San Francisco Bay Area Newsreel Stories: A Roaring 1920s Reel Unraveled

Unspool "San Francisco Bay Area Newsreel Stories," a silent 1920s black-and-white tapestry weaving the Bay Area’s wild pulse. In 1928, a Selby, California slide narrowly spares a passenger train, dirt cascading in tense frames. Christmas 1922 brings Santa Claus atop Oakland’s “Chimney” on Mt. Diablo, his Merry Christmas wish crackling through the fog. That year, an Oakland-Vallejo-Sacramento bus rumbles into view, while Oakland’s skyline—City Hall gleaming—pans past a parade of clattering old cars. The Army A-2 dirigible looms overhead, a sky giant of the decade, and in 1927, the Key System ferry Yerba Buena splashes into launch glory. The Crown Prince of Norway strides through Oakland, a royal nod, as Sacramento’s floods swamp the late 1920s, water swallowing streets. This whirlwind reel hooks history buffs, silent film fans, and Bay Area nostalgists, stitching a Jazz Age saga of grit, glee, and grandeur.