https://sfist.com/2009/04/26/archival_footage_of_1960_city_hall/5c24347344ad066cdcfb1208Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:58:58 GMT

Bobster1985 has a great collection of San Francisco archival footage. Here's a clip that shows a bit of San Francisco's progressive history during the Civil Rights Era. The full film can be seen at archive.org.

Here's a bit of history I never heard of before: police turning fire hoses onto demonstrators in the City Hall rotunda in San Francisco. According to the description of the Prelinger Archives, in May 1960, students and progressive activists opposed to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) demonstrated when HUAC held hearings in San Francisco's City Hall. San Francisco police turned firehoses on the demonstrators, washing them down the main staircase of City Hall, and the resultant publicity did much to engender the social consciousness of the 1960s. HUAC sympathizers produced a film, "Operation Abolition," condemning the demonstrators as Communist-inspired activists. The ACLU produced this film as a rejoinder to and critique of "Operation Abolition," incorporating many of its sequences and disputing its distortions.

Update: Heh. Second vote already happened. Peskin is officially king o' committee.