Time Travel: San Francisco phantom ride (1906)

The Phantom Ride was one of the earliest popular treats of proto-cinema. The camera operator would attach the camera to the front of a train, trolley, or car and give the spectator the illusion of traveling. This "illusion", of course, was one of the reasons why cinema became the dominant art form during the 20th century in America and Europe. Depth of field and z-axis movement into time was quickly abandoned in favor of Edwin Porter's spatially contracting continuity cut--which became the basis of classical cinema. 

With sound now added, we can begin to sense the power of this phantom ride through the streets of San Francisco, just four days before the great earthquake; for a fleeting moment, we are invited to travel back in time and live that world . . .