Speed Graphic Film and Video | San Francisco Streets and Cable Cars, 1945 @SpeedGraphicFilmVideo | Uploaded September 2020 | Updated October 2024, 5 hours ago.
In late April 1945, diplomats, journalists and photographers converged on San Francisco for the founding session of the United Nations. As stock footage for a documentary about this historic meeting, government cinematographers took the footage seen here. Like so many visitors to San Francisco, they were particularly drawn to the city's cable car system.
Though the war in Europe was nearly done, in April 1945 the war in the Pacific was still being fought. You'll see many men and women in uniform in these films. And the cable cars are jammed, and not with tourists.
Scenes in this video:
0:18 Taken with a telephoto lens looking west from the intersection of Broadway and Taylor. Our Lady of Guadalupe Church is at the bottom of the hill.
0:41 The first in a series of shots taken from various points at the intersection of Pine and Jones Streets. This is the long-gone O'Farrell-Jones-Hyde Street line where it turned briefly east-west between Jones and Hyde Streets.
2:20 A beautiful afternoon shot looking west on California Street.
2:37 A series of shots at the busy intersection of Powell and California where the two lines cross.
This is part of a large batch of films that the National Archives just digitized this year, and image quality is superb.
The original film is silent, so I've added a music track. This time it's Igor Stravinsky, who will not be to everybody's taste, but is appropriate if for no other reason than he was living in California at the time.
In late April 1945, diplomats, journalists and photographers converged on San Francisco for the founding session of the United Nations. As stock footage for a documentary about this historic meeting, government cinematographers took the footage seen here. Like so many visitors to San Francisco, they were particularly drawn to the city's cable car system.
Though the war in Europe was nearly done, in April 1945 the war in the Pacific was still being fought. You'll see many men and women in uniform in these films. And the cable cars are jammed, and not with tourists.
Scenes in this video:
0:18 Taken with a telephoto lens looking west from the intersection of Broadway and Taylor. Our Lady of Guadalupe Church is at the bottom of the hill.
0:41 The first in a series of shots taken from various points at the intersection of Pine and Jones Streets. This is the long-gone O'Farrell-Jones-Hyde Street line where it turned briefly east-west between Jones and Hyde Streets.
2:20 A beautiful afternoon shot looking west on California Street.
2:37 A series of shots at the busy intersection of Powell and California where the two lines cross.
This is part of a large batch of films that the National Archives just digitized this year, and image quality is superb.
The original film is silent, so I've added a music track. This time it's Igor Stravinsky, who will not be to everybody's taste, but is appropriate if for no other reason than he was living in California at the time.
