HERE5 - Erased Landscape

A 75 minute video that tells the story of how a massive erasure of landscape occured in early San Francisco, motivated by explosive population growth and fueled by an influx of minng and industrical wealth. Without second thought, San Francisco transformed sand dunes, hollows, creeks, marshes and bay waters into the flat lands now known as Market Street, South of Market, the Mission District, South Beach, the Financial District, Union Square and the Tenderloin.

[@GreggGiles]

Holy cow, I’ve lived in San Francisco for 21 years and thought I was a fan of its history, but I had no idea such extensive landscaping was done to level the streets like this. This is an absolute masterpiece of research and presentation, and I don’t doubt for a second that even the most devout San Francisco history fans will also find this as stunning a work as I’ve found this to be. BRAVO!!!!!!

[@lymarchvideo]

Thank you. Yes and it started very early. I believe the same was done in other US cities around that time. In Boston Back Bay, similar filling went on, though done with engineered filling and a big budget. San Francisco was the frontier.

[@pericosseboom4319]

As a land surveyor for 40 years in SF, I found this incredibly interesting. Congratulations on a job well done.

[@lymarchvideo]

Thank you Peri!

[@miker7532]

By far one of the if not the best break down of the building of San Francisco. I have a friend who lives in the edge of the Hayes valley marsh and he had to retrofit his home several years ago because it was sinking in the old marsh .

[@lymarchvideo]

Thanks

[@miker7532]

@@lymarchvideo I’m a meteorologist with NOAA and would have loved to have been a party of this any other videos you have posted over the course of the pandemic and also knowing that I live within a few hundred feet of the old hashes marsh . Everytime I’m a Amazed by the sinking on Howard at 7 th . In fact just toddy walked by and at its lowest point in the “dip”. I was shoulder level to the other side of Howard . You don’t realize it until you see the cars riding up and over 7th where they built it up to protect the sewer lines they run N to S . As you can see I’ve watched your videos over and over. Thanks again for your continuation to SF. I would love to meet you in person sometime

[@lymarchvideo]

@@miker7532 Hi Mike, yes, let's meet some time. You can contact me via my architecture website at www.lymarch.com I will write you back on my private email account.

[@steverino3447]

I've never learned so much about a city I've lived in for 30 years. Thank you for your tremendous presentation.

[@lymarchvideo]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@skyrocketcoast219]

As a City native & amateur historian - i find your video so extraordinarily well put togetner. Graphics are really excellent. My famoly c ou connections all from S.F:: 1870: My Irish great grandparents arrive& settle South of the Slot. 1886-7 my English bunch of 3 generations arrived & live on Santa Clara St. Then by 1909 my Polish grandparents live for 2 years on southern end of Vermont St.then by 1911 living out in the Excelseior district. thank you so much for that 100% spot on video

[@lymarchvideo]

Thanks for your comments. I have done a documentary on my family's root in SF also. It is at kzbin.info/www/bejne/pn3JmpWDfdZ1es0

[@-oiiio-3993]

Excellent presentation. Thank you for having researched, compiles, and produced it.

[@michaelch5060]

Trying to imagine the amount of work that went in tho the making of this fascinating piece. Well done and thanks for sharing.

[@lymarchvideo]

When I first started these, I think it was some ungodly amount of time. HERE5 Erased Landscape took something like 13hr per second of the final product. That is rather insane. But I have been able to reuse part of the CAD model that took at least 60% of the time on other videos such as HERE6 and HERE7.

[@Datdudeinthecomments]

This is awsome. I love San Francisco and the time I spent as a tour guide. I have read many books about San Francisco, and Your video has brought to life the building of this beautiful city. Thanks so much for all the work you put in to this.

[@lymarchvideo]

That you. Your comment is much appreciated.

[@joycekrieg8816]

This is amazing. Utterly fascinating! Congratulations and thank you for putting this out there.

[@lymarchvideo]

My pleasure!

[@StevenTorrey]

Excellent production. There are still a few places where a person can get a sense of San Francisco Geology: Glen Park, Lobos Creek in the Presidio, Lake Merced. We oftentimes think mankind's impact on the environment is negative, but here, (or here) Civilization created a welcoming environment to an inhospitable zone of sand dunes and swamps. The impact of earthquakes on that landscape changed and created that environment.

[@debthekid]

So well done. It is always mind boggling to think we were built on dunes so thank u for this very convincing rendition.

[@Atlantis1]

Amazing work!

[@jeffgrove1389]

Thank you!

[@davidoverstreet2875]

Thank you so much for answering a major question I had about the original topography of San Francisco.

[@lymarchvideo]

Happy to help!

[@davidoverstreet2875]

Thank you so much. For years I have been trying to find this type of a video with the original San Francisco landscape, with all the sand dunes, the peat bogs and the creek; 5:19 of the video is a splendid animation. Just the way I figured it looked, based on information from previous videos about the topography transformation of downtown, Soma, etc.

[@lymarchvideo]

Thanks, that particular fly-over of the 3D model was particularly fun to do. The 3D model is used in HERE6 and HERE7

[@skyrocketcoast219]

A zillion years shi, had a geology class at S.F. State Univ: Professor went into extensive lectures & slides & field trips on the Landscape changes the City went through. Large swaths /Parts of the Mission district are built on top of swampland & lots of jelly like landfill.

[@lymarchvideo]

Do you recall the name of the geology professor ?

[@bebeefrias7698]

I really enjoyed this video! If you are familiar with San Francisco than visualizing everything was not as hard as some folks stated in there comments. I've been searching for how early historical pics of SF. This video included so many that I haven't seen yet plus it gave specific info on them. I really really enjoyed this video!! I love it!! Awesome job!!

[@andytaylor5476]

What a tremendous, well-made and well researched video this is! It deserves a much larger viewing to those interested in San Francisco history. I learned so much and saw many photos for the first time. I've lived here 42 years and still much to learn. A fascinating story! Thank you lymarchvideo.

[@lymarchvideo]

Thanks. For me there has been a progression in my videos from doing the one on the two Golden Gate Park Museums and realizing the relationships to the development of the park, to then realizing the story of the development of San Francisco as a sand dune and rocky place to getting involved with the history of my Chinese background in San Francisco vis the video on the 1871 City Hall and ending in the understanding of how my grandfather came to be born on a ranch in the Potrero District - Dogpatch. There are wonderful resources regarding SF history, two of which are www.foundsf.org and californiahistoricalsociety.org

[@rolandhsu7190]

Fascinating visual information.

[@cali16m64]

This is amazingly well done. Very informative!!

[@lymarchvideo]

Thanks

[@MichaelChavezsf]

Love this video. It reminds me of reading the book Imperial SF while a bike messenger on stand by.

[@lymarchvideo]

Yes Gray Brechin's "Imperial San Francisco" is an extraordinary book and resource. HIs material on the FDR New Deal is extraordinary as well.

[@sfnative9365]

Amazing video thank you for the history lesson!

[@lymarchvideo]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@stevenj2380]

Comment before time to watch (Feb 2021!) . I've only been in S.F. (from NY) 4 times in my life. This is fascinating ...but hindsight is 2020. Glad they could not succeed in leveling Telegraph Hill. Rincon Hill is a legend sort of (and only learned about it after a visit around current area. Fascinating and so much is to learn.. hopefully by visiting again.

[@lymarchvideo]

In various photos of Rincon taken from the early 1850's through its carving up during the building of the Bay Bridge and onwards, it has changed dramatically over time. Actually trying to really get a sense of the pre gold rush San Francisco's landscape is impossible, though two images stick with me. One is the 1838 I think comment by Dana in his book "5 years before the mast" in which he complains about sunset in San Francisco as he is on his boat in the harbor near where the Financial District is now, saying the nasty evening winds blow constant sand in his face, winds blowing from the Pacific due eastward over Twin Peaks and out over the Bay. The second is a passage in Lorri Ungarettii's book "Stories in the Sand" in which folks living in the San Francisco west of what is now Van Ness Ave were fearful of venturing into the sand dunes of the unincorporated western portion of San Francisco as isolated thieves and criminals were rumored to live there.

[@jlbraswell5961]

Very nice video! Really enjoyed it!

[@lymarchvideo]

Thank you very much!

[@ApartmentKing66]

Fascinating to get an idea of what San Francisco's geography and topography looked like at the time of my great-grandfather's birth there in 1857.

[@lymarchvideo]

Yup San Francisco has been totally changed topographically !

[@leeabe3932]

Great work and contribution to our education of this area. Unparalleled documentation.

[@lymarchvideo]

Thanks, it was a long time coming, and working on this helped set the framework for the next documentaries focused on the 1871 City Hall (HERE6-Scapegoat) and on my great-grandfather's life in San Francisco (HERE7-Dogpatch Ranch).

[@hdibart]

Excellent;thank you !

[@lymarchvideo]

Thanks you.

[@oaklandfan5262]

Great history lesson!!

[@lymarchvideo]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@dmitryboltenko6326]

wow. I learned so much about my city

[@lymarchvideo]

Thanks

[@gregwilliams386]

Very well done.

[@lymarchvideo]

Thank you kindly!

[@markschnell8216]

An amazing documentary

[@lymarchvideo]

Thank you !

[@philosopher4279]

Great job!

[@lymarchvideo]

Thanks!

[@chetmf]

I simply love your videos.

[@lymarchvideo]

Thank you.

[@HappyNowCartoons]

Fascinating!

[@2scoop831]

I was looking for this documentary thanks

[@lymarchvideo]

You're welcome

[@jeffreytong5581]

Despite a CAD map, it was difficult to visualize where the creeks and marshes were because there is no north / south / east / west orientation on photos to correspond with the CAD map..

[@lymarchvideo]

You should check out the work of Joel Pomerantz who has done a lot of work on SF creeks .... www.thinkwalks.org and seepcity.org

[@mdj.6179]

I am interested about the landscape around Market street past Valencia, Gough and Haight streets. I have heard that area was called Monument hill before Market was extended to Castro. My interest comes from growing up in a house on the 3000 block of Market that was built before Market street was extended to Portola street.

[@lymarchvideo]

What you know as Monument Hill is what my video is calling the Clinton Mound, but there are several names here including Mint Hill etc. It was a rock hill, so it depended on the invention of dynamite in order to knock it down, which only came about in the middle of the Civil War era. Thus the famous rock formation excavations for streets were 2nd street at Rincon Hill and Broadway at Telegraph Hill, both started around the mid to late 1860's. Chinese work crews were a part of the dynamite crews as they were using dynamite up in the Sierras building the railroad tunnels by the mid 1960's.

[@lymarchvideo]

opps, railroad dynamite use "by the mid 1860's"

[@miker7532]

This video is perfect the way it was done . Don’t ever edit it further . I have a extensive blog on Nextdoor and referred my 18 k followers to it and the responses are all very positive. .

[@davidoverstreet2875]

So it basically happen the way I figured it did, the simultaneous lowering of the sand dunes while filling in ravines and valleys and cove.

[@lymarchvideo]

Yup, except for where a hill was rock.

[@davidoverstreet2875]

@@lymarchvideo but even then, they blasted away whatever needed to be removed with explosives.

[@lymarchvideo]

@@davidoverstreet2875 Yes as the dunes were removed, the removed sand was often sold and brought to sites that were either underwater or else needed to be raised, using the temporary rail cars. The blasting came in the mid to late 1860's with both the invention of dynamite and the need to level the hills that were not made of sand but of rock. Both of these are discussed in the documentary. The leveling of much of central SF was sand related and largely done in the 1850's. The last of those dunes were removed when Woodwards Gardens was sold its dune removed in the mid 1890's.

[@cs-ee2qj]

Good video. I wonder how many of these dunes were sacred native Ohlone shellmounds? Supposedly Yerba Buena Gardens is on top of a shellmound.

[@lymarchvideo]

The one I know of was a part of the dune between Mission Street and Market between 3rd and I think 1st Street. The shell mound locations in SF are kept secret per the wishes of the Ohlone people. But there are a few semi specific maps of the SF mounds that are around. Needless to say, that particular mound was gone by 1855 or so. the mounds on San Bruno Mountain are largely intact and the San Bruno Watch group has material on them. The large one in that area was destroyed when 101 pass from on the Bay waters and then plows thru the middle of the mound coming onto land in South SF.

[@cs-ee2qj]

@@lymarchvideo Thank you for the information and research!

[@MakeMeThinkAgain]

Very interesting. I guess someone has to point out that the U.N. fountain is north of Market.

[@SEP7EMBER10]

I was hoping to see anything regarding the Panama-Pacific International Exposition and the land it was built on.

[@lymarchvideo]

Yes, I do not deal with the Exposition, in part because there are so many books and KZbin videos on the subject. I do touch on it a bit as it impacts my grandfather's life and that of his brothers and sisters: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pn3JmpWDfdZ1es0

[@-oiiio-3993]

@@lymarchvideo It may still be a worthwhile service to those who are susceptible to the 'ancient Tartarian' nonsense. A presentation of detailed surveys, early photographs, historic narrative of what would become the fair 'site may be quite valuable.

[@kennylong7281]

27:40 It is clear, that the English language continues to deteriorate: "Passerbyers" is not English. Normal English: "Passers Bye".

[@sme91158]

Ironically, your version is wrong too. It's "passers-by", not "passers bye ". 🤔 Oh well. Bye bye English.😁

[@-oiiio-3993]

@@sme91158 Just imagine; had we lost the Revolution we'd all be speaking English.

[@TamaraJohnBlue]

How in this setting is a old stone Church there? A setting that is said to be a gambling and drinking center? WTH? Where did they get the stone and how was it even possible to transport it there? At 24:00 or so.

[@lymarchvideo]

The old Mission Dolores was built of Adobe, not stone. The stone and steel cathedral comes in the 20th Century.

[@MrJasonshores364]

They'll tell you anything to continue the lie that San Francisco wasn't already there.

[@pytheas1111]

@@MrJasonshores364 Exactly, from the Muybridge San Francisco panorama of 1878 we know there were at least two large completed Cathedrals lol.

[@stoopsyo]

@@lymarchvideo sir that is not adobe. Look for yourself. It’s stone not a mud Adobe

[@r0br33r]

@@lymarchvideo Nice job outing yourself as part of the problem, brainlet.

[@razorgg]

I think this is very helpful , to understand a bit, but it is too much , like a great Reference, i would love a 3 min or 10 min summary ,, of the point,, 1. the whole place was sand dunes 2 Market was on aline from Yerba Buena Cove to twin peaks and ? then Ofarrell set a grid off that? 3 but , Mission was built first, as a plank road,, so what is that? bad sand and swamp and so planks,, There is another one that makes a point about Market higher class above, more working class below and the Rich on Rincon Hill,, i would like help grasping the 7 hills? ok Telegraph where Coit is, and Russian? up the hill from the Maritime museum and the municipal pier, Rincon some where South of Market Sutro is , or is not where Sutra Tower is Lone Mountain? were these supposed 7 hills important or not in this whole deal about the Sand dunes,, and again,, shorter, more edited versions making the 3 main points would be great from my point of view ,, i get a bit lost in the detail and it is so long,, but , i so appreciate it , is great really , thank you, gg

[@lymarchvideo]

Thanks for the comments. No plans to do a reduced version. One of my hypotheses in this documentary is that the angled alignment to Twin Peaks was really create so that the new South of Market streets would angled for easier access to the one place where San Francisco has a large amount of natural flat land, namely in the southern /12 of the inner Mission. As the documentary discusses, O'Farrell was roundly criticized at the time for this plan. It came around 2 decades before dynamite was discovered. It was blasting that let folks blast away and level the rock hills such as Rincon, Potrero Hill, Telegraph Hill, and the Clinton Mound. I have never understood what the 7 Hills of SF refers to. You might ask Joel Pomerantz who is an expert on SF landform and water ways www.joelpomerantz.com and www.thinkwalks.org

[@miker7532]

The video itself is a great reference to keep and look back upon . I have watched it 3 times so far and see many more viewings. . What seems long to some Kd part of what makes this better because it explains the where snd why

[@jasonmarshall7983]

The gold rush was just a cover story to Reply populate a desserted city , we inherited all of it

[@ShakespeareCafe]

Millennium Tower

[@dudleymci1]

Tartarians built SF

[@-oiiio-3993]

No, they did not. Notice the absolute absence of any 'ancient structures' on any of the very complete pre 1915 surveys and images. Do you actually believe military surveys would omit the presence of your mythical 'ancient city'? It simply did not exist.

[@chrisbrumbaugh9936]

@MichelleGibson