Niles, CA - Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum

There is a bit of Hollywood in the Bay Area. Sure, it was the silent era, but it still counts. Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp was not filmed in Southern California. No it was filmed in Niles, California, 350 miles north of L.A., twenty miles from San Jose. Niles is now part of Fremont, CA, but in the 1910s, it was just a scrubby little outpost in the foothills of the Diablo mountains.

Essaney Studios was just a start up then too, filming mostly in Chicago, when its co-founder George/Gilbert Anderson, later known as Bronco Billy Anderson, thought the canyons around Niles would do nicely for filming Westerns. Anderson traded his suits for Western gear, and became the first Western film star. He then managed to convince Charlie Chaplin to join the studio, with a $10,000 bonus and $1,000 a week. That was a lot of money back in 1915. (But a few years later Charlie Chaplin signed with another studio - with a $150K bonus and $10K a week!)

All these movies were filmed on nitrate. Cellulose nitrate was first used as a base for photographic roll film by George Eastman in 1889; it was used for photographic and professional 35mm motion picture film until the 1950s. It is highly flammable and also decomposes with age, becoming toxic. Here you can see Steven in the 100 year old projection room, with the fireproofing of the time. If the film caught fire, you ran. There was no way to put it out; it had to burn out on its own. This is why projectionist were highly paid. It was because they could DIE. It was a dangerous profession.

Here you see Steven operating a 1915 projector. The projectionist continually turned the handle for 30 minutes (that was as much as you could get on a reel). Then, while he was changing the film, he showed a few slides to the audience, usually ads. You needed five hands.

The museum is now showing old silent films in their theater every other Saturday night, with a live pianist. (But I think you have to bring your own popcorn.)

And before the show, you can wonder down the three blocks of historic Niles. Lots of antique shops, and two ice cream shops. I was intrigued by "Mantiques" (that's "man" and "antiques" put together). Mantiques is all about old toys. Think life size Ninja Turtles and Star Wars toys from the 90s. What's not to delight?