[youtube]povRDt-oK5A[/youtube]
While people around the country were watching the World Series in 1989 and saw the game basically blackout because of a major earthquake that centered near Santa Cruz (which is south of San Francisco), J and I were some of the, ahem, fortunate ones who lived through it.
J and I were living in San Francisco 1989. It was our senior year of college, we were in the thick of our fall semester, and were dating for almost 2 years by that time. I was at her flat getting ready to go out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, “The Elite Cafe” (which used to serve wonderful Cajun food). While lounging in J’s living room channel surfing, I just idly passed the time while J was in her room (on the other end of the flat) putting on her shoes. She said she was ready to go, so I flipped off the TV, got up off the sofa, and took a couple of step across her living room.
And then the earthquake started.
Instinctively, we both ran to the closest door frames in her house and held on for the ride. We’ve both been in earthquakes before, so we knew that was the best place to be. But this quake wasn’t a typical one that we experienced before. It just kept going and going; growing with more intensity. I could feel the building starting to tilt to one side as the quake shook on and was convinced that J and I would be buried under a pile of debris that was once her flat if the quake didn’t stop soon.
And then, it did.
We weren’t hurt, but it was pretty upsetting how fast everything changed in our little corner of the world. It was so quiet in her neighborhood, and we went outside to see if there was any damage to other buildings and if anyone was hurt. Thankfully, everyone was okay, and in true San Francisco form people were outside talking, laughing, and a few were drinking beers. Oddly enough, the phones were working and I called my mom to tell her I was fine (she lived about 50 miles outside of San Francisco). She wasn’t watching TV, so she hadn’t seen footage of the damage done to the city. After I hung up, J called her mom in Sacramento and she started telling us what the news media was reporting: Damage to the Bay Bridge…a fire in the Marina…houses collapsing in the Marina…Interstate 880 also suffered a major collapse in a double decker part of the freeway…we also heard about 280 that had damage as well.
Then she asked J to come to Sacramento to stay with her while the city recovered from the quake. J assured her that we were fine, her flat was fine and the damage seemed to be concentrated to certain sectors of the city.
After that, we walked over to my apartment to see if there was any damage. Nothing was broken. Not even my TV which had fallen over. It all looked okay. Then the phone rang, and it was my mom on the other end asking me to come stay with her while the city recovers. Like J, I assured her that I was fine, my apartment was fine, and the damage was in other parts of the city. The more she watched TV, the more worried she got about us. So while our moms worried about us, we didn’t chicken out and stayed in the city. After all, damaged or not, it was our home.
The power came on later that night and it all seemed weirdly normal again. There were aftershocks throughout the night and into the morning. And with each one, I kept thinking another big one was coming, but it didn’t. By day 3, the city was functioning much like it had before. But 
there were many reminders that as bad as this quake was, it could have been a lot worse.
–PK
15 thoughts on “10/17/89; San Francisco, CA; 5:03PM”
Comments are closed.
I thought that was interesting. I liked the world series,I thought it was funny.
I remember that day…I remember that before that day, I always kind of liked earth quakes…I liked how you could turn on the radio to KGO, and everyone was calling in talking about the same thing…it was like we were all living these very different lives, and then we all came together for a moment before diffusing again. But this one was different. I remember thinking you were going to go down, since you were standing over the garage, which seemed less stable to me. I started crying…no earthquake before or since has made me cry. I remember going to Carol\’s house to listen to the radio, because she had batteries, and all of us eating cheese sandwiches, because they didn\’t need cooking and that\’s what she had. I rememeber going to pick up my roommate from work the next night, and the power was still out in the tenderloin, and it was very strange how dark and quiet it all was. Very eery.
Hearing the horror stories of the people stuck under the Cypress Structure was another part of that earthquake I\’ll never forget. Ugh.
I have to say, even though we were safe and our lives were pretty much unaltered, I\’ll never forget that day, and I don\’t think I\’ll ever enjoy another earthquake.
Hey Ted are you vacationing in Las Vegas. You are famous having your blog site on a Marquis. Wooohooo.
Yeah, I remember that day. Big Sis and I left to go back to So Cal. When we got home, I tried to call Mom, but the phone was busy and then I tried to call Pops, and the phone was busy. Big sis turned on the TV and there it was Big Quake hits SF area.
Wow! Pretty traumatic stuff! I’m so glad you and J made it through with nary a scratch!
Ml: No scratches…just frayed nerves.
Maya: It’s interesting to see how you looked at the World Series clip since you found it amusing the way the announcers were talking about the game and then tried to communicate that there was earthquake happening, and kept talking in their announcer voices like they were calling a play.
I had a feeling you’d blog on this! Yes, that quake is one that anyone that experienced it will never forget. It’s kind of like the Oakland Hills fire. I’ll never forget that as well. The quake was very frightening though. I remember thinking, “Is this going to get worse or will it stop?” It went on for awhile. I’m glad those don’t happen very often.
I’ve been on the East Coast all my life and have never had an experience like this. Great blogging.
We lived about 50 miles away from SF then and I remember watching a telephone pole sway so hard I thought it was going to hit my car. I stayed inside our doorway while my Mom yelled at me to come outside. I kept saying no, the game (world series) is gonna come back on. Hey, I was 19 and stupid.
That is such a traumatic thing to go through. I am really glad that you and J made it out ok. It’s definitely a life altering experience.
I was all that distance away in Sacramento, and my hanging plants were all swaying and the cats were very unhappy. It was such a relief to get J’s call and know that the two of you were alright. I remember that she said that as soon as the power came back on you were going out for dinner and I had to be the one to tell her that was not likely to happen that night. The sight of S.F. without a single light on was one I don’t ever want to repeat. Nor the worry that UC Berkeley library was burning down.
That sounds VERY scary! Glad that you and J were safe, unlike those unfortunate ones. I remember when that happened. We were still living in Guyana and feared for relatives living in CA.
I hear you, we had the Whittier Narrows earthquake in 86 or 87. While it wasn’t as big as the SF or subsequent Northridge earthquake, we were much closer to the epicenter and thus got shook up pretty good.
I remember seeing the bridges that had fallen in SF and feeling very, very sad that simply due to bad luck of being on the road at the wrong time.
I am glad you two were safe. We were in Sacramento watching the whole thing unfold. A lady in our church was driving through the Cypress Stucture when it collaped on her. She was one of the fatalities of that day.
I very much remember this quake, although I was further away so there was little that fell.
I’m sure being in SF at the time really changed your outlook on quakes.
My current earthquake fear stem around the fact that the main petrolium line that runs from Martinez to LA runs behind our complex. Yea, the one that blew when CalTrans hit it in Walnut Creek.