Comments on: Kites over Frisco, 1906

Kites over Frisco, 1906

Cryptical Envelopment — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 18:30:30 -0800

"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."

By: grabbingsand

grabbingsand — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 18:38:41 -0800

Wow.

By: SpecialK

SpecialK — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 18:40:52 -0800

Wow. Awesome post! Welcome to MeFi.

By: Eekacat

Eekacat — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 18:46:17 -0800

Holy CRAP, awesome aerial photo!!!!

By: Voivod

Voivod — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 18:52:23 -0800

This is incredible. Thank you.

By: thebabelfish

thebabelfish — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 18:55:51 -0800

You rock. Thanks for the link to the photos and story.

By: saladin

saladin — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 19:21:27 -0800

Stunning. Made my day.

By: wolftrouble

wolftrouble — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 19:30:23 -0800

One of the best FPP's in a long time. Thanks!

By: R. Mutt

R. Mutt — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 19:34:21 -0800

wow .... this, on top of the Saltacol post. Give this person his/her 5$ back... or let me .

By: blucevalo

blucevalo — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 19:39:27 -0800

When I still lived in SF, somebody showed me these photos and I was astounded. They're still astounding. Thanks for this.

By: msacheson

msacheson — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 19:43:54 -0800

Excellent! Best of the web.

By: msacheson

msacheson — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 19:45:05 -0800

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

By: quadog

quadog — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 19:45:29 -0800

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.

By: Cryptical Envelopment

Cryptical Envelopment — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 19:56:17 -0800

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. :-)

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 20:15:07 -0800

Wow. Now, those guys had cameras.

By: dmo

dmo — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 20:16:51 -0800

There are many amazing panoramic photos at the American Memory Collection. Like these of fire and ruins.

By: NGnerd

NGnerd — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 20:30:05 -0800

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

By: carter

carter — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 20:32:05 -0800

Excellent stuff, many thanks!

By: shoepal

shoepal — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 20:48:03 -0800

WOW! Welcome, indeed! Amazing find! Thanks so much for sharing.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 20:53:34 -0800

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.

By: goofyfoot

goofyfoot — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 21:12:41 -0800

This should be included in the prototype index to SF history.

By: Cryptical Envelopment

Cryptical Envelopment — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 21:37:41 -0800

Thanks for the intense pictures, dmo.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 22:21:07 -0800

Awesome! thanks cryptical!

By: metaculpa

metaculpa — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 23:08:47 -0800

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?

By: dmo

dmo — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 03:11:21 -0800

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.

By: driveler

driveler — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 06:03:49 -0800

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.

By: th3ph17

th3ph17 — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 09:16:50 -0800

what an insane and amazing time that must have been, the rebuilding of such a great city. Spectacular Spectacular.

By: lobakgo

lobakgo — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 10:45:40 -0800

Just amazing! And what a great post. Thanks, Cryptical Envelopment.