A wondrous, beautiful ride on a Market Street, San Francisco, tram in the early 1900s. Utterly hypnotic :



It's widely claimed the film was made shortly, a matter of days, before a massive earthquake struck San Francisco in 1906, killing some 3000 people. It's easy to assume that some of those who died are also the same people you see walking, dodging cars and trams and waving to the camera.

The same film again, but if you go to about 4:10, you will see the unknown cameraman returned Market Street after the quake and the firestorm that followed, and filmed from the tram the same view towards the clock tower :



Much of the city was all but leveled by the earthquakes and fires.

More views of Market Street, in the aftermath :







Soldiers patrolling in the devastation :



And soldiers looting :



And Market Street from a tram, again, but this time in 1941 :



It's as close to time-travel as we're going to get, at least this century.