http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjrEQaG5jPM

Some things may not be as “gone” as you might think.

See also the Market Street Railway’s page about it:

http://www.streetcar.org/streetcars/578/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YElvjNXmg58

But as was pointed out to me, I will point out to y’all:

The cars repeat. Somebody has arranged to have the same cars drive around and around the camera to make it look like there are more cars.

Sometimes you can just watch them pull over and then pass the camera again a second later.

This is a fan video of O’Death’s “Home”, with footage of San Fran after the 1906 earth quake.

It was interesting to see how the wagon wheels exactly matched the rails for the street cars

No accident, that. Check out this informative Wikipedia paragraph on how the width of “standard gauge” railways match the pretty standardized 4’8″ of wagon wheel spacing going clear back to the Bronze Age.

…what?

For instance, streets are not just for cars as they are today. Pedestrians are in the streets everywhere. A street is a public space shared by cars, horses, pedestrians, cable-cars, and street cars. Of course very few of those are traveling at more than a quick jog; still, people seem comfortable if a bit wary to stand in the middle of the street and jump on a passing street car.

The cable cars don’t seem to come to a complete stop. People board and dismount while it is moving. The assumption here seems to be if you fall and lose a leg it’s your own damn fault. It’s obviously a big dangerous piece of equipment and you are responsible for your own health. Contrast that today where if a kid falls off a sidewalk the parents would sue about a dozen different individuals and agencies for creating a dangerous environment.

Most of all though I was struck by the bustle and health of Market Street. Today it seems to me to be a cold and dreary place. Yesterday it was filled with life and commerce. What’s changed? The sun. Today’s high-rises make much a Market a freezing, dark wind tunnel. It doesn’t seem alive anymore.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=search_videos&search_query=Mitchell+and+Kenyon&search_sort=relevance&search_category=0&page=

…who were active with their film cameras in England during the same era, 1900-1910, as the great SF Earthquake.

Film shot around the same time , but from the other side of the world.

I can’t get the sound to work…

Luckily I employ a full-time organist in my office for just such an occasion.

It’s not just the skyscrapers that sucked the life out of Market. It’s easy to forget that before the last big earthquake there was a two-level freeway running along the Embarcadero–hardly conducive to pedestrian-friendly streets. The city is slowly shifting back away from cars but it’ll take a while to recover.