Why didn’t anyone tell me San Francisco use to be the largest sand dune ecosystem…

[SAN Man]

Incorrect post.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by SAN Man

That's where they filmed Star Wars scenes. It's a 2 hour drive from Mark Hamil's childhood home in San Diego. The city installed a sign marking the location.


https://www.pinterest.com/pin/863565297272203539/

Its where they film most movies & shows that take place in deserts or on desert planets

However they filmed the first star wars movies (at least the scenes of Lukes family home) in Tunisia. Some other scenes were filmed in those dunes I think though.

[SAN Man]

Originally Posted by Obadno

Its where they film most movies & shows that take place in deserts or on desert planets

However they filmed the first star wars movies (at least the scenes of Lukes family home) in Tunisia. Some other scenes were filmed in those dunes I think though.

I edited my post because I read some sources that dispute it. Some say yes and I have always thought the original dune scenes were filmed from the imperial sand dunes, but other sources place those scenes in Arizona. So now, I'm not sure.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by SAN Man

I edited my post because I read some sources that dispute it. Some say yes and I have always thought the original dune scenes were filmed from the imperial sand dunes, but other sources place those scenes in Arizona. So now, I'm not sure.

There are no dunes of size in AZ so that can't be right. closest thing we have to dunes are pulverized pumice and ash from an Ancient Volcano near flagstaff called "the cinders". Up north the painted desert I think has some ancient dunes that are now solid rock.

[SAN Man]

Originally Posted by Obadno

There are no dunes of size in AZ so that can't be right. closest thing we have to dunes are pulverized pumice and ash from an Ancient Volcano near flagstaff called "the cinders". Up north the painted desert I think has some ancient dunes that are now solid rock.

Welp here's another source that says yes, Star Wars was filmed there. Now I'm really confused. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algodones_Dunes

Movie setting[edit]
The dunes were used to film parts of Road to Morocco, Flight of the Phoenix, Tobruk, Stargate, Resident Evil: Extinction and the Tatooine scenes in Return of the Jedi. John Ford made the 1934 version of The Lost Patrol (1934 film) here. Outside of movies, the dunes also appear in the opening sequence of the TV series Kung Fu, and were the filming location for the music video of Deftones' 2003 single Minerva.[13]

[ChiSoxRox]

Originally Posted by SAN Man

Welp here's another source that says yes, Star Wars was filmed there. Now I'm really confused. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algodones_Dunes

Ah, the original Star Wars (A New Hope) had desert scenes filmed in Tunisia. You will recognize the name of this city.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Wow, that is amazing. Downtown SF was mostly sand dunes. Had no clue.

So during the Gold Rush era, SF was a transient town enveloped by dunes? Must have been surreal.

This is 1851, 2 years into the gold rush.


https://www.kqed.org/news/10398858/p...-san-francisco

These drawings are from 1848, a year BEFORE the gold rush when SF had 800 citizens:





Here is 1849 after the gold rush had begun


Image source: https://www.google.com/search?rls=en...rDtfdh54AlDuZM

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by SAN Man

Welp here's another source that says yes, Star Wars was filmed there. Now I'm really confused. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algodones_Dunes

Those dunes are in California, Its literally just across the River from Yuma az but its in California

[photoLith]

That above photo is really cool. The Apollo Storeship was buried in now downtown San Francisco and parts of it were dug up in the 1920s and they found coins from the 1700s and gold nuggets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_(storeship)

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by SAN Man

Welp here's another source that says yes, Star Wars was filmed there. Now I'm really confused. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algodones_Dunes

They shot the desert scenes in multiple places - Tunisia, Imperial dunes, Death Valley.

[Xing]

Originally Posted by galleyfox

I wonder if the original statement was a reference to a specific dune ecosystem. They’re large enough to be at the top of a restricted category, but not overall.

Like tallest dry coastal dunes yada yada yada. Some fact that was notable enough to make a first impression but was misrepresented through repeated tellings.

It was a reference to a specific article that made the comment - Business Insider. I posted it a page back. I’m sure few people saw it as it was the end of the page.

Ok. So the article is wrong I should have posted that with the original post. The walking encyclopedias of the message board have spoken.

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by Xing

It was a reference to a specific article that made the comment - Business Insider. I posted it a page back. I’m sure few people saw it as it was the end of the page.

Ok. So the article is wrong I should have posted that with the original post. The walking encyclopedias of the message board have spoken.

Still cool anyway, even if not the largest. The fact that the SF peninsula was a large dune system not that long ago was something that I did not know.

[JManc]

He who controls the spice controls the univ...the Bay Area.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by JManc

He who controls the spice controls the univ...the Bay Area.

A buddy of mine has a vacation house super close to the actual dunes which inspired Frank Herbert to write the series--Oregon Dunes National Park. I've been out on a buggy there a few times, and lived to tell the tale, despite spilling several times.

Someone stated that downtown San Francisco was sand dunes, and that's not accurate. Much of today's downtown SF was underwater and later became landfill, while Nob, Telegraph, and Rincon hills have always been terra firma.

[pdxtex]

Originally Posted by Xing

…in the Western Hemisphere? There are a lot of Sand Dune ecosystems in North and South America, and many of them are pretty big. So this must have been huge!

Where San Francisco was built impressed me before I knew this, and I didn’t think I could get any more impressed.



If this is common knowledge, forgive me for being in a box.

I had no idea. Thats probably why that building is sinking.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JManc

He who controls the spice controls the univ...the Bay Area.

That would be https://mortonbassett.com

[bellason]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

they probably meant largest sand dunes area to be turned into a city.

Likely not that but rather before San Francisco was a clamoring tech center before it was the focal point of the radical universe, and before it became known for its lavish slopes, a large part of the area was canvassed in sand rises. These hills spread over seven miles, basically the whole width of advanced San Francisco.

[ChrisLA]

Well I wouldn’t want to be living on top of that sand when an earthquake hit, especially if that’s true that downtown SF is built on landfill? I know at least the Marina District is landfill

Liquidfaction!

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by ChrisLA

Well I wouldn’t want to be living on top of that sand when an earthquake hit, especially if that’s true that downtown SF is built on landfill? I know at least the Marina District is landfill

Liquidfaction!

It's unquestionably true and it's why most buildings, with the one egregious known exception, in the downtown have pilings to bedrock and why when large projects are constructed in that area foundation prep takes about half the total construction time and people on SSP ALWAYS start bitching about "why is it taking so long" before they start to rise above street level.


https://escweb.wr.usgs.gov/nsmp-data...ntation_s.html

[jd3189]

As a hilly city, I always was conflicted on whether that made SF more suspectable or defensive to earthquakes than the flatter cities on the east coast. Now learning that much of SF was originally sand dunes gets me thinking that this also contributed to the severity of the 1906 earthquake.

From those risks to sea level rise, San Francisco is probably not in a good position as natural disasters increase in the coming years. The situation is worse than for LA or SD. At least those cities have a good chuck of their land away from the ocean or another body of water ( ex. The Bay).