Loma Prieta quake, 20 years later: Your memories

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Saturday, October 17, 2009

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By DAN ROSS
Register Online Editor

The strongest earthquake to hit the Bay Area in decades took place Oct. 17, 1989 when the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta quake shook the area, killing more than 50 people and causing billions of dollars in damage,

Here is a place for you to offer what you remember from when the earthquake hit at 5:04 p.m. and your memories from after the quake.

For me, I had an apartment on Fillmore Street between Chestnut and Bay in the Marina District of San Francisco.

The photo most used by media outlets as the 20th anniversary of the quake is talked about -- and the static image used in the video above -- is of the collapsed apartment building at Fillmore and Bay, just four buildings down from mine.

I watched all of this take place while at my family's home in Los Angeles, seeing televised images of the collapsed Cypress Structure, the World Series fans wondering what the heck took place, and then images of plumes of smoke rising from the far northwern portion of the city.

That was the Marina District, my area, and as the night went on, the images were of how my neighborhood was one of the hardest hit.

I could go on and on about what my thoughts were at that time, but this is your forum to talk about what you felt, saw and how Loma Prieta impacted you.

47 comment(s)

richards wrote on Oct 15, 2009 12:28 PM:

" I cant recall right now! My memory is a little shaky.

Just kidding I was sitting on the couch watching the big game on the TV and it just happened. Not much else to say about that with me.

But on the other hand if you remember the house in SF they always show that collapsed and the top floor was being held up by 2X4's. Then just to let you know my Aunt had he brand new Mazda Miata parked under all that in the garage. and that was her boyfriends apartment.

Lets just say it was an exciting time for the family! "

supernova8610 wrote on Oct 15, 2009 12:33 PM:

" I was 3 when Loma Prieta hit, although I was living in Sacramento at the time (didn't move to Napa til early '93); however, I remember seeing something about it on the news. "

richaelsmommie wrote on Oct 15, 2009 12:47 PM:

" I was 10 years old. My mother, grandmother, sister, and myself were walking my grandmother out to her car. When the quake hit my grandmother thought that I was pushing on her car. My little sister was standing on our porch and my mom told her to stay there. God that was an aweful thing. I still think that 2000 was worse here "

lovingnapa wrote on Oct 15, 2009 12:50 PM:

" i was not in this country when it happened but cant imagine what i would do in a situation like this. im terrified of earthquakes> "

napawineo wrote on Oct 15, 2009 12:53 PM:

" I went to SF that day to deliver some stuff to a company and later learned that 2 people died in that building, I then drove back over the bay bridge into downtown Oakland and across the cypress stucture, made my delivery went back across the cypress, I then returned home to Calistoga, walked in my door turned on the TV and it hit within 30 seconds of me getting home. For the past 20 years I have felt blessed that I wasn't delayed that day as I was a mere hour and half from probably death. "

winemd wrote on Oct 15, 2009 12:57 PM:

" My mom traveled the Cypress structure daily, but fortunately left early (for the World Series). My uncle was at Candlestick Park. I was at work in Berkeley (in a lab surrounded by glassware). The company had a large spill of sodium silicate right by the bay (caustic material). The man who would become my husband worked for the envirnomental company that came to clean it up - he asked me for a date, which had to be postponed. He took me to Wine Country the following weekend instead. And by the way, Dan, he was practically your neighbor. He lived on Greenwich between Scott and Dividadero (and me later). There was much less damage on that side of Lombard, however. A friend of his (later ours) was trapped in a building in the Marina for quite some time. It was eery driving home that night (to Concord). "

NapaLori wrote on Oct 15, 2009 1:32 PM:

" I was living in San Jose at the time & had just gotten off work. I was sitting in my car at a stop sign on my way to the freeway. At first I thought my car was running rough & stepped on the gas, but it sounded fine. Then it felt like someone was jumping on my back bumper. I thought, what the heck?! I turned off my car & started to get out. If I had not been hanging onto the door, I'd have been knocked off my feet as the road came up & almost hit me in the face. I remember looking up & seeing the street moving towards me in 3-foot waves & the power poles whipping around like grass in the wind! All the radio stations were gone except the local one. I heard a report a section of the Bay Bridge had collapsed. I had a friend who had just traveled over the Cypress structure when it collapsed. Fortunately, I was moving in with my brother that day & so all my things were still packed nice and safe. But it shook so hard it sloshed the water out of the toilets. I worked on the 12th floor downtown & was afraid to go back to work for fear another one would hit while I was there. I know I was feeling aftershocks that weren't there, as well as the ones that were. I have spent my whole life in California & experienced many earthquakes, but nothing of that magnitude. It was a very unnerving experience I hope never to repeat. "

movedAway wrote on Oct 15, 2009 2:01 PM:

" I was in the conference room at the offices of the Napa Valley Register, working on layout for the Tri High pages! We all said it felt like a really big one, but none of us got under the table. "

pharper wrote on Oct 15, 2009 2:01 PM:

" My mom was driving over the bridge that collapsed at the exact time it happened - the day before it happened. She went that way regularly because of her job but was lucky enough not to have done on the day it happened. "

roodog wrote on Oct 15, 2009 2:19 PM:

" I was working in a dental office at the time and the poor guy in the chair was a big-time dentalphobic. It was a long, long time before he came back. But seriously, it was very frightening and I couldn't get to the baby-sitter's fast enough to pick up my son. That was all I could think about. We were really pretty fortunate here in the valley. I still think about those who lost loved ones that day. It's one of those things you hope never to experience again, but this is where we live. "

amazed wrote on Oct 15, 2009 2:26 PM:

" My fiance (now husband) and I were planning to be married at the end of that October. We joked that the earthquake was God, giving us a warning. Seriously, a family member had just returned from San Francisco that day. We felt very blessed by his safe return, less than an hour ahead of the bridge collapse. "

mickey2756 wrote on Oct 15, 2009 2:26 PM:

" I was at NVC taking a night class when I saw the string on the map start to move and then felt the room itself move and the lights went out. When I got home I was lucky that the only damage was a cracked window. Having lived in the Bay Area and having gone through a few earthquakes I have to say this was bad but the one in 2000 here in Napa was one of the worse for me "

vocal-de-local wrote on Oct 15, 2009 2:46 PM:

" We felt several wave motions underneath our Santa Rosa home. I entertained the thought that the house might collapse if shaking went on too long. I was pregnant and my older son and I jumped underneath the kitchen counter. I knew, without a doubt, that the earthquake was significant and that there was a high probability of fatalities. I'm not exactly sure why there wasn't more damage in the North Bay except the areas most affected were not on alluvial soil.

Much of the Bay area, especially the Marina District, was build up with sand and other types of fill. Any foundation built on alluvial soil (which often forms in valleys where water once existed such as old river beds) is at high risk from earthquake damage.

I'm still a bit perplexed, with all of our knowledge about alluvial soil and earthquake risks, why homes continue to be built in these areas without any consideration for risk. At the very least, homes should be engineered to withstand alluvial soil shifting. "

gladtobgone wrote on Oct 15, 2009 3:31 PM:

" I drove across the bayshore freeway and bay bridge one week before it happned. I learned of the quake as I sat on a volcano watching the evening news in my firelookout while cooking dinner. "

bloodagar wrote on Oct 15, 2009 3:31 PM:

" I was...12, I think.
I had just ran into our Napa house (strategically) with muddy feet, hopped up onto the kitchen counter and was wiping my feet off when the earthquake hit. I fell off the counter and when I realized what it was, ran right back out of the house. With the earth still quaking, small waves of water were splashing out of the pool! I don't seem to remember the first couple of seconds or the last couple of seconds.
I do remember having one neighbor complain about a ball game and the other crying about SF sliding into the Pacific. "

sammy wrote on Oct 15, 2009 3:41 PM:

" I was actually living in Shell Beach, CA in San Luis Obispo County SLO :) and was in my kitchen on the phone with a friend,.... and the floor under me started rolling, several of my kiddo's were sitting on the floor watching a video and felt the roll as well. We knew it had to be a big one, turned on the news.....and hadn't anticipated that ... Read Morewhat we felt so strongly, was so many miles away from us. We stayed glued to the news channels after contacting my family members who lived in Napa . Yes, we remember it well. "

SuzieSwirled wrote on Oct 15, 2009 3:56 PM:

" I'll never forget that day...

I was installing an engine in my old Dodge van.

The van was up on jack stands with the front wheels off, and I was lying on my back on a creeper underneath it - trying bolt the transmission to the engine.

Suddenly, the van started rocking and I heard the sound of the frame and jack stands creaking against each other.

Boy, some days you really feel alive! "

JustMyyOpinion wrote on Oct 15, 2009 4:21 PM:

" I was living in Walnut Creek at the time. I'd just picked my kids up from daycare and we'd just walked in the house. I turned the tv on to watch the World Series and within a couple of minutes everything started shaking. I told the kids (ages 3 & 5 then) to get under the coffee table and I stood in a doorway wishing the shaking would stop! It went on forever!! "

local yokel wrote on Oct 15, 2009 4:30 PM:

" I was in east Napa out in my buddy's garden shed admiring all her canned stuff up on the shelves, when we realized the shed was moving from side to side - strangely, the canning jars stayed in place with the shelves moving underneath them.

We ran outside and their tractor was jerking violently from side to side on its suspension, and I swear I saw the ground ripple.
We whooped and hollered and said 'wow' that was the biggest one we had experienced, and went inside to put on the news.
Our excitement was quickly deflated by the stories of the terrible death and destruction wreaked by the quake.
I will never forget the heroes from the street who climbed up into the collapsed Cypress Freeway to try to help anyone they could, regardless of their own safety. "

1Napanow wrote on Oct 15, 2009 4:45 PM:

" I was at Candlestick with my brother and a friend who had gotten us tickets to the World Series we had been waiting for since 1962 when I was eight. We were near the top of the stadium in right field when the quake hit. I remember big rolling shakes and murmors that arose from around the stadium. Then strangely enough cheers and calls to "play ball". We of course had no idea of the deaths and damage that was happening outside the ball park. A few people looked sick or got up and left, but most of the ball fans stayed in their seats in anticipation of the game starting soon. There was a person near us that had a portable TV and when I saw the section of the bay bridge down we decided it was time to go. It took 1 hour to get to the car and out the parking lot. We traveled north towards the city and then onto 280 southbound. We were creeping under elevated freeways when we heard on the radio about the collapse of the Cypress Structure in Oakland. Our friend "lost it" at that point and crawled into a fetal position on the floor of the car. We made it home to San Jose without major event.
Still waiting for the Giants to win a World Series! "

broke new mom wrote on Oct 15, 2009 5:11 PM:

" I was only three when the quake hit and I can remember it clearly.

My mom had by newborn sister in her arms when it hit. I was opening the hall closet door to get my favorite towel for my bath time. And my father, as special as he was, was standing in the kitchen with a tuna sandwich in one hand, and a cold iced tea in the other, when he said "wow, I think we are having an earthquake."

My mom was screaming at him, "Duh! Get under a table or something, Jay, you idiot!"

She had by this time pulled me onto her lap and still had my little sister in her her arms and had us under the doorjamb in the hallway.

The whole time it was happening (which seemed like an eternity to a 3-year old) my dad never put down that sandwich, or went for cover!

Until I was about 5 years old, I would always sprint past that hall closet to get to my room. I guess I thought the earthquake came out of it!

So funny to me now, but when I was little I was traumatized and truly frightened! "

freeport56 wrote on Oct 15, 2009 6:22 PM:

" San Diego-

Talking to a friend that worked on Third St. Oakland. his office was under the 880 Freeway. We were both watching the World Series when the shaking started.

He heard some loud, really loud noises and we hung up. The freeway had started to collapse. "

kevin wrote on Oct 15, 2009 6:46 PM:

" Just got off work in Oakland and was stopped at the stop sign getting ready to get on the Cypress Freeway at Grand Ave.

Bounced around the intersection dodging falling chimneys and power lines. Looked over to the East and remember seeing a large mushroom cloud from something blowing up. I looked back to the West at the Cypress and it was all gone!

I sat there for several minutes waiting for the tidal wave I was positive would be coming next. Finally I slapped myself back to reality and sped off down an eeriely empty San Pablo Ave to work all night on shutting broken water lines and inspecting reservoirs for damage... "

valligirl wrote on Oct 15, 2009 7:18 PM:

" I was living in Novato in a hillside house. When the quake hit I turned on the TV and went outside to tell the neighbors to do the same. Lori, your description is the best, I had friends in the city that day who reported the rolling streets the same way. Glad those don't happen very often, but I do have earthquake insurance, always. "

highschoolgirl wrote on Oct 15, 2009 7:36 PM:

" Hey i was born on October 17. But not till 94' pretty crazy. My mom remebers it like it was yesturday. "

greenridgedoug wrote on Oct 15, 2009 8:11 PM:

" i was rolling down third street in my 59 continental ,stopped at vals liquers and all the bottles were on the floor.i asked what happened and they looked at me with suprise and said you didnt feel that?no i didnt but it must of happened as i passed main on third. "

JMB wrote on Oct 15, 2009 8:16 PM:

" I was 17 and at play practice in the midwest. Our principal came in and calmly announced that the game had been delayed, some earthquake in San Francisco, and that was it. I have family here in Napa, and was anxious to get home and call them to see if they were OK. Luckily they were all fine. Nobody understood why I was upset about it. "

coachbodie wrote on Oct 15, 2009 8:48 PM:

" I was a sophomore at Napa High School and was sitting next to the lockers near the quad after football practice.

I began to feel dizzy and said to one of my teammates that I must've taken too many hits at practice because I felt like I was going to pass out.

All of a sudden the entire row of lockers began rumbling and my friendn shouted "quit shaking the lockers."

I looked up and noticed the buildings shaking in the skyline and said ... "No one is shaking the lockers ... It's an earthquake."

Within moments the volleyball team poured out of the gym screaming. They stated the rafters and lights were shaking.

After I made it home to wathc the A's and Giants World Series Game only to find it was cancelled. "

SJD wrote on Oct 15, 2009 10:03 PM:

" I as at my Aunt,s Home having Dinner & helping Watch My Cousins, Ther Mother & Father were at World Series Game, When it hit, We told The kid's to Get under the table,I & My Aunt looked at each other, while blocking off The under table exit, Then went around home, Doing What we had to Do! "

Mr. Feasor wrote on Oct 15, 2009 10:36 PM:

" That's funny you mention the feeling of nausea, coachbodie. I wasn't at Napa High yet, but I had a similar sensation.

In anticipation of the Battle of the Bay, my brother and I were tossing a ball around in the lower field at our house.

After awhile, he suggested that we race (while giving himself a generous head start). So we bolted up the field and raced to the house. Of course, he won, as he had a few years on me...and clearly cheated due to the head start.

After the sprint, I was fairly winded, and sat down at the table to catch my breath while he gloated. Then I thought, "wow, I must have run really fast, because I'm getting dizzy." Then the table started knocking against the wall. So I thought, "wow, my heart must be beating hard, because the whole table is shaking!"

"Earthquake. Earthquake!" said my brother as he ran out via the sliding glass door (which I thought wasn't the brightest thing to do at the time because it was bowing and flexing).

Considering the shaky table, I opted for the doorframe. Then it passed and I went outside. We had a little pond, and water was sloshing all over the place.

For the rest of the night, we all thought that the entire city of San Francisco was burning (given how they played the Marina fire over and over and over). And that the entire freeway system had collapsed, along with the Bay Bridge (again, given the media footage).

Well, that's my memory at least. Not too exciting. But I was pretty proud about how I instinctively reacted calmly in response to the circumstances... "

napaoldguy wrote on Oct 16, 2009 5:27 AM:

" I was at Peitro's having pizza at a union meeting. We ran out side and watched the street move like waves and the power pole moving back and forth. It was the first earthquake I had ever felt. It was kinda cool but scary. "

Cadence wrote on Oct 16, 2009 7:08 AM:

" Candlestick Park! Kelly Downs for the Giants. The stadium lights swayed back and forth and the stadium rumbled. Watched a few police cars and players gather on the playing field, then later watched the players hop in their cars and leave. Left about 8 via San Mateo bridge and heard the radio, learned how bad it was. Driving through a truly pitch dark East Bay was the weirdest thing of all, there were NO lights at all anywhere, just car lights. The congested East Bay with zero power - a sight I will probably never see again. "

suma1971 wrote on Oct 16, 2009 9:11 AM:

" My husband and I were both out in front of our house when it hit - I was planting ivy and my husband was rototilling the front lawn. The earthquake knocked me over, but my husband didn't feel a thing! He just assumed he had hit some tough sod which caused the machine to bounce around in his hands, and kept going! He missed the whole thing! "

4466 wrote on Oct 16, 2009 9:59 AM:

" I was watching my sister's two young boys in Watsonville. The walls shook, dishes fell, furniture moved across the floor. Gathering the boys close to me we cowered under the dinning room table until the shaking stopped.
My sister was at school and was completely crazy to get home to us.
My brother lived in the City of Santa Cruz, his home had less damage than our sister's home. Two days later we looked at the damaged buildings of downtown Santa Cruz with tears in our eyes. "

napansince66 wrote on Oct 16, 2009 9:59 AM:

" I was working at Mervyn's at the time behind the Jewelry counter when the shaking started and then the floor felt like it was rolling. All the fixtures nearby were swaying. My co-worker and I just stood there in shock. Also, earlier that day I met my husband for the first time, I guess you could say the earth shook the day we met! "

Mr_Napa wrote on Oct 16, 2009 11:19 AM:

" I was at home at the corner of G and Spencer Streets (old victorian built in 1898) and on the phone with my girlfriend when the quake hit. It was really creepy because as I braced myself in the doorway between the kitchen and living room I was LOOKING DOWN at the street through the bay windows. The house was rocking that bad! At that time the house had no foundation and was wobbling all over the place...crazy. "

aroseisarose wrote on Oct 16, 2009 3:16 PM:

" I had just come off the Bay bridge heading towards Berkeley and came upon some stopped traffic. People were acting strangely - looking out their car windows, rolling down tehir windows, etc. My car doesn't have a radio and I didn't really know what happened until I stopped at the Filipino bakery on Sonoma Blvd. to pick up some bao. When I got home to Napa and saw what had happened to the Bay bridge...well, I still have PTSD and don't drive over big bridges! "

Baraki wrote on Oct 16, 2009 9:40 PM:

" 6.9?? Wasn't this a 7.1?? The 94 Northridge earthquake was 6.9... Is AP's fact checking off or is my memory way off?? "

Mr. Feasor wrote on Oct 16, 2009 10:53 PM:

" Baraki - its kind of both. The moment magnitude (energy released) was 6.9 and the surface-wave magnitude was 7.1.

So it felt like a 7.1. But the actual energy released at the moment* was 6.9. I was a bit confused about that too...

*energy released = rigidity of the Earth X (the average amount of slip on the fault + size of the area that slipped). "

vocal-de-local wrote on Oct 17, 2009 1:17 AM:

" Lol aroseisarose! For awhile, I was driving down to the City fairly often. Even though the route would have been shorter across the Bay bridge, I drove the Golden Gate instead. I became so fearful about heading over the darn bridges that I phoned the USGS.

I don't think the USGS guy I spoke to was acquainted with receiving the type of phone call asking WHICH bridge was safer to drive and WHY, but he did his best to answer my questions.

He said that the Golden Gate was a safer bridge in an earthquake because it runs the same direction as the fault. Additionally, a lot has been done to beef up the Golden Gate Bridge. The Bay Bridge, is quite dangerous. People just don't realize that they are playing Russian Roulette when they cross that bridge. They may think that the statistics are low for an earthquake, but if you happen to be driving on that bridge when it hits, it's probably going to be a bad situation. The USGS guy said that the part of the Bay Bridge between SF and Yerba Buena Island is safer.

Here's something else to think about. A surprising number of buildings in San Francisco are NOT earthquake retrofitted. Additionally, those tall, skinny buildings engineered to supposedly withstand an earthquake UP to a point are worrisome to me. That POINT has not been tested in a real life situation, just on models. There's a lot of guessing going on.

It amazes me that we are so tolerant of building upward in vulnerable Earthquake regions. WHERE'S the common sense? "

ClydeBarrow wrote on Oct 17, 2009 4:21 AM:

" I had just moved into my new apt. that day and I was shopping at the Clay street Safeway in Napa when item's from the shelve's started falling down.Then the floor started to roll & the light's went out.
It got real quiet & some people were still in the checkout line waiting to finish thier purchases. LOL "

twocentsguy wrote on Oct 17, 2009 11:18 AM:

" St. Helena at a winery up on a cat walk of a 30 foot high Wine tank. I didn't know where to run, whether I should climb down the vertical ladder or stay put. I was surrounded my 20 tanks, 100, 000 gal. tanks sloshing wine over their vents and the cat walk was swaying a few feet both ways. Pretty scary. Afterwards...had a nice glass of undeclared wine, my own personal blend and felt better!!! "

ao1982 wrote on Oct 18, 2009 8:03 AM:

" We were at my grandma's house in the parking lot of, then, stonehouse. I was 7 and I remember getting into the back seat of my moms 1982 Camaro. After I buckled up the car started bouncing up and down and my mom though it was my uncle jumping on the back of the car like hydraulics. But it wasnt. Fun times. I cant believe that I had to go to school the next day when most kids stayed home.

GO COWBOYS!!!! "

Bauhausfan wrote on Oct 18, 2009 8:20 AM:

" After reading through some of the comments about the 89' quake it is obvious I had a very different experience than most. I had more of a front row seat.

Being a California native I have been through many earthquakes and I can easily say it was the only time in my life when I was scared during one.

I lived in downtown Santa Cruz and worked in Capitola and when I walked out the front door of the store I worked at you could see Loma Prieta right in front of you.

As far as my memory goes it seems everyone slept outside that night and the next one also although there wasn't really much sleeping due to all the aftershocks.

I think I wore the same clothes for a few days because they wouldn't let me back into my apartment to get any clean ones. Can't quite remember how long it was before I was allowed to sleep there but it seems like it was about a week.

I am pretty sure there is still a hole on the north end of Pacific Ave where a red brick building stood before the 89' quake. "

ladybug wrote on Oct 18, 2009 8:20 AM:

" I was working at Browns Valley Market, the big windows in front shook a few things fell off the shelves, I remember pickles hitting the floor. The rest of the day at work was customers sharing there experiences of where they were & what happened. Interesting stuff. It was kinda crazy! "

gfwrongway wrote on Oct 18, 2009 11:07 AM:

" I was in bed "doin' it" with my girl friend. She said she felt the earth move, and I thought it was me... "

MissingNapa wrote on Oct 19, 2009 7:33 AM:

" I lived in SF then in the Diamond Heights area, worked in Hunter's Point. Had left work early because my boss wanted to watch the game. I took advantage of the extra time to take the bus to the library. As I waited for my bus I thought the kid next to me was shaking the bench, he wasn't, we looked at each other as the buildings began to shake. I remember the windows undulating like jello and the wires slapping against the building. We ran into the street because we thought the buildings were going to fall. As we stood there with several other people I realized that the power off all over the neighborhood. So I stopped at a store bought a few groceries and some beer and headed home. Mom called to see if I was okay, she still had power in Napa and told me what was being reported on the news. My neighbors said I turned white as a ghost then. I thought the Golden Gate Bridge had collapse and was heartbroken. That night my neighbors and I got together had an "earthquake party" drank wine and beer and ate all our perishibles. We were lucky, no one had damage other than a few broken dishes. "

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