San Francisco Cable Car

[madmike2]

1906 San Francisco Street Car film - AMAZING

This is well worth viewing and filmed 4 days before the '06 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 clock tower 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. Amazing but true!

Linky Thingy

 

[James Burleigh]

Thanks, Mike! I love stuff like this--windows into the past. I like to pick a person and think about that person on that day at that moment 105 years ago, and what his / her life must have been like.

One word comes to mind watching the movement of people and vehicles: Chaos! You think all the vehicles on the right are heading pretty much in the same direction, till you see a car on the right coming straight at you. I wonder what the pedestrian injury rate was.

 

[FJRBluesman]

What, no traffic signals, no HOV lanes... Thank God for laws...

Great video of our past.

 

[Badcat]

That was really cool. Thanks for posting it.

b

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

That was sooooo cool Mike! I'm a history buff, and it really brought that period to life. I'll have to watch it a few times to catch the details. Extra cool that the cable cars looked about the same as the ones I rode on at Thanksgiving on that same line.

 

[madmike2]

Thanks, Mike! I love stuff like this--windows into the past. I like to pick a person and think about that person on that day at that moment 105 years ago, and what his / her life must have been like.

To me, it puts a very human face on the tragedy about to unfold on the city. Seeing real people living real lives helps humanize the past. They weren't much different than we, the technology has changed.

One word comes to mind watching the movement of people and vehicles: Chaos! You think all the vehicles on the right are heading pretty much in the same direction, till you see a car on the right coming straight at you. I wonder what the pedestrian injury rate was.

I watched it a couple of times before I realized how narrow the roadway is to the left of the cable car lanes. Therefore, the wagons and cars had to share the space to the right of the cable cars.

Actually, with no marked lanes and no heavy police presence, the different modes of transportation seem to get along quite well. Of course, this is aided by a much slower pace than we are used to.

 

[Stephen]

Thank you for the post.

Good chillin' music. I just burned the Moon Safari CD for my wife when she's in the car.

 

[SCWatts]

Very much worth 7 minutes and 10 seconds.

What a film!

 

[lonerider]

Cool, almost like seeing ghosts...

 

[happyPuppy]

Really interesting. I lived for a while in the City and grew up in the area. It is fairly common to see stills, but rare to see video

 

[SCWatts]

Looking up the film on youtube, I found several other versions of this film, none of which were nearly as bright and clear. This was by far the best quality I found. However, one of them gave some more info on it.

I thought it seemed a little contrived how the cars kept jumping right in front of the cable car. Additional info stated that the filmmaker wanted to portray a bustling Market Street full of automobiles, when in actuality most of the traffic consisted of the horse-drawn carts, etc. you also see in the film. So he had a few cars repeatedly circle the cable car, one in fact appearing a total of 10 times!

Even so - this is fascinating look back through time.

 

[Pepperell]

Amazing video, thanks for posting it. I like that the playback isn't overcranked as so many old silent films are. Judging by the people running

along side, the streetcar must be doing no more than about 10 mph, the cars maybe 20mph?

I would just like to put in a plug once again for the Seashore Trolley Museum in Arundel, ME near Kennebunkport. It's a non-profit operation run by volunteers for the past 70 years or so. They have many vintage trolleys and interurban cars from this period. Several of them are operable that you can ride on, too.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

I would just like to put in a plug once again for the Seashore Trolley Museum in Arundel, ME near Kennebunkport. It's a non-profit operation run by volunteers for the past 70 years or so. They have many vintage trolleys and interurban cars from this period. Several of them are operable that you can ride on, too.

If it is similar to when I was there a couple decades ago, I'd second the recommendation

 

[n1acguy]

That is the coolest video I've seen in a long time. Thanks Mike.

 

[Khunajawdge]

MM2 -

That was the "Kewelest" video! I didn't realize that all those Phaetons had their steering wheels on the right side? I thought we drove on the right and steered on the left because instead of drawing swords with our right hands from a scabbard on the left (like the Brits), we drew a pistol from a holster on the right side and thus had more reason to swing left out of harms way whilst covering our retreat with the armed hand? Oh well, learn somethin' new everyday!

The Ferry building down there at the end of Market Street is where my dad used to put his plug into the ILWU/CIO board, signifying that he had shown up for work (that day) as a SF Longshoreman. SF is/was a union town. Dad worked on the waterfront for 39 years.