Mods, please lock if this has been posted! This has apparently been out for a few months at least, but I hadn't seen it until recently. Apparently someone decided to attach a movie camera to the front of a cable car/trolley and take a ride...... in 1906. If you believe the description of the video, they've traced it back to 4 days before the 1906 San Francisco quake. Kind of neat, but still haunting. You'll see some of the same cars circling around the cable car throughout the film. Some say that these people were asked to drive around the cable car repeatedly for the promotional video. If the date is true, it's spooky to think how many of these people died only days later. There's a video on YouTube of a similar trip, but after the earthquake. The quality of that film wasn't great, though. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oubsaFBUcTc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oubsaFBUcTc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> Just for kicks, the same journey, around 100 years later : <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Vqcz_tllnwM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Vqcz_tllnwM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Neat idea to put a cam on the trolley back in 1906. I live in SFC so it's cool to see this. And it is kid of spooky knowing what was ahead in the near future. I still freak out like a little girl when little earthquakes happen here, worrying it will be the return of another disaster one.
Oh man, I spent many late nights in the orange building at the end of the street in the second video (1 Market St) last October for work.
okay that was really cool.. I tried to play them together but that didn't work very well since the time on both are different Still nice find!
Wow! San Fran was surprisingly well developed a century ago. Still my favorite American city by a mile.
Did they just not sell/make t-shirts, jeans, sneakers, etc. in those days? And did anyone ever not tuck in their shirt? Things I've wondered about.
Hilarious, but talk about coincidence : Levi Strauss (and Jacob Davis) filed a patent for putting rivets in denim pants to reinforce their weak points in 1872 (here's the patent). They began making jeans in 1873 (about 33 years before this video) They did all this in San Francisco. Their headquarters were destroyed by the 1906 quake. Strauss had died 4 years earlier. The company headquarters are still there.
Here's the same video, but synched to Air's "La Femme d'Argent." One of the best music/video synchs I've seen on YouTube. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NINOxRxze9k&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NINOxRxze9k&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
New York City Subway 10 years ago.. 7 train pre 9-11 <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SsF0zO8-meY&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SsF0zO8-meY&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
I was going to post that one because I liked the music better, but noticed it's not the entire video. It also ends before the train comes to the end of the line and before the sign and people at the end. They have the original video on Youtube but without cleaning it up, it can be a pain to watch.
A friend of mine made the modern incarnation of the streetcar movie. She found and restored and used the original camera! Kind of obsessive. But what's shocking is the one filmed after the quake in 1906. I'm pretty sure that video is around too. This is not the one I mean, but it's all I could find. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6TaxcXfSwdE&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6TaxcXfSwdE&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
It is kind of spooky and haunting if this is true. Nobody would've thought that the quake would strike the area at that moment I guess.
