Biggest stack in Southern Hemisphere is coming down

1906 Market street San Francisco.
Note where the car drivers are sitting even though they are driving on the right hand side of the road. (Mostly)

Jesus. I wonder if they kept stats for pedestrian deaths!?!

What an amazing piece of footage.

Does anyone know why the cars had the drivers seat on the right? I'm obviously assuming that these cars were made in America....so why?

We drive on the left hand side.

Please explain?

I am asking why American cars, driving in America, have the driver's seat positioned on the right, ie the same as a British car, which is designed to drive on the left.

What the heck are you trying to say?

Typically American, they do it just to piss you off, Lordy.

We don't. Usually

Ah, he's American.

I thought he was possibly a Brit who couldn't understand my waffling.

Not that I waffle, of course. Well, not all the time. Sometimes I'm almost concise and clear. Especially when sober.

Those were the days.

That's a good question, Lordy. The only thing that comes to my mind is that vehicles from England were more readily available. (Ford Motor Company was only started in 1903, so perhaps American automobiles were not available.) They are driving on the right, so it is a poser.

Isn't it a remarkable glimpse into the past, though.

I love the way that the motor cars just buzz in and out, with pedestrians playing chicken.

Yes, and the horses placidly pursuing their ancient careers.

That was the same year as the great earthquake, so one wonders, before or after?

Here is Market Street immediately after the earthquake and fire in April, 1906.

Looking at your photo, I would guess the video was taken before, as there's a hell of a lot of devastation in the pic.
I've just sat and watched it through again, and couldn't see a sign of any damage, and I'm sure they wouldn't have been able to clear and rebuild all in the same year.

I remember walking around areas like that in London, and that was in the early sixties, getting on twenty years after the war.
Granted, the country was all but bankrupt, but still, twenty years is a long old time, even for British builders.

Yeah . . . there ain't a lot of cars in that picture--plenty of parking spaces, though.