The fellow who runs the film museum in Niles CA was on ’60 Minutes’ last summer doing a segment concerning this historic piece of film. Although, originally thought to be filmed in 1905, he believes, with ample evidence, that it was shot in April 1906, just a few days before the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. That being the case, most of these buildings and, no doubt, a lot of these people were running out of time. Click on the link below the photos to see the film. It’s an incredible piece of history to watch, and some of the rudest drivers I’ve ever seen! Sound effects have been added to this version.
We’ll begin at 5th and Market. Keep your eye on that fellow with license plate #4867. The building at left center is the Flood Building, one of the few Market Street buildings to survive the 1906 earthquake.
This is 3rd and Market. No traffic cops or streetlights, just “Ready or not, here I come!”
Newspaper row, in front of the old Palace hotel on the right: I love these unsupervised kids darting back and forth in front of the moving cable car. Almost like, “Oh Well, one less mouth to feed.”
As we approach the Ferry Building, our little friend with license plate #4867 is back, almost running down a horse and buggy. Good thing we got his license number!
That daredevil darting in between the moving cable cars works for ‘The People’s Express Company.’ Just the driver to put in charge of your fragile or priceless items!
‘A Trip Down Market Street’ ends at the Ferry Building among dapper gentlemen, a couple of nuns, and one very bored looking Victorian maiden.
San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now 
That traffic is INSANE! My great grandfather was about seven years old at the time, like some of those kids dodging traffic. In my former office, there was a post card that someone had sent to San Luis Obispo from San Francisco to describe how, after a long and hectic trip, he had finally arrived at a hotel in San Francisco, and intended to get some good sleep that night before going to look at some real estate nearby. The date was April 17, 1906, immediately prior to the Great Earthquake.
Wow, that was the day before the April 18, 1906 Earthquake! I’ll venture that he woke up early!
After that, I have no idea what happened. It is a compelling post card though. It demonstrates that no one knows when something like that will happen. Earthquakes so predictably happen when I leave here or Southern California, that when I go on vacation, I actually look at the earthquake monitoring system of the USGS. I have lived here my entire life, but have never experienced even a moderate earthquake. A few have happened within hours after I left the region though.