A lot has changed in a 105 years.

[Tony_SS]

This is pretty amazing, really.

What are some things that stand out to you?

NINOxRxze9k

[subtlez28]

The lack of women stood out to me. I did see the one toward the end, and may have missed one here or there, but what was up with it being all dudes?

Also, the cars appear to be low displacement, with narrow tires.

So to sum up, almost no women, cars w small horsepower and skinny tires that do not handle...

Definitely not my scene. 2010 FTMFW!

[absintheisfun]

Nice find! I watched the whole thing in an almost dazed state.

A whole world of differences (treating it like I-Spy):

1. Everyone is wearing dressy clothes. Everyone.
2. No apparent driving laws (or lanes for that matter)
3. Biofuel of the day was Horse, not corn.
4. People move out of the way, cars don't seem to stop.
5. Lots of convertibles!

Just think what they will say in 2115 when they watch a movie of someone going down the street--unless the Maya were right!

[trapin]

I like how a few of them seemed to want to mess with the trolley and not get out of the way until the last minute. Yes...no apparant traffic laws, cars seemed to just go whereever they wanted.

All the men are wearing hats.

[Kenova]

The drivers weren't texting.
Bicycles didn't seem to have problems with crossing streetcar rails at a shallow angle.

Ken

[twosaturns]

The lack of women stood out to me.
they were more covered up than you may be accustomed to; I saw like 4 in the 1st minute.
but I do agree, there weren't that many, which makes sense, because they were in the kitchen!

[Scott Parkhurst]

Hats. Lots of hats...

[John Wright]

In the spirit of posting old vids and noticing the changes in the way things are now...Here's an old video from IOWA State promoting welding as a career.

pYLarA54Xgc

[Motown 454]

Pedestrians are fair game ( and not too bright )
They drive like we do in Boston

[PRRC]

Changed in a big way. There are a couple of things that come to mind.
1. everyone on the film is more than likly no longer with us.
2. The streets a way less crowded than today
3. No black people that I can see

[Steven]

Cars are right hand drive and faster than the trollys, people seem to stare at the camera on the front of the trolly and it did not stop to take on passengers. Does OSHA know about this????

[ace_xp2]

Aren't there an awful lot of trolleys too? Never been, but I thought there were only a few down there these days.

[parsonsj]

Neat stuff. Some of this was filmed right before the 1905 earthquake. In just days afterward, many of those buildings were destroyed.

Not one of those people are still alive. Eerie!

jp

[trapin]

Hard to believe that that film was shot roughly 10 years before all my Grandparents were born. ....and they're all dead now.


Neat stuff. Some of this was filmed right before the 1905 earthquake. In just days afterward, many of those buildings were destroyed.
Speaking of which.....

7Z01hhmGnIU

[overZealous1]

my observations.

trollies- sick front spoilers. obviously used to scoop up drunks on the tracks. also, don't give a fug and don't pull when people cut in front of them.

people- ok, this will be long.

1. was there a dam sale on black?!!! come on folks, originality was not a big consideration back in the day i'm guessing.

2. people either drank alot, or just wanted to die.

3. thank god women dress like hookers now. i could not take all the black sweeping the ground dresses. would love to go back in time and tell them to take it off for $1 like nowadays. for the old guys here, try to have a come back for that one!!!

4. the guy in the convertible is bobbing in and out every once in awhile. loaner for awhile then picks up a bunch of homeless kids dragging on the back. maybe he's the rich kid cruising and picks up his friend, i dunno.

5. trolley pick up points do not seem as well marked as todays bus lines. wonder if they had downtown area bus passes like today?

6. moving objects, no matter how slow, seem like a good game for dodging.

7. i'm not dodging or effing with a trolley, or car, or covered wagon in a black suit and dress shoes. there's a reason they made running shoes to do this in.

8. hats were a pretty dam big deal back in the day. no hat, no bitches.

9. i can't help but notice, everyone seems to be having a blast bouncing around with no shocks over the tracks. like a ride at 6 flags nowadays or going wheeling. i'm thinking they are just so dam surprised to be moving and not looking at a horses azz.


traffic- i don't think this was a word back then. look forward, nail it, and hope nothing is moving faster.

where the fug is the steam cars??!! every other form of transportation of the day was represented.

the cop seemed to be the fattest person i saw. hmmm, ok, some things just don't change. nowadays, he would need a slingshot to pass out driving infractions fast enough.



thats about all i walked away with.

[overZealous1]

Hard to believe that that film was shot roughly 10 years before all my Grandparents were born. ....and they're all dead now.


Speaking of which.....

7Z01hhmGnIU

this one had a good post war germany feel. i did learn that buggies, cars, and trollies all had the same track width. also, you don't really need a seat to "ride".

[John Wright]

Hard to believe that that film was shot roughly 10 years before all my Grandparents were born. ....and they're all dead now.


Speaking of which.....

Yeah, I saw that vid on the sidebar and watched it...wow...Both of my grandpas were born in 1907, and both of them are gone.

[Tony_SS]

I wonder what that street looks like today? It would be neat to juxtapose the same location along that same stretch of street as it is today.

[parsonsj]

The building at the end of Market Street survived the earthquake, and still stands to this day.

Go look around on youtube, and you can find several videos that are modern "recreations" of this one.

jp

[parsonsj]

I saw a comment on one of the videos: that the young boys running around would go on to be fathers of the generation that fought in WWII.

jp

[cees67]

NO giant fat people!!

[John Wright]

Wonder if google maps has a recent street view picture of that street?

[John Wright]

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Market+Street,+San+Francisco,+CA&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=45.736609,61.171875&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Market+St,+San+Francisco,+California&ll=37.796055,-122.393966&spn=0,0.003734&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=37.793302,-122.39628&panoid=fgtEujg5OiH3IyWLJ4Hygw&cbp=12,44.44,,0,5



you can drag the little man in the small map to where you want to look, then use the compass to find the direction you want to see in.

[rsk68]

There were right hand drive cars and left hand drive cars.

[sprintracer]

My grandmother was born a week after the 06 quake in a tent. She is also gone :(.I'm a forth generation .

[rosslord]

In as similar vein, there is a great color photo set from the Depression (http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/sets/72157603671370361/) from the Library of Congress.

"These vivid color photos from the Great Depression and World War II capture an era generally seen only in black-and-white. Photographers working for the United States Farm Security Administration (FSA) and later the Office of War Information (OWI) created the images between 1939 and 1944."

The LoC flickr stream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/) is great in general.

[absintheisfun]

In as similar vein, there is a great color photo set from the Depression (http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/sets/72157603671370361/) from the Library of Congress.

"These vivid color photos from the Great Depression and World War II capture an era generally seen only in black-and-white. Photographers working for the United States Farm Security Administration (FSA) and later the Office of War Information (OWI) created the images between 1939 and 1944."

The LoC flickr stream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/) is great in general.

Wow. that was awesome--thanks for sharing the link. The flikr stream was pretty damn cool. While some of these shots were obviously posed, can you imagine working in a factory in some of those clothes? Sheesh. I have to have seperate "Garage clothes" so I don't destory my daily clothes.

I see women in office jobs dressed down compared to some of those ladies!

[absintheisfun]

Digging up an old thread. . .there was just a story on this on 60 minutes. It gave some interesting facts about the film and era.

The film's owner ran vehicle registrations on two of the plates, and they were registered in early 1906. Plate 4867 was registered in January 1906, Plate 5057 in February 06. There were some puddles on the tracks, so based on rain reports in the newspapers of the time they date the film to around Late March of 1906...days before the major earthquake that destroyed SF and killed thousands! The cars were actually recruited by the film maker to do laps of market street so the city looked more lively!
The average life expectancy of a man at that time was 47, women 51...many of whom couldn't vote!
And as many pointed out, hats were an almost requirement back then...as evidenced by the film. It was unheard of to be outside without one; man, woman, or child.

The Miles brothers(filmers) left SF for New York by train the evening before the big quake hit, and luckily had this film with them. They made a few copies, and today there are three known to exist!