via gothamist blog & youtube

 

six and a half minutes of a subway ride in manhattan filmed in 1905.

 

make sure to stick with it until around the 5 minute mark for the awesomely charming finale:

 

 

December 12, 2008

Video of the Day: Subway Circa 1905

 

This video takes you on an underground ride from 14th Street to 42nd Street. Not that exciting, right? Well it was filmed in 1905. As Andrew Sullivan notes, watch to the 5:00 mark where it gets real good.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3RjHPmU2vk

 

Kottke proposes it is running on the contemporary 4/5/6 line, and presents "a 1904 map which shows the then-IRT line in question (in red). At 42nd St, the line runs crosstown to Times Square and then up the 1/2/3."

 

more commentary:

 

http://gothamist.com/2008/12/12/video_of_the_day_subway_circa_1905.php

 

 

Uber-cool!  Dare I say that the subway looks clean?

Neat stuff. Clearly the sound was dubbed when the film was transferred to video, because sync sound didn't exist in 1905. I've seen other video footage made from 8mm film stock from the late 30s and early 40s, where they dubbed sound made with museum rolling stock. It was done pretty skilfully.

 

I've seen another film of 1905 footage of a streetcar ride down Market Street in San Francisco. It's even more interesting because it's out in full daylight, with pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicle traffic.

Nice. It would be cool to see what the inside of the train was like.

 

Did everyone in 1905 wear a suit or dress?

Neat stuff. Clearly the sound was dubbed when the film was transferred to video, because sync sound didn't exist in 1905. I've seen other video footage made from 8mm film stock from the late 30s and early 40s, where they dubbed sound made with museum rolling stock. It was done pretty skilfully.

 

I've seen another film of 1905 footage of a streetcar ride down Market Street in San Francisco. It's even more interesting because it's out in full daylight, with pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicle traffic.

 

I was wondering how it had sound.  I was surprised when I heard it. 

 

I was also wondering how it had light, but then I saw it later in the film.  Pretty cool.

 

What were we looking for around the five minute mark.  I just saw people.  Thought I may have seen two guys holding hands? 

Nice. It would be cool to see what the inside of the train was like.

 

Did everyone in 1905 wear a suit or dress?

 

yes.  i love it.  regardless of class people dressed well.

It does look like those two guys are holding hands

Nice. It would be cool to see what the inside of the train was like.

 

 

not 1905, but i found a 1933 subway interior inspection photo

 

 

^ and if you want to waste an evening, check this link where that one came from. it's every dam eye-popping historic photo of manhattan you could want:

 

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/SPEC/GAL-BW.htm

 

 

I wish buses, subways and streetcars had more handles or better placed handles to grab onto. A lot of them don't anticipate over-crowding. It's kinda awkward when you fall into someone as the bus brakes or accelerates all of a sudden.

I wish buses, subways and streetcars had more handles or better placed handles to grab onto. A lot of them don't anticipate over-crowding. It's kinda awkward when you fall into someone as the bus brakes or accelerates all of a sudden.

 

Padded? That would be so hard to maintain.  IMO, the stainless steel bar is sufficient.

The solution is to reduce service to where all vehicles are packed so full that there's no possibility of falling. We're well on the way to that.

I wish buses, subways and streetcars had more handles or better placed handles to grab onto. A lot of them don't anticipate over-crowding. It's kinda awkward when you fall into someone as the bus brakes or accelerates all of a sudden.

 

The way NY bus drivers drive you basically fall into/onto someone whether the bus is crowded or not, from the moment you pay your fare and start heading down the aisle! And under the category of pet peeves, may I add to that list fellow bus passengers who board ahead of me, stand in the aisle, and spend hours of time pondering where they're going to sit; or better yet, just stand there immobile when I am attempting to pass them to get to what are many available seats toward the back of the bus!!

I wish buses, subways and streetcars had more handles or better placed handles to grab onto. A lot of them don't anticipate over-crowding. It's kinda awkward when you fall into someone as the bus brakes or accelerates all of a sudden.

 

The way NY bus drivers drive you basically fall into/onto someone whether the bus is crowded or not, from the moment you pay your fare and start heading down the aisle! And under the category of pet peeves, may I add to that list fellow bus passengers who board ahead of me, stand in the aisle, and spend hours of time pondering where they're going to sit; or better yet, just stand there immobile when I am attempting to pass them to get to what are many available seats toward the back of the bus!!

 

Rosa EVD, that's why I rarely ride the bus. One, my legs can move me faster than a NY bus two, people act as if the closer to the driver they are the faster they will get to their destination.

I wish buses, subways and streetcars had more handles or better placed handles to grab onto. A lot of them don't anticipate over-crowding. It's kinda awkward when you fall into someone as the bus brakes or accelerates all of a sudden.

 

The way NY bus drivers drive you basically fall into/onto someone whether the bus is crowded or not, from the moment you pay your fare and start heading down the aisle! And under the category of pet peeves, may I add to that list fellow bus passengers who board ahead of me, stand in the aisle, and spend hours of time pondering where they're going to sit; or better yet, just stand there immobile when I am attempting to pass them to get to what are many available seats toward the back of the bus!!

 

Rosa EVD, that's why I rarely ride the bus. One, my legs can move me faster than a NY bus two, people act as if the closer to the driver they are the faster they will get to their destination.

 

 

I know what you mean. I've been on buses that have taken a full hour to travel crosstown, a distance of 1-2 miles!! Although I prefer the bus to the subway now, you can never, ever judge how much time will be involved to get to your destination (always allow for an extra 30 minutes at least!)

I wish buses, subways and streetcars had more handles or better placed handles to grab onto. A lot of them don't anticipate over-crowding. It's kinda awkward when you fall into someone as the bus brakes or accelerates all of a sudden.

 

The way NY bus drivers drive you basically fall into/onto someone whether the bus is crowded or not, from the moment you pay your fare and start heading down the aisle! And under the category of pet peeves, may I add to that list fellow bus passengers who board ahead of me, stand in the aisle, and spend hours of time pondering where they're going to sit; or better yet, just stand there immobile when I am attempting to pass them to get to what are many available seats toward the back of the bus!!

 

Rosa EVD, that's why I rarely ride the bus. One, my legs can move me faster than a NY bus two, people act as if the closer to the driver they are the faster they will get to their destination.

 

 

I know what you mean. I've been on buses that have taken a full hour to travel crosstown, a distance of 1-2 miles!! Although I prefer the bus to the subway now, you can never, ever judge how much time will be involved to get to your destination (always allow for an extra 30 minutes at least!)

 

Especially when it rains!

I didn't mean that buses/trains should have those rings instead of bars - I'm saying make them go horizontally not just vertically. They do that in Japan. Sometimes it gets so crowded that you have a person standing between the guys holding onto the bar on either side of the bus/train. They probably don't do that on buses because they know it's a little ridiculous to even have to plan for that.

I didn't mean that buses/trains should have those rings instead of bars - I'm saying make them go horizontally not just vertically. They do that in Japan. Sometimes it gets so crowded that you have a person standing between the guys holding onto the bar on either side of the bus/train. They probably don't do that on buses because they know it's a little ridiculous to even have to plan for that.

trust me.  when its crowded, its like an orgy.

I couldn't decide where to put this link, but thought some of you might enjoy.

 

Film of San Fransisco from a streetcar in 1906

^ I saw that last night on 60 Minutes.  It's apparently from right before the earthquake.  Very cool footage. 

I didn't mean that buses/trains should have those rings instead of bars - I'm saying make them go horizontally not just vertically. They do that in Japan. Sometimes it gets so crowded that you have a person standing between the guys holding onto the bar on either side of the bus/train. They probably don't do that on buses because they know it's a little ridiculous to even have to plan for that.

trust me. when its crowded, its like an orgy.

 

Kinky.

 

I couldn't decide where to put this link, but thought some of you might enjoy.

 

Film of San Fransisco from a streetcar in 1906

 

That's incredible! I wonder where they found such rare footage. Check out all the road rage (even though they're all going like 10 mph lol!)

 

  ^---- Very Nice!

 

    Cable cars, electric streetcars, horse cars, horse and buggies, horse and wagons, horseback riding, early automobiles, bicycles, and lot and lots of pedestrians make this film an urban wonderland.

 

  7 years later, in 1913, the Ford Model T would come out, and then by 1920 automobiles dominated.

Nobody's fat. 

 

   ^---- Very Nice!

 

    Cable cars, electric streetcars, horse cars, horse and buggies, horse and wagons, horseback riding, early automobiles, bicycles, and lot and lots of pedestrians make this film an urban wonderland.

 

   7 years later, in 1913, the Ford Model T would come out, and then by 1920 automobiles dominated.

 

It looks so chaotic to me.  I suppose that everything is moving relatively slow, as you can see by the bicycles in traffic.  It looks pretty cool, no stop lights and steady movement.  It's amazing how much things have changed.

 

There is a real lack of trees or any other form of plant.

I can't believe there were no collisions.

 

It's amazing how much more in shape everyone looks and it's amazing to us whippersnappers how nicely everyone dressed back then.

^ not sure if you saw the 60 Minutes story or not, but they mentioned in the piece that no one would ever consider going outside without wearing a hat.  And to think, each person probably only had 3 or 4 outfits total back then.

That was just beautiful. I am all choked up after seeing that.

 

My thoughts:

 

> What an amazing time to travel the streets of an American city. You still had some semblence of the streets being for people and not vehicles. Yet there was an amazing if not uneasy mix of streetcars, cable cars, horse cars, horse-drawn carts, carriages and jitneys, mercantile wagons (more prevalent the closer the cable car got to the ferry terminal), and still the lone man on horseback. But it's pretty evident the automobile is very out of place and adds a new level of speed and chaos that would soon chase the pedestrian off the streets of the American city.

 

> The sidewalk is only slightly more vibrant as a pedestrian venue than the street! The street was such a public place where one could grab on to any passing vehicle and become mobile. Doesn't matter if it was a cable car, wagon or even an automobile. If a vehicle was traveling slow enough and you were young or physically nimble enough, any vehicle appears to be fair game. I did not see a single traffic signal.

 

> The presence of newspaper boys was remarkable. I had heard there were lots of them in U.S. cities, but their number and aggressiveness was notable. At the Embarcadero ferry terminal (and probably at the Southern Pacific railroad station too) the newspaper boys were in greater abundance. I've read the competition among these boys and their sponsors was so intense that there were "wars" of violence between them. Many of these boys would later get into bootlegging during Prohibition and many became powerful gangsters thereafer. It's interesting to see some of them here in their formative years. Those were tough kids who were taught to use violence to make more money, lessons that they continued to employ as adults to earn incredible amounts of money and corruptive power selling illegal alcohol -- something most people wanted.

 

> Note the difference in quality of the street surface. The areas between the sidewalks and the cable car and/or streetcar tracks was in better condition because it was the responsibility of the city or county to maintain. But the area between and amid the cable car and/or streetcar tracks was the responsibility of the stockholder-owned street railway companies to maintain. Ever wonder why that area of the street is not maintained as well? Ever wonder why many street railways didn't survive? It's all about the different rules addressing infrastructure ownership for each mode.

 

> Lastly, despite that video being shot just 23 years before my father was born, I doubt any of the people in that film are still alive. Not so much because of the earthquake and fire (though the question of who in that film survived and who didn't entered my mind). But moreso because the tinyest baby in that setting would be 104 years old today. Certainly not impossible, but also not likely.

 

I had a great aunt who died at age 95 in 1987. I was 20 years old when she passed and enjoyed hearing her stories from her youth. She would have 14 years when this film was shot. She lived in western New York (Ripley) and often visited cities that looked like this back then, including Cleveland, Buffalo and New York City. I sure wished I had.

Market St. today:

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Market+Street,+San+Francisco,+CA&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=49.444078,114.169922&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Market+St,+San+Francisco,+California&ll=37.790523,-122.399797&spn=0.048565,0.111494&t=h&z=14&layer=c&cbll=37.790588,-122.399716&panoid=0IeQNnCxz7p3DeDJiSQZ2g&cbp=12,45.94,,0,1.47

The Market Street video is mesmerizing!  Considering the reactions of many of the passersby, I can only imagine how large and noticeable that old camera mount must've been.  I also found it funny how many people seemed to not notice a streetcar passing until it was right in front of them; I wonder if this had more to do with distractions in what must've been a noisy setting, or simply the expectation that it would slow down and not hit them.  One other observation, it's interesting to see how aggressive drivers of the horseless carriages were already becoming over 100 years ago...

 

Amazing footage, both that and the subway video that started off this thread!

I can't believe there were no collisions.

...

 

Ah, but there were collisions, apparently just not in this film. I've seen numerous photos from the era showing autos mangled in collisions with streetcars, and injuries to both pedestrians and wagon or carriage drivers from runaway horses weren't uncommon. One of the reasons big-city street railways were elevated, even before this film was made, was the carnage from pedestrians crossing in the way of the trains, which were steam-powered prior to the mid-1890s. Considerable research went into the design of "cow-catcher" type devices on the fronts of streetcars that would scoop up errant pedestrians without serious injury.

 

My dad's great-uncle, a doctor, was severely injured one night on the way to assist a woman in labor when his horse spooked and took his buggy off a bridge into the Wabash River. Even nowadays there are news stories of injuries and deaths on Amish farms from accidents involving horses and wagons and too often small children.

 

And without live audio, you can't begin to comprehend the noise level in scenes like those, with iron-shod horses and iron-tired, wooden-wheeled wagons traveling on cobblestone streets. Most of the autos of that era had one- or two-cylinder air-cooled engines and no effective mufflers, and were god-awful noisy. Some sounded like a steady succession of gunshots. City horses became accustomed to them, but they were enough to send unaccustomed farm horses into total panic on country roads.

 

Did you notice how some buggy drivers liked to drive in the cable car tracks? Buggy wheels were hard and the springs weren't all that effective. Driving in the tracks gave a much nicer ride than driving on the cobblestones.

Nobody's fat.

 

I had that exact same thought. Looked like maybe one out of a hundred people there were even overweight.

Nobody's fat. 

 

I had that exact same thought. Looked like maybe one out of a hundred people there were even overweight.

 

 

 

The lens is a slight telephoto, which makes everything look closer than it was.  Most of this stuff wasn't really that close to hitting. 

The lens is a slight telephoto, which makes everything look closer than it was. Most of this stuff wasn't really that close to hitting.

 

There were people crossing awfully close to the streetcars coming the other way, and the carriage that squeezed between the two streetcars at 8:30 had to be real close to both.

This video has been on Youtube for years but CBS did a great job of restoring it. I guess they just now found out it happened to be shot right before the disaster. They researched license plates and advertisements.

This video has been on Youtube for years but CBS did a great job of restoring it. I guess they just now found out it happened to be shot right before the disaster. They researched license plates and advertisements.

 

That makes sense. I first saw it in the late seventies or early eighties, at a grand opening of the then-recently restored Castro Theater, and it was billed at 1905.

 

I noticed a couple of autos that appeared to be shadowing the car that was carrying the camera. One was what appeared to be a White steamer of a style that wouldn't have been more than a year old then, with four men in it. I first noticed it making a close pass from the opposite direction, and then shortly afterward it overtook the camera car. Finally it's seen turning around ahead of the camera car as it approaches the Ferry Terminal. Of course numerous boys were showing off at various places, and there's the guy on the bike who swings over the right-hand rail and rides on the slot for a short distance before peeling off to the right. Anyone who's inadvertently hit a railroad crossing or streetcar track at the wrong angle on a bicycle knows how carefully you have to pay attention. It's called learning by road rash.

Nobody's fat.

 

I had that exact same thought. Looked like maybe one out of a hundred people there were even overweight.

 

 

 

 

I think it has more to do with the fact that people walked more and ate less fatty foods with no preservatives. It's a similar situation between Americans and Europeans.... :)

 

Nobody's fat.

 

I had that exact same thought. Looked like maybe one out of a hundred people there were even overweight.

 

 

 

 

I think it has more to do with the fact that people walked more and ate less fatty foods with no preservatives. It's a similar situation between Americans and Europeans.... :)

 

 

Diet is probably 80% of it. I got to a point where I jogged 15 miles a day but it just made me want to eat more. It wasn't until I changed my diet that it really made a difference.

 

Plus, all those people are wearing black suits. A few of them probably are fat, even by modern standards.

David, Would you stop with well-reasoned arguments? I am trying to have some pointless fun at America's expense.

Well, I am sure there is someone out there who would pick the lady on the right.... not me, but probably someone.  It was neat to see that the building at the end of the street is still there.  It helps compare the two scenes and shows the reality of it being the same place.

That San Francisco video is nothing less than epic. 

 

Seeing all the activity of that street in motion is more inspiring than even the best restored photo at shorpy.com.  It was quite thrilling to make that march towards the Ferry Terminal, and to actually arrive there and turn around to look back on where we came from.  The look on the people's faces who noticed the camera was great, as was seeing all the hustle and bustle on the street while taking place at a much less frantic pace.  It really emphasizes just how much safer streets can be for all modes of traffic when the speeds are below 10 mph ( San Francisco's cable cars run at 9.5 mph, Cincinnati's ran at 8 ).  The one thing that freaked me out was the cyclist riding directly on top of the cable guideway.  I know the tires are fairly wide, but damn! 

The people were well dressed, but you probably didn't want to spend much time in a small room with them.  Just saying.

I knew a girl from Japan who in high school went to Dallas, TX for three months as part of an exchange trip.  When she flew back, she had gained so much weight that her parents didn't recognize her in the airport.

I knew a girl from Japan who in high school went to Dallas, TX for three months as part of an exchange trip.  When she flew back, she had gained so much weight that her parents didn't recognize her in the airport.

 

LOL!

 

I bet she was surprised at how cheap the food is, in America. Especially steak; it's a major delicacy over there. A top quality steak can run anywhere from $100-1000 in Japan. I'd imagine it would be hard not to indulge here, especially in Texas.

The people were well dressed, but you probably didn't want to spend much time in a small room with them. Just saying.

 

That's what talcum powder was for -- an early version of anti-perspirant which sort-of helped as a deodorant. People would also keep potpourri sachets in their pockets. Also, men would wear after-shave or, for weathier men, cologne. And women wore perfume. My father said some people would wear so much aftershave, cologne or perume you'd rather deal with their BO. And, don't forget, thinner people who are in shape from walking a lot don't sweat as much, except on hot, humid summer days when an afternoon thunderstorm and would send everyone scurrying onto crowded, non-airconditioned streetcars. Now that most certainly would have been a BO special!

 

  Ok, over the last two days I have spent about 2 hours watching that video over and over. There are some more versions of it online, in various forms of restoration, and with various music. One has sound effects added.

 

  On another forum it was pointed out that the photographer paid some automobile drivers to circle the camera to add more action. I don't know how the forumer knew this, but after paying attention to the automobiles, it seems believable. There seem to be four automobiles that circle the camera over and over, mostly crossing from right to left. Other than that, I can only find two automobiles in the entire film.

 

   

 

   

> Lastly, despite that video being shot just 23 years before my father was born, I doubt any of the people in that film are still alive. Not so much because of the earthquake and fire (though the question of who in that film survived and who didn't entered my mind). But moreso because the tinyest baby in that setting would be 104 years old today. Certainly not impossible, but also not likely.

 

 

Strange, I had these thoughts while watching the video, even watching to see if I could glimpse a baby anywhere who may still be living in a rare case. And thinking of the many in the video who would perish shortly thereafter.

But chances are everyone in the video is deceased.

 

I forget now where I read this, something in reference to living memory, recent memory, and distant memory. With living memory being that there is still somebody alive with actual memories of a period of history, recent memory, meaning someone living who remembers memories told to them first-hand from the last generation or two before them, and distant memory being nobody is alive with actual memories of a time past, or first-hand account. So while there may be noone today alive with actual memories of 1906, there should still be plenty of people who have been told of this period in history. And even they are vanishing daily.

My great-grandfather who was born in 1898 died in 1998 and remembered the first time he saw a car.  He was convinced nobody would want them because they were so loud.  He was a really upbeat guy who was still on his feet and very active until a week or two before he died.  Meanwhile the next generation, the WWII generation, all stopped walking around 1950 and have had long lives only because of advances in science. 

 

>Especially steak

 

Something's wrong with you if you don't like steak.

 

 

My great-grandfather who was born in 1898 died in 1998 and remembered the first time he saw a car.  He was convinced nobody would want them because they were so loud.  He was a really upbeat guy who was still on his feet and very active until a week or two before he died. ...

 

In 1958 my brother and I bought an engine out of a sawmill owned by a 93-year-old gentleman near Ypsilanti, Michigan. He had come to the area with his brothers when he was a teenager, and at one time had run a flour mill and a sawmill and made fine furniture. The flour mill had shut down years before, and at age 90 he had decided that sawmilling was too dangerous a trade for a fellow his age. He still made furniture, and some pieces he showed us in his house matched anything I've seen before or since in quality of material, construction, and finish.

 

He told of watching a man go down the street in Ann Arbor at dusk, lighting the street lights one-by-one, and of seeing the first automobile in town. On his last trip to town, he said, he had a heck of a time finding a place to park.

 

He was a small guy, wiry and agile still, and on the winter day when we moved that three-ton engine out of the mill and loaded it onto the truck, he was out there the whole afternoon working right along with us.

In 1958 my brother and I bought an engine out of a sawmill owned by a 93-year-old gentleman near Ypsilanti, Michigan.

 

 

That's awesome. So you met with and talked with a man born in the same year Abraham Lincoln was assassinated? You met a man who witnessed America go from a mostly agricultural and mercantile nation into the greatest global industrial powerhouse. If I could, I would trade places with that man in a heartbeat.

Mr. Parker was a remarkable man. As I noted above, he was ninety-three when we met him. He had sold his wooded, rolling riverfront land to a wealthy auto executive frorm then-thriving Detroit, and had a life estate in it; so long has he was able or willing, he could continue to live therr and have full use of the property. At ninety-three and with advanced skin cancer, I'm sure that neither he nor the buyer expected a long wait.

 

Seven years later we received a letter from him. He was still living on the property, and the cancer had gone into spontaneous remission. He said he had outlived it. The last I heard, the site had become a county park. I suppose the buyer's fortunes ran out with the collapse of Detroit's automakers, before he ever had time to realize his dream home.

 

I wouldn't mind living to a hundred if I could be like Mr. Parker.