1906 SF Streetcar Footage Days Before the Fire (San Francisco: transporting, live)

[Bluesmama]

I thought you would really enjoy this fabulous piece of filming from YouTube that was forwarded to me this morning. Try to watch it with the screen maxed because you'll feel like you're in front of the cable car that is transporting the camera.

As you'll see, San Francisco hasn't changed much at all in some ways. 104 years ago people still walked right in front of moving traffic, and vehicles still tried to cut each other off.

Anyway, enjoy! Info on the film is below.



YouTube - Air - La Femme D'Argent


This film, 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 4 DAYS before the quake - and shipped by train to NY for processing. Amazing but true!

You are looking out from the front of a cable car in San Francisco in 1906. What an experience! Clk

Interesting! Very few women on foot, mostly men and various vehicles/horses. Some are right hand drive, some left. Also, people and buggies just pull in front of cable cars, etc.

What a 'Treasure' - A camera on a S.F. Cable car in 1906 - Not a stop sign or cross-walk in sight!! But crazy traffic! I'm sure many of you will recognize Market Street and the clock tower! This was just 4 days before the earthquake.

This film was "lost" for many years. It was the first 35mm film ever. It was taken by camera mounted on the front of a cable car
The amount of automobiles is staggering for 1906. Absolutely amazing! The clock tower at the end of Market Street at the Embarcadero wharf is still there. (I'm also wondering ... How many "street cleaning" people were employed to pick up after the horses? Talk about going green!)

[Mach50]

It's a great piece of footage.

It's also fun to compare it to the modern version of this video:

YouTube - San Francisco Market Street 2005

[Bluesmama]

Originally Posted by Mach50

It's a great piece of footage.

It's also fun to compare it to the modern version of this video:

Yes, you're so right! So much has changed, yet almost nothing has.

Haven't been to SF since '06 and am having withdrawals.

Anyway, thanks.

[sonarrat]

Even with all the chaos in the first video.. it moves a lot faster than the F trolleys can on Market Street today. Heck, even the underground MUNI light-rails take 6 minutes to get from Van Ness to the Embarcadero.

[ubringliten]

Both are great videos. You still see the similar vibes about how people react to the cable cars (or with a camera).

Look at 1906 video at 4:39 and 4:58, two different times the people have fun with the cable car.

Then compare to the 2005 video, there's this guy with a red cape on a bike dragging a rope of cans at 2:12 and 5:30.

They're both hilarious and nice at the same time.

[LibraGirl123]

Was watching 60 Minutes tonight, and they did a piece on this film. I remembered having read about it here on City Data, and how amazing it was. Here's the 60 Minutes link:

You're about to take a short trip into the past, a remarkable glimpse of a footnote to history we first broadcast last April. It's a film made more than 100 years ago on Market Street, San Francisco's main thoroughfare.
In fascinating detail, it shows how people lived and dressed in what was then, as now, the Golden City of the American West. The film is well known to historians.



But who made it and why, and most importantly, exactly when? For a century, time, like the fog that blankets San Francisco, has shrouded the answers. But now we know. The film is a time traveler's glimpse of a joyous city on the brink of disaster.

Historic 1906 film captures S.F.'s Market Street - CBS News

[Boompa]

My father drove a trolley in Philadelphia and I grew up riding trolleys. The F Trolley down Market Street in San Francisco, made up of restored Trollies from all over the country, was more fun for me than the cable cars. This film amazes me in how little has changed.

[Soviet]

Ooooooh! I came on here to post it and looks like it's been posted already, haha! Great job!

Historic film: Market Street 1906 - 60 Minutes - CBS News

[oceanpoetry]

So interesting!!! thanks for posting!