San Francisco 1906 – Videos show Before & After the Earthquake

The 1906 San Francisco is well known. The “Big One” as it is called levelled most of the city. It is widely accepted that over 3000 people died because of it.

Today I want to take you on a journey and actually show you the damage. Which we can do thanks to a Youtuber who has upscaled a trip down Market Street into a 4k, 60 frames per second video. The trip occurs on April 14th, 1906. Just four days before the earthquake hit. After that video, will be another trip down Market Street, taken just days after the earthquake.

San Francisco 1906 – Market Street, April 14th

The above film shows a typical day in the life of San Francisco. If you watch closely however, you will see the same cars and people circling past multiple times. This is because the film was pre-planned in advance and features a cast of people helping to make it look natural.

San Francisco 1906 – Market Street – After the Earthquake

This second film shows the damage of the earthquake. I have set the video to start at 14:07 to show the same street as the top video. Although this video is silent and not upscaled, the amount of damage shown is unreal.

Go check out Denis Shiryaevs channel. Not only has he upscaled San Francisco, he also has New York in 1911, Paris in the late 1800’s and Amsterdam 1922, amongst others. It is absolutely fascinating stuff.

Sources:

Denis Shiryaev @Youtube 4K Upscaled Footage

A/V Geeks @Youtube After the Earthquake Footage