San Francisco 1905 - 1906 (short form)

[coolmoodee]

if we could go back in time it would be neat to travel to this era just to experience life as its depicted in this video. really cool. and just think everyone in this video has passed on

[soylentteal]

As many have said, it's a fair bet that many in this clip were dead 4 days later.

[jml4000]

One of the many things that makes watching this video so great is to watch how people used to casually stroll through heavy traffic on one of the city's busiest thoroughfares.

[GeorgeVreelandHill]

Excellent film.

Thank you.

George Vreeland Hill

[wannawatchu66]

Beautiful way of putting it, MrLinolinares.

My grandfather was, I think, 12 when this was shot. In fact, *his father*, my great grandfather, was a carpenter and was here after the earthquake, helping rebuild San Francisco.

[MrLinolinares]

i was in my great great great grandpas balls

[SirLaxer]

@MrLinolinares God I laughed hard at your comment

[Tips247]

this is weird... all them people are dead now

[TheParanormalpunk]

lol that boy on the bike keeps looking back at the camera at 0:13 - 0:17

[jhpoole7]

The 1st California license plates?

"State statutes of 1901 authorized cities & counties to license bicycles... automobiles... & similar wheeled vehicles. The secretary of state was empowered in 1905 to register and license motor vehicles. This took the task from the counties... Owners paid a $2 fee and... had to... display tags in the vehicle... and display the license number on the rear of the vehicle in 3-inch-high black letters on a white background."

dmv.ca.gov/about/profile/histo­ry.htm

[Beentakenaway123]

this is 1906, just a week before the earthquake right?

[MrCorey282]

Notice something.. Not one fast food joint.. Not one fat person from one end of Market street to the other.

[hgryphon]

Just before the end they get to a building that said Gen Adams or something of that nature. If my geography of modern San Francisco is correct, then I used to work in the building that stands there now, and that building was put up relatively shortly after the Gen Adams building was destroyed... Just amazing, how much was wrecked and how quickly a lot of it was put back up...

[glaked23]

There were like no overweight people back then, and it's kinda hard to tell on that old footage, but I don't see a lot of women either.

[sadlers5]

my grandmother survived the earthquake with her family and they slept in tents in golden gate park after the quake!

[dadsoldtapes]

Hey everyone - it looks like this video is going to be on 60 minutes tonight - there's some mystery about it!

[fixxture]

@dadsoldtapes

haha just watched it. awesome eppie of 60M.

[crb4059]

They'd be appalled at what the city has become today.

[RGC198]

I believe the 1905 and 1906 footage may be months apart rather than days. In the 1905 scenes, there are only cable trams running directly along Market Street with no overhead wiring. However, after the earthquake in 1906, despite the cable track being still there, only electric trams with overhead wiring are using it. It is doubtful that a conversion from cable to electric trams could have been made in a few days, let alone during a large earthquake.

[Bullettube]

Very interesting!

Also very scary, I can't believe how badly everyone drives, I mean, it's like a free for all, a ballet of dangerous vehicles and people zig-zagging all over the place! Do you notice how many young boys there were wearing the white patch on their caps? Those were probably telegraph office runners delivering the latest news from New York. Why did people, especially women wear so many clothes? Was it cold that day?

[mannysal1111]

people back them had all senses  they didn wlk txt like they do today they use their brain man were man a ladies were ladies go bless AMERICA 9 11 it changing us for the ? better hope AMERICA be ALERT dont hate or discrminate LOL

[Liberty4ev63]

Just amazing...cars, bikes, pedestrians, cable cars, horse and wagon...and no one is getting run over. Today however....I seriously doubt this could happen. Most humans are just getting dumber and dumber. Look at how often people get his by the Metro link? Sure it's faster but here's a thought...WAIT FOR IT TO PASS FIRST!

[PoliticalAnimal1959]

@Liberty4ev63

>>"Most humans are just getting dumber and dumber."

Back in 1905 the masses weren't systematically being dumbed down by government propagandized schools and television PROGRAMMING! In addition, the government did not deliberately add sodium fluoride or the more toxic sludge silicofluorides to municipal water. Furthermore, people were for the most part free and independent, a state of living and being that has been pretty much abandoned.

[Rarrin9378]

Hey this is actually decent video quality coming from 104 years ago

[mpbunch]

Whats odd is that most of the adults were dead before WWII and the children running in the streets were Fathers of the Sons fighting for the US in WWII...Crazy..

[kidnjay415]

HOME SWEET HOME

[stinkynbuttuns]

Wooow!!!

[netispguy]

This looks like it was a "cable" car rather than a "Street" car. The groove down the center of the tracks seems to suggest that. Can anyone verify that the market street trolley was actually a cable car?

[RGC198]

@netispguy According to the video, there appears to be cable trams in Market Street in 1905 and electric trams in Market Street in 1906. Sometime between the two videos, they converted from cable to electric trams.

[jogginthenoggin]

This looks very much like a staging...but cool !

[KingSethos]

Amazing. Best part is about 3:13 in....lol Daredevil Kid starts running in front of the trolley, then looks back and is then joined by another hoodlum. About 3:29 you can see them flashing their fingers in the upper right corner of the frame and then they start running and jumping on the back of a car..... hilarious.

[jennifer23ish]

all that way and not one traffic light ,wow

[ross939]

I see many people in this film looking up to the camera as it passes which I imagine must have been mounted to a tripod of some kind, at the front of the street car. I wonder haw many of these people new what a movie projection camera looked like back then. There must have been few in existence.

[MelodiesfromHeaven]

The streets look like a "free for all". People, cars, trolley's, horse drawn carriages going all different directions. Very nice footage.

[satweavers]

With a clean copy of this and the software that's available, they could do a really good job of converting this to 3D. This is an amazing time calsule as it is... but I'd like to see it in 3D, too.

[silentmoviemusicfrk]

Modern society is more dangerous than those times. Too many gangs,drugs,con artists out there. Back then people were more in communicato with others and were interested in socializing than being at home cooped up.

[SmokePole59]

@silentmoviemusicfrk Modern society is much safer than 104 years ago, though you may be more anxious than your ancestors. They lived with the expectation of a life that was short and had no guarantees. The only reason there were fewer criminals is that fewer things were illegal. If you walked alone at night, you were more likely to get sapped and robbed than you are today.

[shanegalang2]

I wonder how often someone would run thru horse shit??

[Lordmij]

Most of these people are all dead . Wow!

[allengwinn]

@Lordmij I would wager to say that all these people are dead!

[kingsudie]

@allengwinn Ya THINK??? They're distant memories if remembered at all. Life is so fleeting. No one will remember us a hundred years from now.

[Grandkj]

Brilliant !!!!!!

[jeffpolara]

If you look closely you can see someone on a cell phone texting. GPS was not as good as now cuz cars are darting around this way and that.

[bbtoosangre]

damn this happened 104 years ago..

[melissacarl2002]

What if someone told these people that crossing the street was now considered a crime. They'd be like FTW!

[MsSjofn]

I love how people keep darting in front of the trolley or almost getting hit by cars.

[wolfiestanzi]

I'm with you MsSjofn. Everyone keeps crossing right in front of the streetcar! Imagine if they were magically transported to 2010! They'd want to get back to 1906, right quickly!!

[gnookergi]

God, people were so slooooooow back then.

[jmaster38]

as a third generation born native san franciscan i never get tired of seeing old film like this and wonder what it was like to live back then. you can see hundreds of people traveling along market just going on with thier day much like today and at the very end of market street the ferry building STILL stands, over one hundred years later. just amazing!

[PoliticalAnimal1959]

@jmaster38

People indeed are traveling every which way, but the energy, vitality, and shear humanity of this community in 1905 lies head and shoulders over the sterile, packaged lock-step movement and interaction of today. Interestingly, with regard to how everyone is moving virtually in a random manner about Market Street is strikingly similar to how modern day African streets and markets operate. I am aware because I had lived as both a Peace Corps and missionary in sub-Saharan Africa.

[2degucitas]

@PoliticalAnimal1959 me too!

[duckman531]

Somehow I think there's a great American Experience or History Channel documentary to be made from this footage! What a find!!!

[ThePastorGregory]

wow!!

[veritas16338]

The reason why certain shots look like they were filmed after the quake is because they were.

If you read the video's poster crashreboot description, you will read:

"In 1905, an unknown cameraman filmed a streetcar trip along San Francisco's Market Street. The following year, the Great Earthquake struck, and he filmed the trip again. This is a five-minute silent film that edits together excerpts of his two films. Footage from the Prelinger Archives, edited by Matt Lake."

[tiptopsound]

This was filmed four days before the quake

[sfbuddie]

amazing that much of this looks as if this is shot after the quake - not before - and I live here

other than the Ferry Bldg, nothing in this remains

[nickwallacesmith]

like time travel - moving down the street makes you feel there! thanks for posting!

best, nick

[mongo5888]

@nickwallacesmith AGREED! MANY THANKS! FAVORITED!

[TrainmasterCurt]

Amazing how free the traffic was! People just going out everywhere, no strict policing like today

[unfortunatebeam]

strict policing? It's called traffic lights and they were soon to get them.

[blueeyesofice]

i wonder what that tall pointed building at the end of the road is and if it's still there today.

[51258alan]

@blueeyesofice

Yes, that is the Ferry Building. It made it through the earthquake. Today it houses a wonderful European style market where you can buy from the cheese shop, fish shop, etc. All very fine food, not just another tourist place. And you can also catch the ferry to places on the other side of the Bay. It is a wonderful place.

[krbing]

@blueeyesofice the tall pointed building is the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero, and yes it is still there today (looks the same, in fact)

[Thomasiscrazy]

back then was no pc nor tv so everyone was hanging outside

[unfortunatebeam]

yeah, but picture books and magazines were becoming more widespread, glossy and colorful. Also, movie houses were popping up everywhere. It was the beginning of the age of media distraction.

[unfortunatebeam]

oh jeez, and I forgot radio of course!

[megamox111]

I know its a shot in the dark, but does anyone know where the music is from?

[darkknight91]

I don't hear a music track on here but I've seen this somewhere else and it's a song called La Femme d'Argent by a French band called Air.

[N3CR1S]

compared to now, the most striking difference to me is the amount of people that crosses the street in various ways, be it cars doing 90 degree turns, or horses with carts driving whereever they can fit through, or just people walking randomly

[TheStockwell]

The "unknown cameraman" who filmed this was Jack Kuttner."

[crashreboot]

That's one of the stories attached to the movie.

But there are more: The Miles Brothers advertised their movie in the New York Clipper magazine on April 21, 1906, page 259 "Trip Through Market St., San Francisco, Cal. (830 ft.)." Subsequent ads state "The only original in existence left San Francisco just the night before the day of horror" and that it was made four days before the quake.

[crashreboot]

This dates the movie later than we originally thought. Of course, this is advertising, huckerirms, really, but there's an interesting piece of internal evidence: a license plate 4867. By January 1906, license plate records show that they were only up to number 4727.

[1415w]

@crashreboot

The plates are white and about 13" by 4 1/2", That makes them 1916 onwards.

Source: dmv.ca.gov

CBS News have run this story, themselves claiming it was 1906 too.

[WHATABANSHEE]

@TheStockwell i seen 60 min and this was actually one week before the great earthquake

[MrCorey282]

@TheStockwell I'm sure there was a delay in the printing of all those records. Maybe as long as a year or two.

[PaulDePace]

I am surprised the Ferry Building didn't fall?

[SLeNdaLiLLa]

wow the streets huge when i went back in 2007 the streets were small.

seemed like ppl played around alot more back themn maybe it was cause likre was more easier back then.

[ladynw777]

what is it like today?

[ladynw777]

what is it like today?

it would be interesting to see the same location throughout each decade to show the changes right up to the present

[TheIxtlan]

This is creepy, I see dead people walking in Market Street in San Francisco and we are next. And we are next.

[TheIxtlan]

So this is what San Francisco look like in the early 1900s.

There are horses and people jay walking. This is good

documentation. Thumps up

[RyokoFan290]

A bustling town full of people, I wish we were able to travel to 1906.

[mdhookey]

Wow, to think all those buildings (except for the Ferry Building) would be gone in a year.

[opelske]

at 4:07 a car crossed in front of the streetcar (where the camerman was taking this film). It was amazingly close.

[kimmarie801]

The bicycle hasn't changed a bit

[sheilagirl70]

This is wonderful footage, filmed over 100 years ago! Notice how there's no rhyme or reason to traffic laws? People are just driving around the street in all directions, I bet there were quite a few accidents in those days, and pedestrians getting hit as well.

[Kusoneja]

Yep, your assumption is absolutely right.

A blessing in disguise is that there weren't so many cars back then.

[TheMikester307]

Wow! Watching this is like being in a Jack Finney story!

[opelske]

I get the same feeling when watching these old videos - eerie. Great film.

[execu366]

shave and a haircut ... 10 cents.

[siwericsdotter]

Great film! Miss Blanche Thebom (born 1918) still lives in San Francisco!!! Unfortunatelly she is a very tough cookie...Blanche...Blanche...

[NoelLozano]

so much activity, love watching stuff like this

[chrisw40]

did you see me in the backseat of the black car

[raider8sox]

lol at the guys running at 3:14, they were like "Oh Shit!!!"

[wownouser]

great stuff! thanks :)

[gregoryagogo]

Wow! It's dangerous to be a pedestrian!! Love this, thanks!!

[fleabaglane]

Some did not much mst of danage was fire so most went up in smoke,I on the net seen alot of pic wow just think of one under SF like 89

[fleabaglane]

I live in SF and been thinking redoing this very ride with my camera on a tripod on a Saturday am 6-7ish

[aflyer]

I used to live in San Francisco and used to work at 525 Market St. I would love to see your video if you do it!

[YogaNate79]

This footage would have been shortly before the Earthquake of 1906.

[FutureNose]

Does anyone else notice how racist and hateful posts are that refer to "sloppy, ape-like movements of a rap/hip hop person" & "rainbow flags waving on light posts everywhere" ??! Become a dignified, civilized human being yourself before passing judgement on others. By the Way, the moral depravity in our country is coming out of Washington DC, not San Francisco.

[crashreboot]

Lots of urban teens of all races are rap/hip hop people. People don't dress up neatly and act their best when they go into town--they slouch and literally pose as street criminals. They look angry too.

But you're right about rainbow flags. San Francisco was always an open city--accepting street crazies and greedy moneymakers and everyone in between. Few SF'ers from 1905 would take issue with 2008's values, unless they didn't approve of 1905's values ... or 1845's...or 1864's...

[zeuspitar]

Dignified, civilized humans HAVE discernment and judgement to distiguish what is best for themselves and for society. And,the moral depravity is coming from EVERYWHERE in america.

[freqeist1]

good posting ,thanks.

[zeuspitar]

Has any one noticed that no one walks or moves with the sloppy,ape-like movements of a rap/hip-hop person and a gang/ms13 kid?People back then walked and moved their bodies like dignified,cultured,civilized human beings. Just watch and notice.

[sillycon]

Ah the good old days, where whites were free to be as racist as they wanted to be without repurcussion. Well I am sorry buddy, but those days are long gone. This is the 21st century. You had better learn to live with the rest of humanity or stay in your home and rot.

[zeuspitar]

Ah!the degenerate present america!No morality,No higher culture,...just a multi-cultural,crime-ridden hell hole!Who's staying and rotting, you are, in this zoo and crazy house you call YOUR country!You can be a friend and give me a one way ticket to asia or better parts of europe,so I can get out of this rap music anti-culture you call a modern society.

[MandyxxMassacre]

AWW! I just love these videos.

Everyone is so....lovely♥

[zeuspitar]

The people who lived back then would flip their lids if they found out that exactly 100 years later...there would be "Ranbow" flags waving on light posts! Or, that the majority of people who live there now are almost all oriental and hispanic. Or, that they tore down alot of the beautiful victorian buildings on Market street with buildings that are modern art monstrosities! They would have very,very upset...with guns, if they were to know the moral depravity that has happen in america now.

[Waychel]

Back then most people carried a gun on their person.

[KevinCali24]

It's almost eerie watching this.

[babywu48]

this film is amazing, we are watching something that happened 106 years ago,

[ronnieknotts]

Sorry...tower does get bigger.

Can't believe the amount of damage caused!

That place was really beautiful before the quake...are any of the remaining buildings still there?

[ronnieknotts]

Has anyone noticed that the tower at the end of the street never gets any bigger...total proof that this video is a fake, apart from that , they didn't have cars in 1805!

[Vivianleighe]

It was 1905, and there were cars back then...

[fleiderhosen]

Thank you, Unknown Cameraman. This editing really shows the impact of the 1906 event.

[chewbacca198]

i visited san francisco in december 2007 and travelled down market st. and this is from 1906 wow. seems like when your viewing thats it is like a portal into another word back to the future. thanks dont get to see old stuff like this much

[BobMurphy3779]

Anyone on Market Street back then that thought they were the center of the universe would have been disavowed of the notion rather quickly.

It was called street sense when I was growing up in SF.

[blizzy63]

I love the characters that saw the camera on the streetcar and deliberately goofed around in front of the streetcar.

[wallowfollow]

This is a very nice video. They look so elegant. No grungy T shirts anywhere.

Grunge wasn't their things. Very interesting.

[keyman112]

I love seeing old films like this and how things where back then. Just imagine, every living thing in this film is gone now. Even their hats, clothes, and shoes. Back then we didn't exist. Now they don't exist.

[qwertyclan5000]

lone starlet said: It all looks chaotic. No street lights an no intersections..only make shift ones..and daring folk running across to beat the trolley that nearly misses them by a hair

yes...it is choatic i dont even think child labor laws were around then...

[lonestarlet]

It all looks chaotic. No street lights an no intersections..only make shift ones..and daring folk running across to beat the trolley that nearly misses them by a hair.

[Veloreto]

awesome video . so clear.

[guitmartiman]

Fascinating!

[greenstboy]

Interesting film! Why is that trolly car driving off track (1:20)? Also, those young men must have been excited by the novelty of cars in 1905 because they are hopping them. As kids, we would hop cars in the early '50s. (Snow in the streets and large bumpers allowed us to "ski" on unsuspected slow cars!)

[kevdog123456789]

trolleys would get off track to park in garages for the night

[L3S3R4]

Thanks for posting. I always love to see that kind of old time, just like entering a time tunnel.

[randomphenomena]

Truly surreal.

[aliciaay]

I like this sf better

A: because you can actually turn on market

B:Tourist dont exist (just 49ers)

the only thing thats the same is the F train still goes that slow.

[crashreboot]

Amen to that!

[lukebattle]

very interesting!

[Quakeulf]

Epic.

[frankienglish]

Great footage! Thanks for posting!

[farmology]

I think this is a wonderful blend of the before and after earthquake. A study of the people and the confusing traffic of the time. Thank you.

[TheRobin]

I would love to see this edited with up-to-date footage going down market now.

Also, it seems that lots of people back then crossed right in front of moving vehicles (kind of like the Tenderloin today)

[crashreboot]

That's a great idea! Next time I'm in town with a camcorder...I'm on it!