RON HENGGELER

February 7, 2025
A Trip Down Market Street in 1906

with the street sounds added . . . 

YouTube viewers may have seen the short film of a trip down San Francisco's Market Street in 1906. Four days after the film was made, San Francisco was rocked by a 7.9 earthquake. The ensuing three-day firestorm burned three-quarters of the city, certainly, everything shown in this film. Mike Upchurch has added sounds to the original silent motion picture. Denis Shiryaev has colorized it. Presented here is information about the film, and a link at the bottom of this newsletter to the colorized and audio-enhanced version.

Background:

This film was shot on April 14, 1906, just four days before the San Francisco earthquake and fire, to which the negative was nearly lost. It was produced by moving picture photographers the Miles brothers: Harry, Herbert, Earle and Joe. Harry J. Miles hand-cranked the Bell & Howell camera which was placed on the front of a streetcar during filming on Market Street from 8th, in front of the Miles Studios, to the Ferry Building. A few days later the Miles brothers were en route to New York when they heard news of the earthquake. They sent the negative to NY, and returned to San Francisco to discover that their studios were destroyed.

Text by Mike Upchurch

The origin of the film was an enigma for many decades, and it was long thought to have been shot in September of 1905, after being dated as such by the Library of Congress based on the state of construction of several buildings. However, in 2009 and 2010, film historian David Kiehn, co-founder of Niles Film Museum in Niles, California, dated the film to the spring of 1906 from automobile registrations and weather records. Kiehn eventually found promotional materials from the film's original release and dated the film to April 14th, 1906, and finally gave credit to the filmmakers, the Miles Brothers.

Text by Mike Upchurch

Restoration:

Restoration: The Prelinger print was scanned from the original 1906-era 35mm print. Additional footage from the Library of Congress version was added, making this the most complete and highest resolution version available anywhere.

Accuracy:

Automobile sounds are all either Ford Model T, or Model A, which came out later, but which have similarly designed engines, and sound quite close to the various cars shown in the film. The horns are slightly inaccurate as mostly bulb horns were used at the time, but were substituted by the far more recognizable electric "oogaa" horns, which came out a couple years later. The streetcar sounds are actual San Francisco streetcars. Doppler effect was used to align the sounds.

Produced by:

The Miles Brothers

Photographed by:

Harry J Miles

Sound Design by:

Mike Upchurch

Additionally, this version has been upscaled and colorized by YouTube user Denis Shiryaev. His account, which does this to many other historic films, can be found here:    / @denisshiryaev  

This is the most complete version of the historic film, "A Trip Down Market Street," combining the best elements of prints from Prelinger Archives and Library of Congress.

To watch the film, click this link:

A Trip Down Market Street