As a former transportation planner, I watched that video many times over a career. First from a highway-centric point of view and later with an eye to encouraging and better accommodating pedestrians.
Did you know you could once upon a time take a trolley from LA to Lake Arrowhead? The car companies and US Rubber (I think) conspired to eliminate trolley lines so as to create more demand for their products.
Did you know that the first traffic signal was in Detroit?
Did you know that the first painted center line was in Michigan?
Michigan did not just popularize the automobile. It also brought you the first glimmers of traffic safety. You're welcome.
I worked in transportation, too. Highway maintenance, specifically.
I always heard it was spearheaded by both GM and Firestone Rubber. Firestone was the biggest player in tires in SoCal at the time. Firestone Blvd is named after them, after all.
The film clip is a favorite of mine, being a SF native.
I suspect that some of those flivvers were encouraged by the film makers to enter the frame. IIRC from my first viewing years ago, one or more appear more than once.
I have seen this footage more times than I can count; it is regularly featured in the annual "Lost Landscapes of San Francisco" collection of found footage and home movies put on each year by the marvelous Prelinger Library and, until recently, screened as an audience-participation event at the Castro Theater (the Castro has now been taken over by some "event venue" group that seems not to know what to do with it other than enrage much of the community).
Seeing the footage again, from that transitional age when horseless carriages were battling horsed ones in the streets, I can't help but think that San Francisco is currently in similar throes with driverless cars and human-driven cars engaged in the same competition. In my experience, it's the driverless ones that are more drunk.
All to say: not much has changed on Market Street.
Right across the street from the Eureka Valley Rec Center. It was a great neighborhood to be a kid, and the old 8 Market bus stopped right on the corner. I could, and did, travel all over the city for one punch on my student bus pass.
Looking at the origin of my and my late wife's family in that film. Her grandfather's first job after graduating Stanford with a degree in entomology was as a fruit inspector for the US government at the ferry building. After being made homeless by the quake and fire he was taken in by a family in Oakland where he met the beautiful and kind and gracious Theda. I married her grand daughter in 1963 and the rest is history as the saying goes. Sad post note related to those children playing in front of the cable car: Theda lost her 5 year old brother when he was run over by a streetcar in Oakland. She said her mom was never the same after that. Bitter and blaming God. Theda's reaction was to double down on loving those who were still present in her life. She did that magnificently for the whole of her remaining years. I think she made it to her late 80's or 90's. Have to look that up.
I remember reading about the Mills brothers in Mental Floss Magazine years ago. Those fellows were the Steven Spielbergs of their era, mesmerizing audiences with their clever film productions.
"Myself, Ahh believes that society lost a few things wits yer traffic rules, an element of excitement, thrill and engagement with freedom! But then, so do the rest of us sovereign citizens..."
The funniest early one I can remember is some local law that required a pedestrian to run with/in front of the car to wave a red flag for indicating turns. Or something like that.
On a gusty, chilly winter evening, I tossed another log on the fire, scratched the golden retriever* behind the ears, straightened my silk smoking jacket and ascot, lit a Dunhill and fit it in a long cigarette holder, and dropped an extra olive in the martini as I read about neuropsychology, as one does.
And I ran across an interesting factoid: that the brain is chock full of unused endorphins and enkephalins and whatnot that can make you more blissed out than heroin ever dreamed of, even as a wee tot. Even as a tiny skin pop.
Apparently, when the heart stops, the brain yells ABANDON SHIP! and releases all the good shit at once. This is after the tearful goodbyes and reassuring hand squeezes. You’re unconscious by then and nobody knows how this is perceived, but I like the idea of the brain throwing a final bash.
You’re freaked out and fearful or accepting and at peace, and suddenly these neurons are dancing a second-line and bobbing umbrellas up and down and singing “When the saints go marching in!” as the stage floods with pink light and the dizzying scent of roses. I like it. Anne Boleyn had the last laugh.
If, in fact, I have misinterpreted this information, please don’t tell me. I have few ideas I cling to, but that one seems worth doing some clinging around with.
*Not an actual golden retriever, but rather a stuffed one. It sounds weird, but his name is Liberty and I picked him up cheap at a garage sale. We like him! He has little wheels on his base so we can take him for walks. He sucks at rolling over, though.
'You know what this whole thing about “Trump demands Senate reject border deal so he can run on ‘crisis at border’” reminds me of? When private citizen Ronald Reagan asked the Ayatollah to please keep Jimmy Carter’s hostages just a little bit longer.'
These are very similar affairs, but there are two important differences.
Firstly, the deal that Reagan made with the Iranian mullahs was kept secret, at least temporarily. Today's Republicans shamelessly brag about their sabotage of government functions, both foreign and domestic.
Secondly, Reagan's scandal was that he did special favors for hostage takers. Today's Republicans have taken our own (formerly) democratic institutions hostage and demand special favors for their release.
> You know what this whole thing about “Trump demands Senate reject border deal so he can run on ‘crisis at border’” reminds me of? When private citizen Ronald Reagan asked the Ayatollah to please keep Jimmy Carter’s hostages just a little bit longer. —
In the grand old tradition of the OG Trickster telling Viet Nam to hold on for him to get elected to cut them a good deal
Prime now has Northern Exposure available for streaming after years of dealing with music rights issues. I was all excited. I started watching and discovered that Seasons 1 and 2 only have 8 episodes. Seasons 3-6 have the full seasons.
I started to watch and COULD NOT STAND the terrible bickering between Dr. New York and Janine Turner. Why did they all think we loved constant fighting? Why can't we get Nick and Nora?
Faux News tells me Biden's open border has let millions of immigrants destroy our country... and that if he sends them back to their original countries, it will destroy the entire Western hemisphere.
Welp, Abbott has vowed to defy the SCOTUS ruling granting feds access to the park where his troops have installed razor wire to maim and kill migrants, and this is how a country careens into civil war before anybody realizes what's happening.
Let's nip this in the bud. Federalize the Texas National Guard and order them to arrest Abbott for secession. Republicans can't function without a strong man at the top telling them what to do.
So, depending on whether the department can find money in its budget or not, my wife may lose her job, as she was the last hire. Apparently having PG&E increase its rates so that the utility bill went from $300K annually to $1MM annually has had a bit of an impact on funding. For-profit utility companies (or maybe just their executives?) need to be fired into the sun.
Now I've done it. I have a date with the lovely and talented R for salsa night at Club Viva. She is a fantastic dancer, and salsa dancing looks physically impossible. I guess I'll be spending a lot of time with Youtube between now and then.
HuffPo: Opinion: Why Are College-Educated Republicans Returning To Support Trump?
"Even if this election is not about issues, why do these college-educated voters think Trump was a stellar president? Have they all forgotten the circus and the chaos? Have they forgotten Trump increased the tariffs on trade with China and how that increased the price of goods? Have they forgotten that Trump shut down the pandemic response unit established by President Barack Obama, slowing the response to COVID-19 and causing thousands of preventable deaths? Are they aware that the COVID epidemic was first detected in China in December 2020 and could have been instantly addressed if Trump had gotten out of the way and let expert virologists and immunologists do their job? Did they forget that he recommended exploring bleach as a cure-all? Do they not understand that by the time Trump issued an executive order to ban all travel from China, it was February, six weeks after the outbreak and after the virus had already spread across the globe?
Have they forgotten that he made a deal with the Taliban that resulted in a catastrophic Afghanistan withdrawal that killed hundreds and betrayed the Afghans who had worked with the U.S. military? Have they forgotten Trump’s praise for despots including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, China’s Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un? Yet he calls Joe Biden a threat to democracy. Basic logic should tell you this makes no sense whatsoever."
He also touted hydroxychloroquine, claimed this fake cure-all had gotten him over his bout with Covid, and son-in-law /men's store mannequin/slumlord Jared Kushner bought up a considerable quantity of the anti-malarial drug (also championed by that dubious oracle. Dr. Oz) while also using his influence in the Executive Branch to make the Federal government not get involved in solving the early shortage and maldistribution of personal protective equipment (PPE), saying "let the market sort it out". A college roommate of his, Adam Boehler, was given oversight over $100 million dollars to distribute for the purpose of resolving the shortage. Boehler's previous experience in the field consisted of launching an investment firm whose focus was on starting up new medical firms and buying existing ones; a vulture capitalist). More than a year later, none of that pile of money was spent on anything but hiring staff and holding endless meetings that resolved nothing. He was still on the job (if you call that a job) when OHJB came into office, releasing all the fleas and ticks the previous administration had appointed to fuck around back into the wild. It was said at the time that distribution of PPE and Covid treatments were manipulated to benefit red states, bur I have not found any articles with evidence of that claim. Sounds like something they would do, but maybe they missed the chance.
"Perhaps Trump’s resurgence among college-educated voters says less about those voters or Donald Trump than it says about what college education has become in the United States: factories for turning out employment-ready adults with economically efficient money-making skills and an adolescent winner-take-all mindset rather than thoughtful, self-aware human beings who understand that their greatest responsibility is to support the communities that not only made their education possible but also a civil society itself."
Nothing shows a jury how much you appreciate the time they’ve taken out of their lives like showing up late for court & stomping out during closing arguments. Rack it up, folks. Ka-Ching💰
A look back at olde San Franciscy in yer hed gif. More info here: https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/a-trip-down-market-street?r=angu9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcome=true
Good to know that Californians *always* drove like idjits
😆
That was actually kind of harrowing! Especially watching the horse drawn wagons slowly crossing in front of oncoming streetcars.
seriously. i IMMEDIATELY thought this was auschwitz.
As a former transportation planner, I watched that video many times over a career. First from a highway-centric point of view and later with an eye to encouraging and better accommodating pedestrians.
Did you know you could once upon a time take a trolley from LA to Lake Arrowhead? The car companies and US Rubber (I think) conspired to eliminate trolley lines so as to create more demand for their products.
Did you know that the first traffic signal was in Detroit?
Did you know that the first painted center line was in Michigan?
Michigan did not just popularize the automobile. It also brought you the first glimmers of traffic safety. You're welcome.
I worked in transportation, too. Highway maintenance, specifically.
I always heard it was spearheaded by both GM and Firestone Rubber. Firestone was the biggest player in tires in SoCal at the time. Firestone Blvd is named after them, after all.
The film clip is a favorite of mine, being a SF native.
Imagine a retired ODOT employee telling his grandkids "let me tell you about the time I blew-up a whale."
https://youtu.be/V6CLumsir34?si=n7o1k5QrgEylqr5t
Boom!
Blowed it up real good!
My goodness! It’s chaos, everybody driving their flivvers hither and yon! Get a horse, people!
I suspect that some of those flivvers were encouraged by the film makers to enter the frame. IIRC from my first viewing years ago, one or more appear more than once.
I have seen this footage more times than I can count; it is regularly featured in the annual "Lost Landscapes of San Francisco" collection of found footage and home movies put on each year by the marvelous Prelinger Library and, until recently, screened as an audience-participation event at the Castro Theater (the Castro has now been taken over by some "event venue" group that seems not to know what to do with it other than enrage much of the community).
Seeing the footage again, from that transitional age when horseless carriages were battling horsed ones in the streets, I can't help but think that San Francisco is currently in similar throes with driverless cars and human-driven cars engaged in the same competition. In my experience, it's the driverless ones that are more drunk.
All to say: not much has changed on Market Street.
I spent a lot of my yoot living around the block from the Castro, on Collingwood. Lots of memories.
Collingwood is so lovely. I would love to live in that neighborhood.
Right across the street from the Eureka Valley Rec Center. It was a great neighborhood to be a kid, and the old 8 Market bus stopped right on the corner. I could, and did, travel all over the city for one punch on my student bus pass.
Take away the horses, and it's not so different from daily driving here, what with the buggies cutting you off and nobody using turn signals, etc etc.
Looking at the origin of my and my late wife's family in that film. Her grandfather's first job after graduating Stanford with a degree in entomology was as a fruit inspector for the US government at the ferry building. After being made homeless by the quake and fire he was taken in by a family in Oakland where he met the beautiful and kind and gracious Theda. I married her grand daughter in 1963 and the rest is history as the saying goes. Sad post note related to those children playing in front of the cable car: Theda lost her 5 year old brother when he was run over by a streetcar in Oakland. She said her mom was never the same after that. Bitter and blaming God. Theda's reaction was to double down on loving those who were still present in her life. She did that magnificently for the whole of her remaining years. I think she made it to her late 80's or 90's. Have to look that up.
They both sound like marvelous people. How wonderful to part of that family!
Sad news about the brother. With all that chaos, I imagine fatal accidents were not uncommon.
Drinking seems to be required when driving.
Steady one's nerves for uncontrolled traffic...
I really look forward to seeing you every morning, Martini!
Aw, thanks sweetie!
I remember reading about the Mills brothers in Mental Floss Magazine years ago. Those fellows were the Steven Spielbergs of their era, mesmerizing audiences with their clever film productions.
Good morning Sunshine! Did you get some sleep?
I’m amused by how they had apparently not thought of the concept of “traffic rules for cars” yet. Or horse-drawn carts.
was your heart in your mouth as mine was when that second team and wagon crossed the tracks just ahead of the oncoming trolley?
And this sure looks like the opening scene to "Once Upon a Time in America", except the city was New York.
"Myself, Ahh believes that society lost a few things wits yer traffic rules, an element of excitement, thrill and engagement with freedom! But then, so do the rest of us sovereign citizens..."
The funniest early one I can remember is some local law that required a pedestrian to run with/in front of the car to wave a red flag for indicating turns. Or something like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSvyWW79Sp0
Chronology.
I love the old San Fran footage! Total chaos!
Should have been about 12 people die in that street chaos.
Reminds me of London on a quiet Tuesday afternoon. Just needs a horde of cyclists and scooterists.
Looked like Karachi to me ...
Oh it's the beloved Ferry Bldg, I believe. Thanks!
It is!
Oops
On a gusty, chilly winter evening, I tossed another log on the fire, scratched the golden retriever* behind the ears, straightened my silk smoking jacket and ascot, lit a Dunhill and fit it in a long cigarette holder, and dropped an extra olive in the martini as I read about neuropsychology, as one does.
And I ran across an interesting factoid: that the brain is chock full of unused endorphins and enkephalins and whatnot that can make you more blissed out than heroin ever dreamed of, even as a wee tot. Even as a tiny skin pop.
Apparently, when the heart stops, the brain yells ABANDON SHIP! and releases all the good shit at once. This is after the tearful goodbyes and reassuring hand squeezes. You’re unconscious by then and nobody knows how this is perceived, but I like the idea of the brain throwing a final bash.
You’re freaked out and fearful or accepting and at peace, and suddenly these neurons are dancing a second-line and bobbing umbrellas up and down and singing “When the saints go marching in!” as the stage floods with pink light and the dizzying scent of roses. I like it. Anne Boleyn had the last laugh.
If, in fact, I have misinterpreted this information, please don’t tell me. I have few ideas I cling to, but that one seems worth doing some clinging around with.
*Not an actual golden retriever, but rather a stuffed one. It sounds weird, but his name is Liberty and I picked him up cheap at a garage sale. We like him! He has little wheels on his base so we can take him for walks. He sucks at rolling over, though.
💚💚💚
Just gonna leave this here on account of I, as a European, find all this showering business somewhat overrated--I was delighted to see someone (an MD, no less!) agree and say it out loud: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/09/26/917019912/in-the-era-of-hygiene-clean-author-makes-the-case-for-showering-less
'You know what this whole thing about “Trump demands Senate reject border deal so he can run on ‘crisis at border’” reminds me of? When private citizen Ronald Reagan asked the Ayatollah to please keep Jimmy Carter’s hostages just a little bit longer.'
These are very similar affairs, but there are two important differences.
Firstly, the deal that Reagan made with the Iranian mullahs was kept secret, at least temporarily. Today's Republicans shamelessly brag about their sabotage of government functions, both foreign and domestic.
Secondly, Reagan's scandal was that he did special favors for hostage takers. Today's Republicans have taken our own (formerly) democratic institutions hostage and demand special favors for their release.
> You know what this whole thing about “Trump demands Senate reject border deal so he can run on ‘crisis at border’” reminds me of? When private citizen Ronald Reagan asked the Ayatollah to please keep Jimmy Carter’s hostages just a little bit longer. —
In the grand old tradition of the OG Trickster telling Viet Nam to hold on for him to get elected to cut them a good deal
Prime now has Northern Exposure available for streaming after years of dealing with music rights issues. I was all excited. I started watching and discovered that Seasons 1 and 2 only have 8 episodes. Seasons 3-6 have the full seasons.
More music rights issues, or what the fuck?
I started to watch and COULD NOT STAND the terrible bickering between Dr. New York and Janine Turner. Why did they all think we loved constant fighting? Why can't we get Nick and Nora?
No, that was all they filmed, apparently; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Northern_Exposure_episodes
My initial worry was they were going to start cutting old TV shows into 8-10 episode seasons like streaming shows so the kids would feel comfortable.
They had better keep their claws the hell off Northern Exposure.
Faux News tells me Biden's open border has let millions of immigrants destroy our country... and that if he sends them back to their original countries, it will destroy the entire Western hemisphere.
The New Republic article on the border is must read. Thanks!
Welp, Abbott has vowed to defy the SCOTUS ruling granting feds access to the park where his troops have installed razor wire to maim and kill migrants, and this is how a country careens into civil war before anybody realizes what's happening.
Let's nip this in the bud. Federalize the Texas National Guard and order them to arrest Abbott for secession. Republicans can't function without a strong man at the top telling them what to do.
Merrick? Arrest A REPUBLICAN?/?? Please....
So, depending on whether the department can find money in its budget or not, my wife may lose her job, as she was the last hire. Apparently having PG&E increase its rates so that the utility bill went from $300K annually to $1MM annually has had a bit of an impact on funding. For-profit utility companies (or maybe just their executives?) need to be fired into the sun.
Now I've done it. I have a date with the lovely and talented R for salsa night at Club Viva. She is a fantastic dancer, and salsa dancing looks physically impossible. I guess I'll be spending a lot of time with Youtube between now and then.
>>>When private citizen Ronald Reagan asked the Ayatollah to please keep Jimmy Carter’s hostages just a little bit longer. —
in exchange for arms.
HuffPo: Opinion: Why Are College-Educated Republicans Returning To Support Trump?
"Even if this election is not about issues, why do these college-educated voters think Trump was a stellar president? Have they all forgotten the circus and the chaos? Have they forgotten Trump increased the tariffs on trade with China and how that increased the price of goods? Have they forgotten that Trump shut down the pandemic response unit established by President Barack Obama, slowing the response to COVID-19 and causing thousands of preventable deaths? Are they aware that the COVID epidemic was first detected in China in December 2020 and could have been instantly addressed if Trump had gotten out of the way and let expert virologists and immunologists do their job? Did they forget that he recommended exploring bleach as a cure-all? Do they not understand that by the time Trump issued an executive order to ban all travel from China, it was February, six weeks after the outbreak and after the virus had already spread across the globe?
Have they forgotten that he made a deal with the Taliban that resulted in a catastrophic Afghanistan withdrawal that killed hundreds and betrayed the Afghans who had worked with the U.S. military? Have they forgotten Trump’s praise for despots including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, China’s Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un? Yet he calls Joe Biden a threat to democracy. Basic logic should tell you this makes no sense whatsoever."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/opinion-donald-trump-college-educated-republicans_n_65b2a8a6e4b04d8995104d8e
He also touted hydroxychloroquine, claimed this fake cure-all had gotten him over his bout with Covid, and son-in-law /men's store mannequin/slumlord Jared Kushner bought up a considerable quantity of the anti-malarial drug (also championed by that dubious oracle. Dr. Oz) while also using his influence in the Executive Branch to make the Federal government not get involved in solving the early shortage and maldistribution of personal protective equipment (PPE), saying "let the market sort it out". A college roommate of his, Adam Boehler, was given oversight over $100 million dollars to distribute for the purpose of resolving the shortage. Boehler's previous experience in the field consisted of launching an investment firm whose focus was on starting up new medical firms and buying existing ones; a vulture capitalist). More than a year later, none of that pile of money was spent on anything but hiring staff and holding endless meetings that resolved nothing. He was still on the job (if you call that a job) when OHJB came into office, releasing all the fleas and ticks the previous administration had appointed to fuck around back into the wild. It was said at the time that distribution of PPE and Covid treatments were manipulated to benefit red states, bur I have not found any articles with evidence of that claim. Sounds like something they would do, but maybe they missed the chance.
They watch Fox. Fox does not report anything that reflects poorly on PAB. Critical thinking skills are apparently not taught in college.
From the article:
"Perhaps Trump’s resurgence among college-educated voters says less about those voters or Donald Trump than it says about what college education has become in the United States: factories for turning out employment-ready adults with economically efficient money-making skills and an adolescent winner-take-all mindset rather than thoughtful, self-aware human beings who understand that their greatest responsibility is to support the communities that not only made their education possible but also a civil society itself."
Only reason: Racist hatred
Nothing shows a jury how much you appreciate the time they’ve taken out of their lives like showing up late for court & stomping out during closing arguments. Rack it up, folks. Ka-Ching💰
"I've got things to do. I'm a very important person."
I so wish he would just go away.
The headline made me think of this tune. Evergreen, it is.
https://youtu.be/-1WJyLQjypo?feature=shared