San Fran. streetcar scene of 1906

[-6]

Could not decide where to "park" this so move if needed please. This is a video of a street car as it travels by era cars, people, buggy s, and buildings. Shortly after wards was the quake that nearly destroyed the city.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=NINOxRxze9k

[WormGuy]

That is just too neat, thanks!

 

 

 

John

[BiscuitMaker]

Really interesting film, the thing that struck me was street cars , cars and horse drawn waggons and people on horse back, truly a transition period. We think of cars or no cars and horses or no horses. This film shows a very busy city. Can't help but belive that is was a better time to live in a lot of ways.

[Ambergris]

Hypnotic.

[Snowmom]

 

 

Wow, haven't seen anything like that in a long time.

 

Of course there are some movies that have a few old things in them, but, they are getting fewer and fewer.

 

 

 

 

[Momo]

I had access to wifi today and I loved watching this. I had seen this before but it was only a little clip...maybe a minute long. This was neat to get 7 minutes. I noticed 3 things off the bat.

 

Look at the mixture of transportation and there are no stop signs or signals. You have cars, horses, buggies, trolleys, pedestrians, bicycles etc. No one seems to have the right of way but they work it out somehow.

 

There doesn't seem to be any trash in the roads. I didn't even see horse poop. I guess before fast food there wasn't nearly as much waste and I'm guessing the attitude about littering was different then. Apparently the street sweepers were efficient keeping the roads clean.

 

There are very few women on the streets. Did they stay at home or were there few women living there at this time?

 

I just love old films/movies etc.

[Cat]

Fun! Neat clip, and I also enjoyed the length of it.

 

It really gives us a sense of the "pace" of life. I'm sure they thought their lives were busy and filled with action, but to us it looks slow, going pretty much at a horse-drawn pace. The cars were faster, but in the city they moved at the horse's pace because it was "expected", and everyone pretty much knew how much time they had to move across the road, or pass, or travel. Did you know that it was once believed that it you traveled at more than, say, 20 miles an hour, the human body would fly apart from the stresses?

 

I'm sure the policemen were ever-present; we just didn't recognize many, and they may have stayed more on the corners to watch both streets and sidewalks. And yes, they had street-sweepers and cleaners, which was a job with LOTS of security! Some cities made the horses' owners catch the poop in a sling-like contraption like a loose diaper.

 

I figure most women were busy at home, like good little housewives of the day. If they did it all, it was back-breaking, hard work to run a house. If they had "help", it was also quite a job to oversee everything well, too.

 

Back then, you could have a merchant bring over merchandise for you to select if you were "wealthy". Can you imagine? Kind of like the internet, but in person!

 

Sad that not long afterwards so much was destroyed. So much of the city was wooden, and the earthquakes started so many terrible fires. PBS has some interesting shows about it with pictures and clips.

[Crazy4Canning]

Thanks so much for posting this! I've only seen short clips here and there, usually on PBS specials. This is a keeper.

 

I saw lots of men "out and about" but only a few women. I can't get over how wide the streets were and the mix of horses/wagons, autos, and streetcars.

 

It makes me wonder what my neighborhood looked like then...and around the time our home was built.

 

I too, was in awe of all the wooden buildings and it's so easy to see how the fire devastated everything.