Kites over Frisco, 1906

December 9, 2004 6:30 PM

"THE YEAR was 1906, and the citizens of San Francisco must have found it a wildly incongruous sight--grown men at child's play in the midst of tragedy. Less than three weeks before, the earth had shaken and the city had burned. The disaster began with an earthquake in the early morning of Wednesday, April 18, and when the fires were extinguished three days later, at least two hundred thousand San Francisco residents were homeless. Yet on the afternoon of May 5, a small group of men was flying kites near Folsom and Sixth streets."
posted by Cryptical Envelopment (27 comments total)

Wow.
posted by grabbingsand at 6:38 PM on December 9, 2004

Wow. Awesome post! Welcome to MeFi.
posted by SpecialK at 6:40 PM on December 9, 2004

Holy CRAP, awesome aerial photo!!!!
posted by Eekacat at 6:46 PM on December 9, 2004

This is incredible. Thank you.
posted by Voivod at 6:52 PM on December 9, 2004

You rock. Thanks for the link to the photos and story.
posted by thebabelfish at 6:55 PM on December 9, 2004

Stunning. Made my day.
posted by saladin at 7:21 PM on December 9, 2004

One of the best FPP's in a long time. Thanks!
posted by wolftrouble at 7:30 PM on December 9, 2004

wow .... this, on top of the Saltacol post. Give this person his/her 5$ back... or let me .
posted by R. Mutt at 7:34 PM on December 9, 2004

When I still lived in SF, somebody showed me these photos and I was astounded. They're still astounding. Thanks for this.
posted by blucevalo at 7:39 PM on December 9, 2004

Excellent! Best of the web.
posted by msacheson at 7:43 PM on December 9, 2004

Only note...please don't call San Francisco "Frisco".
posted by msacheson at 7:45 PM on December 9, 2004

Holy crap. The photo taken between 5th and 6th Streets made my jaw drop. I currently work in a building that is now located on the very left edge of the photo. I walk down some of these streets everyday. I will never look at them the same again.
posted by quadog at 7:45 PM on December 9, 2004

Only note...please don't call San Francisco "Frisco".

Noted and agreed. I had a hard time giving the post a title. Still, it's better than "Go fly a kite, and bring your camera" I hope. Maybe not. :-)
posted by Cryptical Envelopment at 7:56 PM on December 9, 2004

Wow.

Now, those guys had cameras.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:15 PM on December 9, 2004

There are many amazing panoramic photos at the American Memory Collection. Like these of fire and ruins.
posted by dmo at 8:16 PM on December 9, 2004

i'll repeat what everyone else is saying with a "wow", my personal favorite is the shot from the bay (really starteling). Has anyone seen a place where you can get poster size reprints of these (i did a quick search but only found 8x11's). Great post
posted by NGnerd at 8:30 PM on December 9, 2004

Excellent stuff, many thanks!
posted by carter at 8:32 PM on December 9, 2004

WOW! Welcome, indeed! Amazing find! Thanks so much for sharing.
posted by shoepal at 8:48 PM on December 9, 2004

Amazing. I finally understand why people fear Earthquakes. They've always been a relatively benign part of life in CA to me. But with building codes or fire codes being what they were back then... what devastation. Word gets 'round on that kind of thing.
posted by scarabic at 8:53 PM on December 9, 2004

This should be included in the prototype index to SF history.
posted by goofyfoot at 9:12 PM on December 9, 2004

Thanks for the intense pictures, dmo.
posted by Cryptical Envelopment at 9:37 PM on December 9, 2004

Awesome! thanks cryptical!
posted by vacapinta at 10:21 PM on December 9, 2004

I am in love with this. And I am in love with this. I can't believe that it has that it blances detail and timing so well - the smoke isn't crystal, but it's clear and so good.
Thanks, mate.
Wanting a poster myself, I'd be wiling to set up a printing of one of these, it anyone else is interested.
And, speaking of which, SF meet?
posted by metaculpa at 11:08 PM on December 9, 2004

NGNerd and metaculpa: I've never done it, but you can order reproductions (including that San Francisco in Ruins aerial panorama) directly from the Library of Congress. Details here.
posted by dmo at 3:11 AM on December 10, 2004

If you'd like to make poster-size prints of these and are more concerned with size than quality, you might want to look at the Rasterbator or dotamatic.

Great post, too.
posted by driveler at 6:03 AM on December 10, 2004

what an insane and amazing time that must have been, the rebuilding of such a great city. Spectacular Spectacular.
posted by th3ph17 at 9:16 AM on December 10, 2004

Just amazing! And what a great post. Thanks, Cryptical Envelopment.
posted by lobakgo at 10:45 AM on December 10, 2004