RIDE THE CABLE CAR IN SAN FRANCISCO IN 1906

[charisstoma]

This was sent to me by a friend, where she comes up with these I do not know.
.. my little eyes are big right now.

105 YEAR OLD FILM CLIP
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=NINOxRxze9k


This film was "lost" for many years. It was the first 35mm film ever that has come to light. It was taken by camera mounted on the front of a cable car as it`s traveling down the street. You feel as if you're really there, standing at the front looking down the street, amazing piece of historic film.

Originally thought to be from 1905, 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 Great California Earthquake of April 18th 1906 and shipped by train to NY for processing. Amazing, but true!

No wonder there had to be laws created to regulate driving habits. This is insane. Good thing they couldn't go very fast.

Comments

[frogs_of_war]

I always thought that those close calls between traffic and the street cars in Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, etc. movies were comedic license, but cars in that clip came much closer than they did in any of those silent comedies.

Of course those movies where filmed a decade or more after this, so maybe by that time all these close calls were a distant memory.

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

I have a better appreciation for driving on today's roads.

[nae-k.livejournal.com]

I've always loved that song and that film clip (had no idea as to how amazing the story around the clip is though).

That sort of madness on the street reminds me of the madness on the roundabout on the Champs-Élysées. Five or six lanes in width, but no lanes in reality!

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

O_0 I was hoping that the driving as it was in the clip was a thing of the past barring catastrophes happening and people fleeing for their lives.

[klgaffney.livejournal.com]

i love this vid. the historical background only adds to the joy (and to some degree, the sense of foreboding--only 4 days before a disaster). i only just attended a screening of a local real estate promotion from 1937, and it was fascinating. the traffic was STILL every bit as frightening if not much more sparse. we all laughed in horror as someone made a speeding turn, trying to beat the oncoming traffic, and someone shouted "some things sure never changed!" because, yeeah. i still see it at least once daily, and there's accidents at least once a week.

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

Seeing the horses in amongst the cars and trolleys put me at great fear for the animals and, in proper present time horror, why were they out there where the vehicles could get them.

You mention the speeding turns not being different from today.. *grins* the kid running in front of the trolley playing chicken shows things haven't changed there either. Loved the very long steps that people took crossing the road.

I watched the clip wondering of all those people which of them had made it through the earthquake and which hadn't. There they are, all caught on film, ghosts.

[theotherdibbler.livejournal.com]

Well, the horses were vehicles themselves, so people probably didn't even think of that (and with car speeds and size comparisons, those horses must have been a lot safer than modern-day cyclists, darting in amongst the motorised traffic D:).

[theotherdibbler.livejournal.com]

I'll have to look at that later. Sounds pretty cool.

[theotherdibbler.livejournal.com]

Oh man, HOW COOL WAS THAT?! :DDDDDDDDD


That was just crazy, everyone just walking and driving around in whatever direction took their fancy, cutting across in front of each other like accidents were completely unheard of, that was so damn cool - thank you for sharing! I have to show this to my parents and everyone now.

And whoever had the idea of putting that camera on that cable car could naver have even imagined where it would end up, over a hundred years later, transformed into a different format and being watched by people all over the world, from their own homes and workplaces, via a means that no-one back then could have ever imagined would be possible (I mean really, how do you imagine the internet, decades before computers even exist?).

That is so damn exciting. :D

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

Yes, isn't it interesting to see the crazy. *grins*

It's kind of poignant too that these people 4 days later might have victims of the quake.

Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.
Compare and contrast the first picture
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/18april/index.php

Judged to be a 7.7 to a possible 8.3 magnitude

[theotherdibbler.livejournal.com]

Yeah okay, that makes it less fun and more ...what's the word? Poignant? Looking at people all living their day-to-day lives in ignorance of the disaster about to strike. :(

[theskimblishone.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of some drivers I saw in Fiji. Someone clearly thought nothing of parking in the middle of a highway to have a conversation with another parked-in-the-middle-of-the-highway car, and then traffic in two different directions was trying to go around them...

As Dibbs said, it's so damn cool that imagery has been preserved and transformed. We're pretty damn lucky to live in such an increasingly media and content rich society these days. History becomes that much more accessible.

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

Makes note to NOT plan on driving in Fiji.
The window into the past like this is so much more real than photos can be. I found it amazing.

[theskimblishone.livejournal.com]

At times it's easier to sit back and close your eyes... But then again, you find bad drivers everywhere, so...

[clodiametelli.livejournal.com]

It was quite a haunting little journey, in a good way.
I didn't get such an impression of danger. The tram was moving more slowly than cars, horses or even people, so they could take some liberties, they seemed to know what they were doing though without modern regulations.

I hadn't quite realised before how burdensome it must have been for women to wear those heavy multi-layered skirts all the time - they seemed to move with marked slowness and awkwardness in them.

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

I noticed that too and wasn't sure if it was due to the film's speed showing things in slower than normal motion or if it was normal speed and the long and layered skirts were that much of an impediment.
The kid running in front of the trolley to me seemed to be running a little slower than what he should which is what made me suspicious but that may be just me.