Market Street, San Francisco, 1906 - eleven minutes of it

[Botch]

Wow. In 1906 someone mounted a movie camera onto the front of a streetcar and just filmed eleven minutes of footage; this footage was recently discovered and in excellent shape. No stoplights; cars, pedestrians, horse-drawn buggies and bicycles all going willie-nillie. And supposedly this was filmed just days before the Great Earthquake/Fire. Just... Wow!

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6964752n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Anyone familiary with SF, do you know if that rail station or capitol building, whatever it is centered on the street, is still there?

 

[Botch]

Re: Market Street, San Francisco, 1906 - eleven minutes of i

Ah, OP just posted this, the back story to the film:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/14/60minutes/main6958102.shtml

According to the writeup the large building at the end is the Ferry Building, and was destroyed but rebuilt. Fascinating...

 

[Deacon]

Re: Market Street, San Francisco, 1906 - eleven minutes of i

A few things I noticed:

1. The camera must have been a pretty big contraption as you could clearly see people staring at the trolley. I assume that the trolley itself was pretty mundane and of little notice so I figure they had to be staring at the camera.

2. Even then people knew how to ham it up when on camera. Its no different today when you see a live shoot on the news and kids etc are making faces and running around being silly just for the camera.

3. I wonder how often pedestrians got run over. Also how chaotic it got before universal traffic laws were adopted.

4. I didn't see a single black person. Wonder if black people just didn't live in San Fran or if they just weren't allowed in that part of the city in those days.

5. Women's dresses reached to the ground which must have made for some really filthy rings around the bottom of them. With as many horses and unpaved road around then I am sure dung and mud was a common contaminant of those dress fringes.


Pretty cool Botch!

 

[Doghart]

Re: Market Street, San Francisco, 1906 - eleven minutes of i

Hmm... people drove like assholes back then too.

D

 

[Rope]

Re: Market Street, San Francisco, 1906 - eleven minutes of i

Hmm... people drove like assholes back then too.

D

:laughing-rolling:

Rope

 

[Botch]

Re: Market Street, San Francisco, 1906 - eleven minutes of i

Hmm... people drove like assholes back then too.

D

Something else I noticed early in the clip, it looks like horse-drawn buggy wheels were spaced so that they could be "dropped" into the rail grooves, I imagine that made for a slightly smoother ride.

 

[Rope]

Re: Market Street, San Francisco, 1906 - eleven minutes of i

Hmm... people drove like assholes back then too.

D

Something else I noticed early in the clip, it looks like horse-drawn buggy wheels were spaced so that they could be "dropped" into the rail grooves, I imagine that made for a slightly smoother ride.

And that is how they established the width of railroad tracks.

Rope

 

[Yesfan70]

Re: Market Street, San Francisco, 1906 - eleven minutes of i

Wow, that's pretty cool. It's hard to believe how much time has passed since then. My son heard the music playing and walked in to see what I was watching. He just stood there, entranced. I just thought about what he might think of it if he sees footage of this later on in his teen years.



I too also thought how people drove like assholes back then.

 

[jomari]

Re: Market Street, San Francisco, 1906 - eleven minutes of i

beautiful footage botch, and as a bay area resident, i appreciate it immensely.

ive also shared this with my bay area based planted tank group, thanks to you.

wonderful detail, i will certainly watch this again at work.

 

[Botch]

Re: Market Street, San Francisco, 1906 - eleven minutes of i

And that is how they established the width of railroad tracks.

Rope

Now that you mention it, I remember reading an essay about how the width of the wheels of a two-horse Roman battle chariot influenced, throughout history, the roads, the width of a marching army, railroads and even the width of the Space Shuttle boosters (which take the train from Utard to Florida and back).

 

[DIYer]

Re: Market Street, San Francisco, 1906 - eleven minutes of i

I too also thought how people drove like assholes back then.

Assholes never die. They were around before, they are still around now and they will outlive all of us. It's a given.

 

[Yesfan70]

Re: Market Street, San Francisco, 1906 - eleven minutes of i

I too also thought how people drove like assholes back then.

Assholes never die. They were around before, they are still around now and they will outlive all of us. It's a given.

Yep. No denying that. It sucks that they can also get a driver's license though.