San Francisco Fire, April 18, 1906, 9 a.m.

Spectators watched in horror as fires ripped through San Francisco over several days in 1906, leaving most of the city in ruin. One victim of the devastating fires, which resulted from a massive earthquake that shook Northern California early on the morning of April 18th, was Arnold Genthe’s portrait studio. Nevertheless, the photographer was on hand with a 3A Kodak to capture the impact of the natural disaster as it unfolded. This view down Sacramento Street toward the billowing smoke preserved the same first-hand view of history that onlookers witnessed that day. Fortunately, many of Genthe’s photographs of San Francisco’s Chinatown were stored in a bank vault and survived the fire.