Ghosts of 1906
Shawn Clover has put together a jarring set of then-and-now composites from the 1906 earthquake and fire.
The Valencia St Hotel. (This is pretty much what’s in my head when I ride my bike past 18th St.)
In the case of the Valencia St. Hotel, I had to return to the scene on Valencia between 18th and 19th four times before I managed to get it right. There’s quite a bit of conflicting information of exactly where this building once stood.
Van Ness and 17th:
Lafayette Park:
Sacramento Street:
Many, many more on Shawn’s website, including a second set. And it looks like there’s more on the way:
And just when I was about to wrap things up, my dad announced that he had unearthed a local magazine published in late 1906 loaded with earthquake-aftermath photos that I had never seen in any library or online collection. On the plus side, I’ve got plenty more material for a part three now.
Burrito Justice 
LOVE this!
It’s what I’ve always HOPED to see in those “Then & Now” pics but never have.
It’s truly like GHOSTS inhabiting modern scenes.. I can almost see/feel them if I look at these pics and think back to even recent walks in the City. I am always “imaging” what must have taken place on this or that spot as I traverse the City. Now, thanks to this masterful essay I have a great visual pro
Thank you again Burrito Justice for igniting the viral spark on my earthquake mashup photos. After you published this, it went around some SF blogs, then took off internationally: front page of Daily Mail UK, Buzzfeed, Huff Post, Pop Sci, Digg, Reddit… I’ve been doing phone interviews all day from KQED to Photoshop user groups.
Burrito Justice #1!
w00t!
Looking forward to part 3!
Burrito Justice is secretly an international media mogul.
At this time it looks like Drupal is the top blogging platform available right now.
(from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?