San Francisco Dashcam A Trip Down Market Street 1906 (Sound Track - Moon Safari - La femme d'argent)

San Francisco's main thoroughfare, Market Street, is a hive of activity in this 1906 "dashcam" style movie. The trip was filmed from the front of a cable car, and shows horse drawn and motorized traffic weaving between the cable cars & horse drawn trams, often narrowly missing pedestrians by just inches. The downtown area pictured here was all but destroyed by the infamous 1906 earthquake and subsequent fires.

[@antonbanks8303]

All those people simply going about their business, never knowing that this little slice of their life would be used in a video for a style of music that didn't exist and shared in a way that would have been unthinkable. It makes you wonder if any of us today will end up in some future "video" 100 years from now simply because we passed through a random doorbell or traffic camera.

[@AlpineTerrier]

I never get bored of watching and listening to this masterpiece.

[@nickkuzinski5380]

Whoever discovered this 100 y.o. dashcam footage and said I've got the perfect soundtrack for this... Bravo dude!! Everybody needs to be hypnotized with a grin on for 10 min straight every now and then.

[@Poisson4147]

It wasn't so much discovered as preserved. This film was made just a few days before the quake. It was put on a train out of SF for processing, thus escaping destruction. It's been known for decades thanks to its backstory, both fascinating and bittersweet.

[@vernonsteinkamp1088]

This clip has special meaning to me because my grandparents were in SF at the time of the earthquake. They survived and as my grandfather was working for a furniture store, he commandeered one of their horses and buggy and escaped making their way to the Byron, Tracy area, a 3 day trip, only 70 miles away. My dad was born in 1907. So that would put his conception a couple months after the earthquake. There were only 2 ways out of the city, one was by fairy boat and the other was a much longer route heading around the peninsula towards the San Jose area. My grandparents quickly became farmers, farming approx. 20 acres.

[@SuperLuminalElf]

INCREDIBLE.

[@claudiorollano]

Very interesting story, the nature can change our lifes and the family history in a few moments. Greetings from Chile!

[@philipgreen1440]

I believe that l can make a lot, inventing a turn signal, but first electricity.

[@renee5748]

Thanks for sharing your beautiful family story, Vernon.

[@theprophet20]

A vanished world... The famous psychologist William James was in San Francisco when the earthquake occurred. He felt it as a primeval force with malevolent intention, out to get him personally. He added that he could now understand how primitive man viewed nature as imbued with spirit.

[@wvs3917a]

It looks so well choreographed - not one collision or accident, just good management of animals, cars, kids on bikes, kids riding the backs of cars and pedestrians dodging cars. It all fits so well with the AIR soundtrack.

[@sneadh1]

Good catch. It IS choreographed. Man of those cars were hired by the filmmaker. He was trying to make SF look very busy and bustling.

[@wvs3917a]

They did the trick, it does look busy and no accidents

[@halwakka504]

@@sneadh1 Source? I love this clip and I'd like to learn more about this.

[@halwakka504]

@@sneadh1 Ooh I googled it and found a 60 Minutes segment on it! :)

[@SocDem13]

This is Art !

[@learmagnum]

THE FINER THINGS IN LIFE.....BEAUTIFUL.....RELAX...BREATH THE AIR.......PEACE

[@user-pf5xq3lq8i]

Google streetview should add this in!

[@benjaminwilliams9447]

Yes, this clip with "Air's La Femme music somehow all blends. I LOVE THIS CLIP!!!!

[@misternewoutlook5437]

A "hello" to the future from these people of 1906. I love this film with the soundtrack. Something eerie about these old actuality films. There's many of them to watch and you get the same feeling from almost all of them.

[@franceslaurie4350]

Thank you for the beautiful music & special video & wishing everyone peace, love & happiness on earth

[@crusty21]

No traffic lights and everyone including their mother has the right of way....amazing.

[@charlescooler5680]

A wonderful mix of chaos and freedom, no " no left turn "," no jaywalking ".......signs, and they all manage with elegance, agility . Thrre is also a feeling of innocence lost. The music by Air is sumptuous.

[@anodyne57]

Like many streets in modern day India...everyone knows the rules and dances the dance of chaos in unison.

[@kbuddy1451]

The building at the end of Market Street is still standing today. Somehow it survived both the inferno and impact of the earthquake. Otherwise, the stone structures seen that withstood the firestorm were so badly damaged by earthquake that they later came down. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was a tragic incident.

[@user-eb5cb6ud1p]

The Ferry Building survived because it was one of the first in SF that was built with a steel skeleton. A lot of the older buildings had stone outside walls but wood interiors. Even if the stone walls didn't collapse, the wood went up when the flames started. FWIW it's widely reported that the military's use of dynamite to create firebreaks led to far more fires and destruction than the quake itself.

[@marydeewright3576]

This is without doubt the most moving and fascinating vid I have seen in a long time, I wonder how many of those folks survived the earth quake? We know not the day nor the hour,people just like us going about their day..God Bless them and us too, .

[@anodyne57]

Agreed. As far as the day, it was determined to be about 7 days prior to the quake. The hour can be guessed at pretty easily by the angle of the sun. And the wind's coming from the west/NW based on the direction some of those beards are leaning.

[@JamesWoodTN]

Mesmerizing.. thanks for posting

[@cinnamonjw]

I like this one better than the other copy I have. The film doesn't roll, and it shows more footage, from one end to the other. Great job!

[@brunokurzawa6272]

Troublant et fantastique

[@kellyspann9845]

Someone asked me with so many horse's in the streets did they try to cleanup the horse droppings to help with disease and smell. If you notice at 1:20 to the right there is a man with a large push broom and a shovel cleaning it up. They had these men all over the city doing that one job and putting it in wagons to take it out of the city.

[@davidalejandrotestelarange1002]

There were no traffic lights at that time, the modern traffic light as we know it was designed in 1920 in the state of Ohio

[@lorenasilvanapasquetti2906]

da tante volte che l'ho visto conosco tutti i personaggi. Opera d'arte

[@justRayEvansopinion]

Interesting mixture of cars and horses. The future overtaking the past.

[@TheMIDDLEEASTT]

what a crazy traffic. no cops, no lights. but no accident! i guess somethng s wrong today :/

[@jakedouglas6796]

There was a cop at 3:18.

[@RUSHisRIGHT09]

I see the way people drive in 1906 and 2020 really hasn't evolved for the better

[@imagrasshopper9510]

Brilliant! Thanks for updating this.

[@PianoUniverse]

Music by "Air"

[@robberblack8899]

Excellent job on this video!

[@davidalejandrotestelarange1002]

this video goes back to that time

[@dan4461]

Quantic - Time Is The Enemy this footage is seriously better with that music

[@Poisson4147]

From what I've read, the photographer simply put a camera in the front of a cable car and started cranking. So I guess technically it was a dash-cam - ???

[@stephenholman9412]

Everybody would be killed now walking around head down looking at there phones

[@johnvanhal2450]

*their

[@geoffreycullimore3620]

I notice all the horse drawn vehicles and the man driven vehicles are right hand drive !

[@Poisson4147]

I was surprised to read that the US didn't standardize LH versus RH drive till at least a couple of decades later. Some major countries were still dorking around till the *1960s* before making a choice 🙃

[@giovannimalagrino4748]

This San Francisco from California, from USA .The progres THE peaple Year 1906 .With THE cars by Ford

[@stormin300]

Trippy

[@Lee-yn1by]

Search “Time is the Enemy Quantic” for a better soundtrack to this footage

[@JazJonFL]

Nice but the loud symbol playing bothers me with that song

[@owlyou]

Thaaaank youuuuuu!!! I've been looking for that version for some time !! Finally!! I like that soundtrack better myself.

[@Baskerville22]

Just noticed something curious. At 0.33 a car comes from the left and cuts in front of the tramcar (from which filming is occurring). Its license plate is "4867". That same car cuts in front of the tramcar - from the right - at 1.48; at 2.49 ; at 3.55 ; at 5.37 and at 9.35. The license plate is clearly readable in each instance. As the tramcar is moving so slowly, and overtaking nothing on the road that passed it, what is going on ? The car could be circling around via streets on the right to catch up the tramcar and pass it again and again, but why ? AND I think that there is insufficient time for that to happen in 4 of the instances. Any ideas ?

[@SuperLuminalElf]

I didn't know they HAD Lic Plates back then; had no idea.

[@T120RT]

The cars were hired to drive around in order to make the scene look more busy and modern. Watch the "Historic Film: Market Street 1906" for the explanation. It was shown on the show 60 minutes.

[@Baskerville22]

Thanks. I would have thought it busy enough without the added traffic

[@nichts4374]

I was thinking the original 'selfie'.

[@ard6016]

So strange the camera really highlights the date the building was erected . . .it stays on it for quite some time ….clearly says AD 896 and if it’s 1896 how come the 1 is not legible but the other three numbers are 🤔 gave me chills

[@Poisson4147]

This is isn't a modern 4K video. It's a 120-year-old, relatively low-res movie film that's subject to wear and distortion. Still photos of the Ferry Building cornerstone clearly show the leading "1". If you think about it for a second or two, English didn't even exist in 896 so it would be really tough for someone back then to engrave a cornerstone using modern words. Not everything is time travel or a massive conspiracy, lol!

[@KrunoBaraba]

Niceeee .

[@shanmareewalker7836]

No road rules. Lol

[@tonymagon8509]

Noticed that the cars are all right hand drive

[@Poisson4147]

I saw that too, and did some googling. Apparently the US didn't standardize on left-hand drive for at least another couple of decades. Wow!

[@spankingwalrus5758]

why everything black and white. what iphone versions is this filmed?

[@renee5748]

😂🤣😂

[@halwakka504]

HAHAHAH WHAT A CLEVER COMMENT

[@bobb.6393]

I imagine I can see they are souls

[@markcolston4602]

Did the tower ahead not survive?

[@Neneset]

The ferry building, including the tower, survived and are still there today.

[@tslaEnglish]

Thought provoking when knowing 0 of the hourses and humns is alive.

[@hunterice896]

Бедная лошадка 🐎

[@hermannz6360]

It would be nice to see this clip and listen to the actual sounds of street instead of the music. The soundtrack really takes away from this.

[@JazJonFL]

It was a silent film, pre-talkies tech

[@stevecarson4162]

There is another version of the same footage, semi-colourized, and with "ambient noise" that was just added later. I like this better -- an the music suited it perfectly.