The good old days may not have been all that good

{Editor’s note. This post is an oldie but goodie from my archives. It appeared on this blog in slightly different form on April 7, 2010. --RWP]

According to an e-mail I received, this nearly-nine-minutes-long film was made in San Francisco, California, just four days before the great earthquake and devastating fire of 1906 that destroyed most of the city. Apparently someone attached a camera to the front of a cable car. Sound was added much later, but if the film is genuine it is truly an amazing “slice of life” from more than one hundred years ago.

Kick back and enjoy a cable car ride in San Francisco in 1906 (8:49).

Somewhere, this man is singing:

(Photo of Tony Bennett by Dwight McCann, originally uploaded to Wikipedia in October 2006, used in accordance with Creative Commons 2.5 Attribution License)

San Francisco, 1906

According to an e-mail I received, this nearly-nine-minutes-long film was made in San Francisco, California, just four days before the great 1906 earthquake and devastating fire that destroyed most of the city. Apparently someone attached a camera to the front of a cable car. The sound was added much later, obviously, but if the film is genuine it is truly an amazing “slice of life” from more than one hundred years ago.

Click here to see San Francisco in 1906 (8:49).