Crossing San Francisco Bay: A Bridge Is Born

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/12/04/Rick_Prelinger_Lost_Landscapes_of_San_Francisco_4

Archivist Rick Prelinger shows found film of San Francisco's Bay Bridge from various periods during its construction and shortly after its completion. Footage includes a trip across the bridge on the rail line that was originally operated on the lower deck.

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The fourth incarnation of Lost Landscapes of San Francisco played to a sold out house at the Herbst Theater with the chanteuse Suzanne Ramsey opening the evening with a selection of historical San Francisco songs including the 01926 gem, "Masculine Women Feminine Men."

Rick Prelinger's archive contains hundreds of historical films showing San Francisco and Northern California history, the history of technology and industry, and everyday life.

Rick Prelinger is an archivist, writer and filmmaker, and founder of the Prelinger Archives, a collection of 60,000 advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur films acquired by the Library of Congress in 2002 after 20 years' operation.

Prelinger has partnered with the Internet Archive to make 1,970 films from Prelinger Archives available online for free viewing, downloading and reuse. With the Voyager Company, a pioneer new media publisher, he produced fourteen laserdiscs and CD-ROMs with material from his archives, including "Ephemeral Films," the "Our Secret Century" series and "Call It Home: The House That Private Enterprise Built," a laserdisc on the history of suburbia and suburban planning (co-produced with architect Keller Easterling).

He worked at the Comedy Channel from its startup in 1989 until it was merged into the comedy network HA!, and then worked at Home Box Office until 1995. Rick has taught in the MFA Design program at New York's School of Visual Arts and lectures widely on American cultural and social history and on issues of cultural and intellectual property access. He sat (2001-2004) on the National Film Preservation Board as representative of the Association of Moving Image Archivists, was Board President of the San Francisco Cinematheque (2002-2007), and is currently Board President of the Internet Archive.

His feature-length film "Panorama Ephemera," depicting the conflicted landscapes of 20th-century America, opened in summer 2004. He is co-founder of the Prelinger Library (with spouse Megan Shaw Prelinger), an appropriation-friendly reference library located in San Francisco.

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[Daritto7117]

that is some awesome footage! Thanks for sharing ForaTV!

[MrHeavydose]

I didn't know there was a rail way on the bottom bridge.. Why did they get rid of it?

[flo96138]

Goodly description!

[adrianroam95]

@MrHeavydose so Eastbound traffic could use the deck

[gandhi1470]

i like the song on 0:00.

[mhm2472]

The bridge railway was removed because fewer and fewer people were using it -- too many people driving. The Key System's last day was April 20, 1958. The tracks were removed a couple of years later.

i miss the old days, but not the head-on collisions from bi-directional traffic on both decks. The Key System was great! Too bad it is gone...

[adeinyorkuk]

going to looking around the new one next week!

[kaitoukidkun]

@MrHeavydose make room for more cars

[bjroberts65]

Would have been much better without the stupid commentary.

[sideslide23]

@MrHeavydose because with cars and truck with just one deck there were just three lane two way traffic, but when they came out with a B.A.R.T and a trans bay tunnel which goes under the bay, they took out the key system and tracks and made them 5 lane on both deck to speed the traffic, the key wasn't needed since they got the Bart train going, and City buses replaced most of the trolleys, but the calbe car stayed, they took out the track and made them into bus station at the transbay terminal.

[nwprrnut1]

One way decks on the Bay Bridge took effect in 1963; the Key System interurban train service was discontinued 4/20/58. During the intermittent 5 years autos could use either deck.

[joshtj44]

That's amazing. I didn't know the lower level was reserved for trains...I'll think about that the next time I'm headed home.