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Thread ID: 110012 2010-05-31 06:22:00 Great film, must watch........... Billy T (70) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1105383 2010-05-31 06:22:00 This is a great historical film! (www.youtube.com) It takes 7 minutes but is well worth watching.

A 1906 San Francisco film shot from a Street Car - It was the first 35mm film ever and was "lost" for many years. It was taken by camera mounted on the front of a cable car and you've just got to see the suicidal pedestrians, maniacal motorists, blind horse and cart drivers, and overall the almost unbelievably anarchical traffic chaos.

The number of cars is staggering for 1906. Absolutely amazing! The clock tower at the end of Market Street at the Embarcadero wharf is still there. (I'm also wondering ... how many "street cleaning" people were employed to pick up after the horses? Talk about going green!)

This film was originally thought to be from 1905 until David Kiehn (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. He checked when the cars were registered and even knows who owned them and when the plates were issued!. It was filmed only four days before the quake.

Bet even SJ hasn't seen this one..........

Cheers

Billy 8-{) :thumbs:
Billy T (70)
1105384 2010-05-31 06:45:00 Everybody is wearing a hat! CYaBro (73)
1105385 2010-05-31 06:48:00 you've just got to see the suicidal pedestrians, maniacal motorists, blind horse and cart drivers, and overall the almost unbelievably anarchical traffic chaos.


You said it! Good find, Billy. :D
WalOne (4202)
1105386 2010-05-31 06:50:00 Quite hypnotic to watch. rob_on_guitar (4196)
1105387 2010-05-31 07:26:00 Interesting to watch - good find Billy :thumbs:

Seems some things never change (dangerous driving) ;)
wainuitech (129)
1105388 2010-05-31 07:27:00 Cool!

Hard to be a boy-racer in a Model T or a Hudson! ALthough the guy cutting across in front of the streetcar at around 6 minutes in could qualify... Maybe he has descendants living in Auckland... :)

Simpler times - the roads were a LOT less crowded than they are today, and ALL the traffic is going a LOT slower. Even though the film looked to be running at about 90-95% of real time, it still looked chaotic, but I'd bet that was a fairly typical run up the street for the streetcar driver.

Even now (well, in the 80's* when I visited) they don't move very quickly and are pretty predictable - you can be pretty damn sure that a streetcar isn't going to change lanes without the help of a big earthquake....

*That's the 1980's in case you were wondering.... :D
johcar (6283)
1105389 2010-05-31 08:26:00 Thanks for that. I don't believe it was a waste of my time watching the video even though I never caught sight of a miniskirt. :-) Sweep (90)
1105390 2010-05-31 09:00:00 It doesn't seem so crazy when you notice that the traffic is moving at about walking pace - plenty of time for everyone to get out of the way (though I did worry about that horse and cart).

It makes 30 kph through the middle of Wellington look totally suicidal. Maybe there is a lesson there!
Jayess64 (8703)
1105391 2010-05-31 09:23:00 Miniskirts were a bit more down-to-earth then. I notice cyclists were much better behaved than the modern ones. ;) R2x1 (4628)
1105392 2010-05-31 09:33:00 Jay walking like that isn't allowed now. mikebartnz (21)
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