A trip down Market Street, San Francisco – 1906.
This now famous footage (downloaded from the Internet Archive) was apparently filmed just four days before 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire that destroyed most of the city. As I watch this slow trek through downtown SF – with the horse and carriages plodding by, early automobiles criss crossing the road, and paper boys running along side the trolly – I think about the stories of all these people. Was this a typical day in SF? We usually see grainy, weathered still images from this time in history, so it’s really cool to see living, breathing people going about their day in busy San Francisco. What lively and historic imagery.
Someone should film a modern day excursion down Market and show the two versions side by side via split screen. Perhaps I’ll do that when I take my family to SF July.