Back In Time

[aarrggh]

        Someone just sent me this old film shot of :: Actual footage of 1906 San Francisco . .
  A camera was mounted on a Historic street car for this interesting shot of what life was like at that time ..
  Notice there are no signs of any kind of traffic control .. People drive any way they want ..
   This was filmed 4 days before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake .
  It`s a bit long but interesting... Maybe some of you California sly guys recognize some of these buildings..
 If there still standing..........................enjoy...........

    There are rumors that some towns in Pennsylvania still look like this ..

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

[omegapd]

I'm a big history buff. Love it. Thanks for posting it. 

[D.A.L.U.I.]

Great piece of film, but the camera was on a cable car, not a streetcar.

[RodgerDodger]

Cool video. Very interesting perspective of city life at the turn of the century.

Great piece of film, but the camera was on a cable car, not a streetcar.

saintc, Don't tell me you're not familiar with the epic Brando film, "A Streetcar Named Desire"? Cable cars, street cars. trolley cars.... they're all the same. 

[D.A.L.U.I.]

Cool video. Very interesting perspective of city life at the turn of the century.

Great piece of film, but the camera was on a cable car, not a streetcar.

saintc, Don't tell me you're not familiar with the epic Brando film, "A Streetcar Named Desire"? Cable cars, street cars. trolley cars.... they're all the same.  

Not really, streetcars are electric powered, picking up power from an overhead (usually) wire via a "trolley."  There are no "trolley cars" per se, the trolley is the piece that contacts the electric wire overhead.   Cable cars have a grip that grabs a constantly moving cable that is beneath the pavement.  If you look at the film, there is a metal lined slot in the street in the middle between the tracks.  The grip mechanism goes through that slot and grabs the moving cable to move, releases it  and uses brakes on the rails to stop!.  The cable is powered at a central location and runs continuously while the cable cars are operating.  I don't know that there are any others but those in San Francisco.  
Oh, I live on the St. Charles route for the New Orleans streetcars, the current model is a 1929 production--rebuilt constantly by the RTA/formerly NOPSI.  The new streetcars, the "Red Ladies" run on Canal and are similar to the older 1929 model but were custom built for the system by the RTA.  They get their power from an overhead electric wire.  Until Katrina knocked them out for more than a year, it was the longest continuously operating system in the world.  The Riverfront line has models from all over the world.

Oh, and before Miss Irma, our current Dobie, we had Stella--so I got to yell "Stella" quite a  bit  The Tennessee Williams festival was about a week ago, and now there is not only a Stella yelling contest, but a Stanley yelling contest.  The Desire Street line no longer operates, but Federal grants have been received to further extend the Canal Street line.  

Yeah, business is slow today and I do really like our streetcars in New Orleans, and since I am a native Californian, born in San Mateo, I also like San Francisco's cable cars.  They outlasted the buses--an now many cities are installing "light rail" that looks a lot to me like streetcars and cable cars.  Past is often future.  

[tomgallagher]

It looks like the cable car is headed toward the Customs House on Fisherman's Wharf. I remember in the still of the night listening to the hiss of the cable which ran continuously.

[D.A.L.U.I.]

It looks like the cable car is headed toward the Customs House on Fisherman's Wharf. I remember in the still of the night listening to the hiss of the cable which ran continuously.

I think it's headed  East toward the Embarcadero--the port of San Francisco--but I'm not sure when the old building was built. 

[Magoo]

Thanks a great film....like being in a time machine.

[aarrggh]

  I did some checking on this..and there is a longer version on Utube and it is 1905 on Market Street ..
 Also an after the earthquake version was shot with most buildings destroyed...........

[schro]

Yup Market Street. In the distance is the SF Ferry building, where Market Street meets The Embarcadero. My office is one block from the Ferry building, One Market Street.

[tomgallagher]

Does everybody still help to turn the cable car around when it gets to Market St.?

[Mikekoz13]

What a cool video........ God Bless Pennsylvania!!!!! 

[schro]

Does everybody still help to turn the cable car around when it gets to Market St.?

Only at Powell Street.

No Cable Cars on Market anymore.