Days before the 1906 Earthquake

We’ve all witnessed pictures of the past at one point or another and perhaps have viewed a short few second video of early USA 1900, San Francisco.  Unfortunately, the information retained is fleeting, never offering a lasting impression.

But the fact is, history can offer us such a vast wealth of insight and information.  If we take the time to look & truly observe, we begin to learn what a sheltered live we actually live …from the perspective of time.  That’s right – with all the technology that we have in place today (Facebook, SMS Messaging, Instant Messaging, mobile phones, online news), so much focus has been myopically placed on what’s happening now – right now – at this very moment, that yesterday doesn’t matter, and we are all blindly ever to ‘patient’ to give enough non-fearful care about what the can future bring.  For many, we simple ‘let it happen’ rather than apply ourselves and seize the opportunities that become available.

I urge you to take a few moments, pull up a chair & sit back– click here and watch the entire video – and if you have a notepad, take some notes, observing what you see.  I think you’ll be astounded at what you might learn, by observing 1906 San Francisco, days before the earthquake.

Did you watch?  What did you observe?  There’s much to consider:

• B&W Film
• Elegant Clothing – long dresses (Victorian) on ladies, men wore three-piece suits, a hat on virtually every gentleman
• Large & Elegant Automobiles
• Drivers sat on the right side of the automobile – easier to exit to the curb
• People running in the street between cars and trollies
• The roads were shared multiple forms of transportation – at the same time and enmass – pedestrians, bicycles, automobiles, trollies, horseback, horse drawn carriage.
• Virtually everyone in this video has passed on
• Lack of road signs or traffic signals which today populate our streets every 20 feet, it seems!
• People were not ‘in a hurry’
• No ‘road rage’
• Few visual billboards
• Smog!
• Women and minorities didn’t have the right to vote
• You’re watching through your computer – unheard of only a decade ago.

Comments from others:

• It’s crazy to think about the fact that at this point in time (1906) there were less than 1 billion people on the entire planet. The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years and there were only about 8000 cars. We’re all looking at people who earned a living on 22 cents an hour, making $200-$400 a year… At this time the flag only had 45 stars. Think of the wars yet to fight, there wont be even an idea of many of the innovative technology we all depend on today, for another 80+ years.
• Fascinating and haunting, it’s like watching ghosts. So much has changed, but so much remains the same. The Port of San Francisco clock tower is still there, Market Street still seems about as wide as it was back then, and many of the buildings that line it still look the buildings in this video. Even the present-day cable cars look very much like the ones from over a century ago.”
• Jaywalking: Okay
  Jumping on or off moving vehicles: Okay
  No pedestrian right of way
  No drivers license
  No sales tax
  No welfare
  No women voting
  No income tax
• Just something to think on.In this video: Every person, be they a business man, the paper boy, the coach driver, have died by now,
  Every building crubmbled,
  Every streetcar dismantled (except 2),

  In this video: We are, 1 year before the San Francisco Earthquake,
  7 years before the Titanic sinks,
  7 years before New Mexico and Arizona become states,
  9 years before World War 1,
  13 years before the massive influenza outbreak

• Mesmerizing! Competing paper boys; ladies running; guys playing tag with streetcar; heavy, horse-pulled carts; woman elegantly stepping into trolley. Pedestrians, cyclists, horses, cars, trolleys navigate liquid sea of life. Amazingly fluid; a well-timed dance. People outside = better senses? Today in climate-controlled spheres… no poop or cobblestones to step over. No sound. Red, green, pedal to metal. Unaccustomed to inconvenience. Improvements birthed road rage. Getting there any faster?
• Seven minutes of controlled chaos. No seat belts, helmets, traffic signs or traffic cops. Just people taking responsibility for their own safety.
• I also love the chaos of the street where people, automobiles, streetcars, and even horse-drawn carts share the same space with no rules yet everything still works. I bet you anything that most people of today plopped down into that environment would start agitating “there ought to be a law!” just because the lack of an official order would rub them the wrong way, despite the orderly chaos working.
• I’m impressed as I look at the area and consider that every one of those bricks was laid by hand. I mean to think that entire street was hand-made and not just bulldozed and then covered in asphalt is truly a remarkable thing.
• It’s very interesting how people use the street almost like a sidewalk, walking around so casually and mixing in with cars and horses; traffic is so slow paced and sporadic that they don’t need crosswalks. And there is quite a bit of running; I guess people were more active, then.
• I don’t think they are thin because there is not enough food; it’s because people were active, walked a lot, didn’t drink Big Gulps of high fructose corn syrup with their meals, and didn’t get in the car to go a block down the street.
• No income tax, no sales tax, and no one ever went faster than this, anywhere. And the promise of the Embarcadero at the end of the line – you could get on a ship going anywhere.
• My wife says this video makes her sad. And I agree that it does have an emotional impact. The people seem so quick and alive and full of energy compared to what we see on American streets now.
• I always wondered with liberty and the pursuit of happiness looked like. Now I know. Thanks!
• This music brings the events and people in the film alive but in a dream-like way…What happened to the cyclist (0.25): the man waving (1.15); the man eating the apple as he crossed the road (2.45): the cheeky newspaper boy (3.00); the man on the galloping horse (3.28), the boys holding on to the back of the car (4.57)??They never knew they’d become characters who entertained and fascinated 600,000+ people over 100 years later on a medium that was not at the time invented.