Monday, October 18, 2010

Before San Francisco's 1906 earthquake: the movie!

In the spring of 1906, filmmaker Earl Miles recorded this film of a trip down Market Street, the main thoroughfare in the city of San Francisco.  No one knew at the time what was coming, literally, just days later.  At 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, a massive earthquake--and then widespread fires--destroyed 80% of the city's buildings, killed over 3000 residents, and left 300,000 of its 410,000 residents homeless.  One picture of the destruction along Market Street is shown above.  This film survived the destruction because it was sent to New York by train the night before.  After languishing for decades, the film has been rediscovered, digitally restored, and is presented here.  Please click the frame below to watch the "60 Minutes" piece.


14 comments:

CBear said...

First!
yeah Gus i watched it
It's funny how that huy said that its 'extremely fragile but he had his hands all over the film...
Just thought that was odd.

Joe said...

I watched the movie. It was interesting. I think it's weird how they tried to exaggerate how busy the city was by having cars drive all around the cable car.
-Joe

Varteni Jamakorzian said...

I watched it, and I can't believe that streetcar they were on was built in 1895, but it still goes around occasionally. Also, the guy said the movie is about this magnificent city on the hills, I know he means it literally, but it reminds me of John Winthrop's "city on a hill".

Aaron Siegel said...

Comment

alyssa said...

I watched it.. Ya

stephanie said...

i watched it

natalie said...

i saw this when it was on 60 minutes

Peter said...

I guess people didn't need drivers licenses back then. I was expecting an accident the entire time.

Kevin said...

I watched it. Or did I?

aKazanjian said...

^hilarious

Anas_Eni_Hamad52 said...

Haha I completely agree with PWB (Peter Wilson-Braun)

Raffi Chilingaryan said...

I guess people didn't need drivers licenses back then. I was expecting an accident the entire time.

logan said...

i guees im late to the party commenting here but ya here is my comment....hey joe no need to sign your name at the end it displays it

Lena Lewenstein said...
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