings.

 

The lack of water due to burst pipes meant poor fire prevention, or dowsing, and with streets blocked rescue was hampered. Whole blocks were ablaze in minutes, driven by a stiff wind. It spread miles in a few hours, trapping large areas, and the casualty figures rose by the hour.

 

My Grandfather was there, he organised teams of rescuers to try to get owners to leave houses, but they would not till the last moments. The US Army, and Navy was called into action to clear areas, and teams of dock workers arranged trucks and vehicles to move people away from the worst fired areas.

 

A massive disaster all round.

[bertiedog]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_San_Francisco_earthquake

 

The Wikipedia entry on the Quake and fires, quite comprehensive details.

 

Stephen.

[Guest Max Stafford]

Fascinating footage. One other thing that strikes me about that era is the way that most western cities looked virtually identical at the time, as they again do today. This could just as easily, be London, Glasgow or Berlin. The developed world on the face of it appears to have been quite globalised in many ways in those relatively tranquil days before 1914.

 

Dave.

[BR60103]

We were just there in January.

Note that the vehicle is a cable car, not a street car. And that one idiot riding his bike down the cable slot! There is one electric street car passing in front of our ride.

 

Today that stretch of Market Steet has 4 separate types of transit. BART subway (cross bay heavy RT), light subway with subway/surface street cars, Traditional street cars -- PCCs and ex-Milan heavies, and trolley buses. (Possibly diesel buses?) And the 2 remaining cable car lines terminate at Market.

[Allegheny1600]

We were just there in January.

Note that the vehicle is a cable car, not a street car. And that one idiot riding his bike down the cable slot! There is one electric street car passing in front of our ride.

 

Today that stretch of Market Steet has 4 separate types of transit. BART subway (cross bay heavy RT), light subway with subway/surface street cars, Traditional street cars -- PCCs and ex-Milan heavies, and trolley buses. (Possibly diesel buses?) And the 2 remaining cable car lines terminate at Market.

 

 

Hi David,

Quite right - my post edited, must have been thinking about the street car while i was typing!

Cheers,

John E.

[Worsdell forever]

There is also this film from

taking the same route, the clock tower can be seen in the distance. Traffic is more ordered but only missing the horses.

[BR60103]

In the 2005 film, watch the overhead. This stretch of Market has 2 sets of trolleybus wires: first sharing with the streetcar, then separate so that there are 5 wires on the right side, and likely another 5 on the left.

The PCC cars are all in different paint schemes -- homages to the various companies that ran them (although, I think, the actual cars only came from San Francisco and Newark).

[298]

In the 2005 film, watch the overhead. This stretch of Market has 2 sets of trolleybus wires: first sharing with the streetcar, then separate so that there are 5 wires on the right side, and likely another 5 on the left.

The PCC cars are all in different paint schemes -- homages to the various companies that ran them (although, I think, the actual cars only came from San Francisco and Newark).

 

There are also some from Philedelphia, plus the Milan cars and a few other historic cars including a Blackpool Boat:

 

http://steeplecabs.fotopic.net/c1360221.html