'Urbanity' in Old San Francisco, 1906

A mesmerizing movie of the urbane, organic street choreography of old San Francisco. 

John Wellborn Root,
in his 1896 essay "Character and Style," lists essential features of style, viz., refinement, self-containment, sympathy, discretion, knowledge, and modesty. Among them he praises:

"Urbanity.  As the name suggests, a quality begotten in cities; suavity; the faculty of avoiding friction; the knack of easily getting about in crowds of men; the attitude of deference to their weaknesses; the power, without creating offense, to ward off their aggression."

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