SOT - San Francisco 1906

corug7 wrote on 10/25/2010, 7:57 PM

The American news program 60 Minutes recently reported on a recently discovered reel of film containing 11 minutes of footage from a streetcar in San Francisco, taken just days before the 1906 earthquake and fire that destroyed a good deal of the city. Here they show the film in its entirety. I found it fascinating and thought you might as well.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-20019755-10391709.html

Apologies to those who may not be able to view it.

Comments

DGates wrote on 10/25/2010, 8:29 PM

That was interesting. I was amused by just how chaotic the traffic was. Everyone out for themselves, with no rules of engagement. One pedestrian crossing the street backs up to avoid being hit by a car, then almost gets hit by a trolley car.

rmack350 wrote on 10/25/2010, 10:13 PM

I caught the last half of it and was very pleased to see my old coworker David Keihn being interviewed. He's the film historian that nailed down the approximate date this film was shot. He and I both worked at the same rental house in the 80's, although he was assistant manager and worked there quite a bit longer than I did. A very nice and likable guy who's blessed with an awful lot of patience.

The film itself has been around for a while. Since 1906, of course, but it's been showing around the area for several years so if it is newly rediscovered it's not *that* recently. I think I saw it 10 or 15 years ago.

The big news though was that it was shot VERY close to the 1906 earthquake and most of the buildings you see in that footage either burned or were dynamited in an attempt to stop the fire.

A lot of silent films were shot up here before the industry settled in the Los Angeles area. Many were shot in the small town of Niles which is southeast from San Francisco, across the bay.

A bit of trivia about that. Some of the companies built their sets on large turntables (like what is used to turn cable cars around). They'd turn the sets to face the sun during the day to maintain somewhat consistent lighting.

Rob Mack

fausseplanete wrote on 10/30/2010, 2:23 AM

Entrancing, thanks so much for drawing attention to that.

Looked like the background action was over-done ...except it was real....

Jakob wrote on 10/30/2010, 3:16 AM

No recent discover and its been available for download in a relatively good quality from archive.org (prelinger archive) for years :
http://www.archive.org/details/TripDown1905

It only has recently been redated to 1906.

farss wrote on 10/30/2010, 4:29 AM

Thanks I enjoyed that. It's been over 10 years since I've been is SF but from memory the traffic and fashions looked the same .

What was interesting to note was how the carriage wheels and most of the car wheels fitted into the tracks for the trolley cars. It all started with the width of two Roman horses butts and it's never changed. Probably the longest constant standard in history.

Bob.

winrockpost wrote on 10/30/2010, 6:45 AM

wow, how many people got hit per day,, favorite was the ultra cool guy around 8:10 casually strolling,,, oblivious to all around him... great footage

The Kid wrote on 10/30/2010, 8:57 PM

I think this is cool I like it tons

AlanC wrote on 10/31/2010, 12:44 PM

Thanks for sharing that, it was very interesting. I noticed that all the cars were right hand drive and that almost all the men and boys wore hats.

The same can be seen in this short clip filmed in Wigan, England in the same era.

Wigan 1902[/link]