Cochran's

[glee]

For Doc and Twister

For Doc and Twister

That may very well be the original Palace Billiards, Market St had trolly car tracks in the center. The street appears to slope from left to right and that would put the Palace on the north side of Market St. where it was located until the mid 60's. The Palace was operating before 1900, the owner was a famous sports ftgure in SF and was a referee at a number of notable prize fighs in that era. Cant recall his name.
In 62 or 63 I had a conversation with a journalist that was doing a feature article for the SF Cronicle about the history of the Palace and early on it was famous for its free lunch, the finest in the west. There was a partition between the billiard tables and the pool tables and the lunch was on the billiard side. The billiard side was carpeted and you were shown to your table by a porter in a tux. The pool table side had no carpet and no lunch.
The art work that hung in the Palace was outstanding, it was from an Exposition early in 1900. Theres a photo of one of the paintings in a pool book that that came out in the 80's or 90's, its a large oil of a harem girl, great painting.

 

[usblues]

Palace

Palace

Sure looks like the building the Palace was in,trolley tracks in the middle of Market.Same side of the street as Woolworths,upstairs and the lunch counter on your left as you went in.The summer of 70 for me but not for long.The whorehouse was on 347 Eddy,not sure what 555 Eddy was.Its fading fast like the sun in the evening but what a time and place to be in yer 20's,tanks all,B

 

[gulfportdoc]

Okay, lads. Here's a 13 minute film of Market St. traveling toward the bay from 1904-- just before the fire. See if y'all can pick out the Palace... ~Doc

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKRbTF5afSE&feature=related[/ame]

 

[oldspurguy]

Didn't see the Palace, Doc. But I think I did recognize San Jose Dick crossing the street!!!

 

[SJDinPHX]

Okay, lads. Here's a 13 minute film of Market St. traveling toward the bay from 1904-- just before the fire. See if y'all can pick out the Palace... ~Doc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKRbTF5afSE&feature=related

Great Post Doc...you beat me to it. I passed this post onto some friends recently after a friend sent it to me.

At exactly 7:58 into the clip (just as the horse drawn wagon is crossing the tracks) if you look to the left, the bldg. facing you is still standing. (At least it was in the sixties)...It had a bar and a dance hall the party crowd used to frequent .....That is the intersection of Golden Gate and Market. You are headed northwest (on Market) in the clip, and GG runs east and west, as comes in at a 45* angle to Market st.)
The Bldg that housed Cochran,s may not have survived the quake/fire.

Cochran's would have been on the 2nd floor of the bldg., just across the street (this way)...at Golden Gate.
I could not tell for sure for that was the actual bldg. Cochran's was in, it may have been, but it looks too small. The original Palace, was up Market a few more blocks on the same side, (left) on Market.

PS..If you look closely, you can see Vapros and Squirrell, crossing the street to head up the stairs to Cochran's...They were younger then...

 

[NH Steve]

Thanks for finding this, Doc. I only passed through SF a little in '68 and '69 and can't say I remember much

I found another version of the same movie, but better restored, so it doesn't have the scrolling problems. It is a more recent restoration and they apparently now say this was shot just days before the 1906 quake. Pretty wild to see the free-for-all foot-horse-car-trolley traffic every which way -- apparently before any significant traffic regulations. They don't even always go the same way on the same sides of the street. Of course, there does seem to be a little performing for the camera going on...

[YOUTUBE]oubsaFBUcTc[/YOUTUBE]

The amazing new info:

Eightbanger — January 03, 2010 — "Amazing new Info on this film".
FYI: A Trip Down Market Street was filmed in 1906!!

This film, was originally thought to be from 1905 until David Kiehn with the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum figured out exactly when it was shot. From New York trade papers announcing the film showing, to the wet streets from recent heavy rainfall & shadows indicating time of year & actual weather and conditions on historical record, even when the cars were registered (he knows who owned them and when the plates were issued).. It was filmed only four days before the quake and shipped by train to NY for processing. Amazing but true!
Copied from..www.archive.org.

A trip down Market Street. The original version of which can be downloaded at....www.archive.org...suffered badly from "Film Roll" at the beginning and end, this version however has had those faults corrected and shows alot more detail particularly at the end were the film froze and skipped frames.

 

[gbru]

Okay, lads. Here's a 13 minute film of Market St. traveling toward the bay from 1904-- just before the fire. See if y'all can pick out the Palace... ~Doc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKRbTF5afSE&feature=related

Thanks Doc.....Whow!.....That was the most interesting thing I've ever seen in my life...

I don't know why I've never seen some of those old movies especially one that goes on for so long.....

Did anybody not wear a suit back then?....That was wild...

 

[vapros]

Cheap shot, Desert Duck!! That ain't funny and I ain't that old. I was certainly not hanging around poolrooms in 1904. I believe that was one of the years I was in the third grade.