FOR MORE TALES FROM THE 1989 EARTHQUAKE,

VISIT MODERNLUXURY.COM/SAN-FRANCISCO/STORY/EARTHQUAKE.

TALESfrom

The
BRINK
FOUR MAYORS,
TWO FIREFIGHTERS,
A BLIMP PILOT,
A STRIPPER, AN
OAKLAND ATHLETIC,
AND OTHERS
RECALL THE 1989
EARTHQUAKE.
I N T E R V I E W S BY A DA M L . B R I N K LO W,
A N D R E A P O W E L L , A N D K AT E VA N
BROCKLIN.

Id only read about

such things.

went to the bathroom, got back into

my car, and I was about a block and a
half away from the Cypress structure
when the quake hit.
I saw the buildings shaking and
heard a sound like a train coming
right at me, and I watched the ground
roll up in a wave that picked my Ford
Escort up and threw it over into the
next lane. Im sitting there watching
people running out of the buildings,
and then I hear something like horses
galloping . That was the freeway
collapsing: It turned into a pancake
right in front of me. I realized: If I
hadnt used the bathroom, Id be dead.
Id have been on the lower deck. To
this day I believe that an angel came
down and squeezed my bladder at the
right moment. Thank God.

I said, No, this kid

is coming out.

TIM PETERSEN AND ANDY PAPP,

FIREFIGHTERS

Heres the scariest thing Ive ever seen. Im coming

along this ridge in Nisene Marks State Park, where
the earthquake originated, and I find what look

Petersen: It was five oclock and there

was no traffic, so Im doing 65 in a government-issued pickup. You know what the

like Christmas trees littering the forest floorand I

realized they were the tops of the redwoods. The force

weather is like in October around here:

awesome. I was 24 years old.

of the earth moving shook those 120-foot trees the way

I got on the freeway, and suddenly

youd crack a bullwhip and snapped all their tops

clean off. Id only read about such things. People used

I felt like I got four flat tires all at

once. I saw that the same thing was

to say it couldnt happen. The bridge collapse may be

sexier, but out here, the manifestation of disaster was
these treetops.

happening to the people passing

me. And then there was kind of a
big explosion, which I later learned

An angel came down and

squeezed my bladder.

was the upper deck falling on us. It

happened in a hundredth of a second.
What was left of my truck was only 22

Around five oclock, I walked out of a building over by

Lake Merritt, and my bladder started saying, Go to

inches high. Because I wasnt wearing

a seatbelt like I normally did, I was
smashed sideways across the bucket

emergency management. And wherever you are, look

out for the people around you: Watch for anyone who
is pale and sweaty, dizzy, confused, or taking over 30
breaths per minute, says the San Francisco Fire
Departments Lieutenant Erica Arteseros, head of the
NERT program. Those are the signs of shock.

WHAT IF IM ON A PLANE THAT CANT LAND

BECAUSE OF QUAKE DAMAGE? Loma Prieta
knocked both SFO and Oakland International Airport
briefly out of commission, leaving some folks literally
up in the air. But every commercial airline pilot has a
San Francisco | October 2014

my bladder says, No, really, go to the

bathroom. I try to say, No, Ill be all
right, but it insists: Go. Now. So I

SANDY LYDON, HISTORY PROFESSOR

LANCE SNEAD, PROFESSIONAL MAGICIAN

78

the bathroom. I got into my car, and

list of alternate landing sites, and the Federal Aviation

Administration requires all flights to have enough fuel
to make it to an alternate location with 45 minutes
worth of fuel to spare. Meanwhile, SFO has 5 to 10 airfield operations officers on duty at any given time to
assess runway conditions. And though being
stranded at SFO may be the only thing scarier than an
earthquake, an airport is perhaps one of the best
places to end up. A major airport operates almost like
a small city unto itself, with fire, police, and medical
responders already onsite, along with engineers, electricians, and other maintenance staff.

WHAT IF THERES AN ENORMOUS FIRE LIKE

IN 1906? As all good amateur San Francisco historians know, the 1906 earthquake wasnt the real
issueit was just the fuse for a devastating fire that
was exacerbated by a full-scale failure of the water
delivery system. Well, fool us once, shame on you, but
these days the city has 200 emergency cisterns
sloshing with emergency firefighting H20 at all times.
If you do see smoke, try to get upwind of it, and
remember that fire breakswide streets such as
Van Ness Avenueare built into the city layout. Keep
them between you and the hotspot.

PAUL SAKUMA/AP PHOTO

Workers assess the damage to the Cypress structure two days after Loma Prieta.

seat rather than getting my neck broken. It was

just the luck of the draw, because everyone else

firefighter, but Id never met the kid before. My

fire chief tells me, if hes not going to make it,

never been to New York City, and for some

reason that crossed my mind. I remember

in my section was killed. All those people I made

eye contact with, none of them made it.
Papp: We had a four-man crew at the Cypress.

we have other rescues. I said, No, this kid is

coming out.
Petersen: At first I heard screaming, engines

thinking how my mom and dad had saved

up for braces when I was a kid and how upset
theyd be if Id knocked my teeth out. I have no

CHP called down that there was one person

alive and trapped. Me and Victor Cuevas, the
hose man, went in. All I could see of the driver

revving, horns blaring as people were smashed,

and then all that faded. I had broken my back
and both my ankles, and I had busted ribs stab-

idea why that thought, of all things, was in my

head. I could still tell the difference between
day and night, and it was dark before the guys

was his butt and one of his hands. The kid was
conscious, and I got him talking and realized
who he was. I knew his dad, who was also a

bing into my collapsed lung. I expected any

moment to just turn off, but it never happened.
You start thinking about weird things. I had

found me. Andy Papp and Vic Cuevasyou talk

about heroes? These are the guys.
Papp: Some construction guys put some two-by-

WHAT IF THERES A TSUNAMI? A tsunami has

never been recorded in the Bay Area, and thats not
likely to change anytime soon. Still, San Franciscos
entire coastal perimeter is technically considered
an inundation zone. Another complication: A tsunami
could come from the bay instead of the oceanif a
quake were to push a huge amount of water through
the Golden Gate, it could hit us as it washed back
out, in whats called a seiche. If youre worried about
such things, high ground is the order of the day, and
the higher the better. Note that the wave that first
hits a tsunami zone might look huge and terrifying,

but in fact its often just a precursor to an even larger

wave right behind itso dont go poking around low
ground until youre sure the whole thing is over.

 WHAT IF IM STUCK FAR AWAY FROM MY

HOUSE OR FAMILY? Again, its best to hunker down
wherever you areeven if youre out of town.
Swamping the roads will only make things worse.
Were looking at total traffic stoppage in an earthquake, says the SFFDs Arteseros. We cant stop people from driving around and looking for loved ones, but
itll probably cause more problems than it solves.

WHAT IF THE HOSPITALS ARE OVERRUN?

WHAT IF THEY RUN OUT OF SUPPLIES? WHAT
IF THEY COLLAPSE? Wilder says that S.F. General
anticipates a large surge of patients, but notes that
even in a major disaster, the majority of injuries are
relatively minor, making it unlikely that hospitals
will be completely inundated. S.F. General has a
96-hour supply of food, water, fuel, medicine, and
blood for staff and patientsmore than enough to
last until outside emergency crews are expected to
arrive. Beyond that, the city has planned for a vast
network of pop-up hospitals (not the official term)

October 2014 | San Francisco

79

From left: A highway patrol officer looks down at two cars that fell from the top roadway of the Bay Bridge onto the lower
deck; the devastation left by the Marina fire; two women console each other in front of a destroyed Marina building.

fours up to reinforce the freeway because the gap

around us was shrinking. By the time we all got
out that night, we had about 19 inches of space.
Fire engines dont carry a lot of rescue equipment.
Some civilian truck driver had a generator and
construction equipment, so we got a reciprocating
saw and went to cut out the interior of the truck.
It took three and a half hours.

This entire time, I never saw his face. I passed out

as soon as they put me on the backboard. Later, in
the hospital, I recognized him just by his accent. I
worked with Andy for years after that, but we never
really talk about that day, except to joke. He calls me
the biggest mistake of his career. October 17: We say
its my second birthday. I call Andy and the other
guys every year. We never really talk about what

The kid thought his right leg had been cut

off, but really the steering wheel was cutting off

happened, but its a tradition that will never die.

Papp: That kids never going to have a bad day

was just sitting on the bench. We heard a really

loud noise. I thought maybe a jet was flying over.

the blood supply. When it came time to cut the

for the rest of his life.

But I was looking at the concrete overhang that

cutting off body parts.

Petersen: We had no idea where the blade was
going to go, but by that point wed been at this for

Up in the air, we didnt hear

or feel anything.

JOHN CRAYTON, GOODYEAR BLIMP PILOT

Ten seconds into the opening of the World Series

TERRY STEINBACH,
OAKLAND AS CATCHER

I was not supposed to be catching that game. I

goes around Candlestick, and you could see it

move like you had cracked a whip. Sitting in the
dugout, the guy next to me was from California,
and he yelled, Earthquake! All of a sudden the
ground shook, and we ran out on the field.

three hours, and I figured I was probably going

to die anyway, so the hell with it. In the end we
got lucky.

broadcast, everything went black. I thought

somebody had tripped over a cable. Then I saw
a rock slide behind the stadium, transformers

We think you may need this.

He had to rebreak my ankles to get me out.

Theyd broken backward, and he had to bend
them the other way so that Id clear the pedals.

blowing up, fires starting, and smoke rising up

from what we later learned was the freeway. We
got a transmission from the S.F. and Oakland

When the quake hit, I was meeting with Fay

Vincent, the baseball commissioner, talking
about security. I was on the field, and my beeper

to treat the masses (call 311 or monitor AM/FM

radio for announcements about locations). If S.F.
Generals building itself were the first casualty,
the whole operation would decamp to militarystyle tents set up at a nearby location, MASHstyle. Shock trauma units from the navy and the
marines would arrive after a few days, and staff
and patients would move to ships in the bay.

WHAT IF THERES LOOTING OR MASS VIOLENCE? Although most Americans still remember vivid reports of lawlessness in post-Katrina
80

I thought maybe a jet

was flying over.

San Francisco | October 2014

FRANK JORDAN, CHIEF OF POLICE

New Orleans, statistics show that crime actually

tends to go down after a natural disaster. Besides,
a massive catastrophe is an all-hands-on-deck
situation for law enforcement, according to
senior sheriffs deputy Enrique Luquin, so dont
expect the city to transform into Thunderdome
overnight. If youre really worried, do what communities do best: Pull together. Look for neighbors or other people you know, and stick with one
another until things return to (relative) working
order. A group of 15 rarely gets mugged, even in
the worst of times.

WHAT IF THERES NO WATER? Experts say

that you should have at least three gallons of
water per person (72 hours worth) stored in an
accessible place in case of emergency. But, lets
face it, you probably dont. Fortunately, the California Public Utilities Commission has invested
in redundant pipelines intended to reroute water
around damaged areas. Of course, that wont
help if your faucets and local mains are damagedan estimated 130 lines broke in the five
days after the Napa quake, leaving about 600
customers without water. In cases like that, the

STEVE RINGMAN/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/CORBIS

steering column, he had to guide the blade in

for me. I said, Tell me whenI dont want to be

airports telling us they were closed. Up in the air,

of course, we didnt hear or feel anything.

We all had jobs to do.

ED LEE, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

I was working for Mayor Agnos and

still new to city work. I tried to call
to see if my family was OK, but I
couldnt get through. Obviously,
thats the thing you care about the
most, family, especially when you
have young kids and youre left
wondering: Are they hurt, did the
schools collapse, what about all my
other family and friends? But we all
had jobs to do, so I had to try to set
that aside. It wasnt until 9 or 10 at
night that communications started
working and I heard from home
the hours in between I had to spend
helping set up the relief station at
the Marina Middle School and
prepping for all of the requests the
Mayors Office was going to receive

FROM LEFT: HAYWARD DAILY REVIEW; NICK LAMMERS/AP; JIM SUGAR/CORBIS

in the coming days. I ended up

driving a couple of city attorneys
home that night, getting to the

started going crazy. I joined SFPD in 1957 and had a 5.3

quake hit that year as I was in a squad car going along
Mission Street, but I knew this was different. I met
Mayor [Art] Agnos over at the Emergency Operations
Center on Turk Street, and the FBI landed a helicopter
right in the park for us and said, We think you may
need this. So up we went for an aerial survey.

East Bay the long way around on

the Golden Gate Bridge.

I saw the asphalt kick up

in two-foot waves.

The Marina looked

like a war zone.

NANCY LANG, SAN FRANCISCO ZOO CURATOR

Most of our staff had gone home early to watch the
game. It was just me, the great ape keeper, and our
executive assistant. My grandmother had survived
the 1906 quake and told me stories about it, so I knew
when I saw the asphalt kick up in two-foot waves

JORDAN

ART AGNOS, MAYOR

in front of the Primate Discovery Centerasphalt,

mind you, coming at me in wavesthat this was the

Cars were wall-to-wall, and people

were all over it, and we were afraid

We were just pulling into the parking lot at Candlestick

Big One. But I wasnt afraid. I had no idea what was

of aftershocks, so I ordered everyone

when I felt the tremors. We went into the ballpark.

It had really felt the impact. Fans in the stands were

going to happen, but I thought, Ill just wait this out

and see.

off of it. When youre looking at the

top part of a bridge lying on a bottom

milling around, and ballplayers were rushing into the

stands. Shortly after we arrived, the police came to get
me and said, Mr. Mayor, we have to go. Its a major

I asked, Whos in charge?

And they said, You are.

part, or a mile of freeway fallen

down, and knowing that people are
sandwiched under itit was unreal.

Mr. Mayor, we have to go.

The first thing we looked at was

the Embarcadero Freeway, which
wa s t h e s a m e do u b le - de c ke r
construction as the one in Oakland.

earthquake. The Bay Bridge has fallen. I remember

being shocked that it was far more severe than I had
thought. It was the first and only time I had a dozen

AGNOS

I got to the command post behind City Hall and asked for
the disaster coordinator. I had never talked to any of them.

The Marina looked like a war zone:

Three-story buildings now looked
like two-story buildings, and some

motorcycles clearing the road from Candlestick to City

Hall. They were literally ordering cars off the road so
that I could get through.

I had never met them. They didnt work near me. They
said, Hes not here, we just took him to the hospital. I
asked, Whos in charge? And they said, You are.

were so far off their foundations

that they crushed cars parked on
the street.
> CONTINUED ON PAGE 106

CPUC will deliver water to affected areas via tanker trucks and
neighborhood repositories.
This part is important: No matter how thirsty you get, dont open
a hydrant. For starters, that water isnt always potable. Furthermore,
its just about the least helpful thing you can do for the city at large
because it lowers water pressure in the entire system. If youre truly
desperate, the water trapped in the back of your toilet tank or water
heater is drinkablea few seconds of steady boiling is all it takes
to sterilize it. Alternatively, eight drops of bleach will make a gallon
of water safe to drink, and about nine hours in the sun will kill most
harmful bacteria in an 18-ounce water bottle. Puddle water might
look nasty, but if subjected to any of these methods, its usually

safe enough. If you dont appreciate the gritty texture, straining it

through a shirt or a rag will remove most of the chunky stuff.
Experts are insistent that you not try to drink your pee. (Youd be
surprised by how many people need to be told.)

WHAT ABOUT FOOD? IM HUNGRY JUST THINKING ABOUT IT.

Disaster really does seem to bring out the best in people. After
Loma Prieta, people who didnt know each other fed the entire neighborhood, says Patsy Gasca, disaster program manager for the
Santa Cruz County American Red Cross. Moreover, says FEMAs Lusk,
in San Francisco we have a large hospitality industry, and were
used to a large tourist population. Id head to those facilities that

feed and house large numbers of people and trust in the sense of
camaraderie that follows such an event. If youre not comfortable
relying on the brotherhood of man, keep in mind that the Red
Crosss second priority after setting up shelters is getting food to
the masses. And if all else fails, you can live by your wits. After the
1906 quake, Italian immigrants recognized a staple foodstuff from
their homeland growing all over the city: dandelions, says lumberjack turned wilderness survival trainer (!) Mark Weinert. That kept
them going. Red clover is also quite tasty, and edible sweet fennel
and manzanita berries sprout around the Bay Area. Of course, dont
go foraging unless youre really at deaths door. No earthquake is
improved by a bellyful of poison. U
October 2014 | San Francisco

81

CR ACKS IN THE WORLD // TALES FROM THE BRINK

> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 81

At least I have both of my

kids in my arms.

Maybe I should not

attempt to be a fireman.

I was home at 25th and Balboa.

I had two toddlers, a two-yearold and a barely one-year-old. I
had taken the day off from work

When the earthquake first hit, I

was in downtown San Francisco
at Wilkes Bashford on Sutter

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WILLIE BROWN, SPEAKER,

CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY

because the World Series was on. I

was changing the laundry from the
washing machine to the dryer when

Street, briefly shopping before

heading out to Candlestick Park.
When the earthquake struck, I

it hit. I have felt many earthquakes

living in San Francisco, so I just
rolled my eyes and thought, OK,
heres another earthquake. But

decided I had better check on my

law office because I knew that my
staff people were there. By the time
I got there, my staff had already

it kept going and going, and I

thought, Oh my god, this is the
Big One! And my kids started

abandoned that place. By then,

sirens were going off all over town,
and I decided to follow the fire

screaming. They were in the dining

room, which was like a playroom
for them. There was a little dresser
that my two-year-old was standing

engines, which were all headed

toward the Marina, to see if I could
be of any assistance.
It only took four or five minutes.

right in front of. And as soon as I

got to the room, the dresser started
falling over. I grabbed him, picked

I got out and walked to where the

hoses were being pulled. Civilians
were helping the fire people. I was

up the other kid, and fell on this

little single bed. And I just lay there,
thinking, At least I have both of my
kids in my arms. Everything was
crashing down in the house. Things
came out of the kitchen and onto
the floor and broke, bookshelves
fell overit was rocking and rolling.
The kids were hysterical. I really
felt like the house was collapsing. I

on the sidewalk with a hose, and a

fireman came over and said, Get
the hell out of here. This place may
blow. And sure enough, when I left
and got about a block away, that
exact portion of the sidewalk blew
up. That fireman gave me good
advice. It was also a signal that
maybe I should not attempt to be
a fireman.

thought, This one were not going

to make it out of. And I just kept
thinking, At least Ive got my kids
with me.

It was pitch-black except

for the glow of the fires.

I dont remember much

about crossing the gap.

NICK KRAUSE, ACOUSTIC ENGINEER

I was on a bus in the old Transbay

CRAYTON

Terminal going out to the East Bay

when it hit. When it was over, the
driver left the station anyway. I

We were broadcasting for ABC, but

the affiliate didnt have any backup
power, so suddenly we were the

asked, Are you sure its safe to cross

the bridge? He said, Its fineif it
was dangerous, theyd let us know,

only visual link for the city. The

director told us to fly as far out and

not knowing the power was out.

We got halfway through the Yerba

assess as much of the damage as we

could before we got so far away that
our microwave transmission link

Buena Island tunnel and hit a total

logjam of people just walking back
to San Francisco. I hopped out an

broke up, and we got almost to the

Embarcadero, so close that I could
see the collapsed section of the

emergency exit and walked as far as

the western end of the tunnel, but I
saw the smoke and the crowds and

bridge with our high-powered lens.

We transmitted to the stadium,
which sent it up to the satellite
and then out to the whole country.

thought, I dont want to go that

way. Im heading east.
So I walked on out to where the
break in the bridge was and saw

It was eerie: All of downtown San

Francisco was pitch-black except

that there was a clear path along the

side and nothing stopping me from

for the glow of the fires.

walking on it. There was nothing to

106

San Francisco | October 2014

hold on to, but the beam was about

three feet wide and there was no

Everyone who came aboard, we

asked if they would take a shower.

wind at all. I was a field engineer

for Bechtel, and Id spent 10 years
climbing on steel skeletons. I was

So we provided them with a towel,

soap, and shampoo and escorted
them into showers. We laundered

worried about aftershocks, but it

would only take 5 or 10 seconds...
and boy, it seemed like an awful
long way back into the city. Ill be

all their clothing. We took them

down into the inside of the ship,
and the Red Cross brought in cots.
And then we took these people

honest, I dont remember much

about crossing the gap: I just kept
my eyes on the other side and told

into the mess decks and fed them

lunch. I brought the medical people
to interview each and every one of

myself it was basically like crossing

the street. Right after I got over,
somebody somehow ended up on
the upper deck and crashed across

them and look at their medications.

On the Monday morning after,
when Agnos would normally have
his major staff meeting, he told

the gap, almost like they were trying

to Evel Knievel their way across.
They almost made it.

them to go watch a humanitarian

exercise in perfection. I was very
proud of it, to be quite frank with

I spent the rest of the day hitching

rides to El Cerrito. I just really,
really didnt want to go back into
that mess in the city that day.

you. It was a lesson to my young

sailors ab out p eople who are
damaged and how to be helpful. I
had one man tell me it was the first

It was a lesson to my
young sailors about
people who are damaged
and how to be helpful.

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN BITOFF,

STATIONED AT TREASURE ISLAND

I was asked by the Red Cross to

house almost 500 people aboard
one of our ships for a week. They
were all down at Moscone Center
while the city tried to get back on
its feet. We had brought three major

proper bath he could remember.

Another man said it was the first
nights sleep he didnt have to worry
about being molested. And nothing
happenedthey went to bed when
the lights were out and got up in the
morning with the crew.

Im trapped in a
glass box, naked.

ANONYMOUS, LUSTY LADY STRIPPER

I was 19 and working at the Lusty
Lady, just off Broadway. The room

ships into San Francisco. Agnos

called me and said, You may have

was covered with mirrors so you

couldnt tell who was looking at

gotten misinformation. These are

not everyday people who were made
homeless from the earthquake

you. I was onstage with four girls,

and when the earthquake hit, the
power went out and everything

these are homeless people who were

living in SROs that were damaged,
and they dont have a place to live.

went black. I was in the box with

everyone else. It was like a house
of mirrorsthere were only two

If I were you, Id be down there

when they arrive.
I went to Pier 32, and a caravan

booths where you could see both

ways. The mirrors starting warping,
rippling, and everything started

of Muni buses came down and let

them off, and oh my goodness,

shaking. I thought, Im trapped in

a glass box, naked, and this box is

it was the walking wounded. It

was the people you see living on
the street. I was very unhappy

going to crack. I was raised Catholic, and I thought, Of all the places
to die, Im going to die in this stu-

because we were not prepared for

that. We had to change our plans.
We set up a table outside the ship

pid come-smelling joint. All this

flashed before my eyes. I couldnt
escape. I was naked. The way the

and everybody had to be told: no

knives, guns, drugs, or contraband.
B e fo re t h ey al l b o a rde d , t h e
contraband was falling off the

theater was built, it was at street

level, but in order for us to get out,
we had to go through the basement.
I thought, Were going to be trapped

table, all the medications and

needles and everything. But they
did it very happily.

in this basement, naked.

One of the girls was an opera
singer. She was right next to me, and

108

San Francisco | October 2014

SINGLE, SUCCESSFUL, SELECTIVE?

SIMPLY TOO BUSY?

she started screaming. Next to the

stage there was this velvet curtain,

of people out in the street. No one

wanted to be inside. There was no

so I just grabbed the curtain, and I

wrapped her and me in this curtain,
and she was saying, Hold me, hold

way to communicate with my family

or anyone else. We just sat there and
tried to figure out a plan. How were

me. It seemed to last forever. And

then it stopped, and we all realized
how big it was. The manager had a
flashlight. Then I was like, Get me

we going to get home? We sat there

in shock listening to the radio.
That was the end of my stripping
career. I had been doing it for a year,

the fuck out of here.

making $25 an hour. After that I just

couldnt. I thought that it was a sign
from God.

Theres something wrong

with this elevator!
DAVID ALBERT, COMPUTER
CONSULTANT

I heard this story when I was

STEINBACH

working at Apple, in Cupertino.

Some people were working on the
fourth floor of the Apple building

The San Francisco fans were

yelling and screaming, like, Yeah,
the baseball gods are on our side!

when the earthquake hit. Some of

them rushed to the elevators, while
other people did the right thing and
went down the stairs. The people

Everybody assumed that as soon

as we got power on, the game
would keep going. We didnt know
immediately about any of the

who were waiting for the elevator

were standing there when the door
opened, and this poor guy was

damage. It wasnt like anything was

falling on the field.
Ten or fifteen minutes later, we

standing there, white as a sheet.

He said, Dont go in this elevator.
Theres something wrong with
this elevator! He must have been
rattled around like a rock in a can.

We had a request for help from

realized that we were probably not

going to play this game. Then the
field fence opened up, and police
cars drove onto the warning track
and announced the game was
called off. They said, The games
been canceled. Please exit in an
orderly manner.
The locker room was pitchblack. They had garbage bags and

a senior citizen home in San

Francisco. When the earthquake

told us to grab our stuff and go. In

the parking lot we had three buses

struck, the cupboards opened

and spewed flour and sugar and
groceries on the floor. We sent a

for players and family members.

Since the Bay Bridge was broken
we went down toward 101, but the

busload of young sailors out there.

It turned out to be terrificthey
cleaned it up, but they also provided

San Mateo Bridge hadnt been

inspected yet, so we had to go all
the way to San Jose. It took us four

human contact with these people

who were kind of isolated. They
were out there for the better part of

hours to get back to Oakland.

They were all three

sheets to the wind.
Amber Kelleher-Andrews
CEO

! Awarded Top Global Matchmaker

ELLEHER
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
!"#$%&'()*+',"--+%..'/$%0+'1234

415.332.4111
www.kelleher-international.com

"#$!%&'()($!!*!+,&!-.,&/0$/#!!*!!",$!1(',$!!*!!+,&!20('#!*!+/#33$4,)(!!
+(,33)(!!!*!!!5(6!7#.8!!!*!!!9:0/,'#!!!*!!!2,)),$!!!!*!!;#<$3#&!!*!!!=#$3#&!
%3),&3,!*!>,$:0&'3#&!29!*!2(&?(.!!*!!@0,A0!!*!!+3#/8:#)A!*!!"#&4#&!

Yeah, the baseball gods

are on our side!

REAR ADMIRAL BITOFF

a day. They did all kinds of things,

they went grocery shopping. The

I spent the evening going

from watering hole to
watering hole.

seniors were so happy with them

that they began giving them drinks.
I was told that you could hear

BROWN

them when the bus returned to the

Treasure Island gate because they
were all three sheets to the wind.

damaged. And as nightfall began

to approach, it became clear that
things were severely disrupted and

That was the end of my

stripping career.
ANONYMOUS

people were going to be desperate

for food and water. That prompted
visits to some of my favorite places,
like Johns Grill, the Stanford Court

When I went outside, I expected

to see the Transamerica building
toppled over. There were masses

Hotel, and the Fairmont Hotel. I

visited a number of places of that
nature. I spent the evening going

110

San Francisco | October 2014

I went out to visit City Hall and

other places that had allegedly been

from watering hole to watering

hole. I think I went home after

Franciscans. They really showed

the world and the rest of the coun-

midnight.

try that they were made of the right

stuff. There was no rioting, no looting, no abuse of other people. One

The only ones who

noticed were the spider
monkeys.
I got calls from all over the world

neighbor helping another. People

were looking for others to help. As
diverse a city as we are, we showed
we were made of the all-American

asking about the animals and

how theyd reacted, but the truth
is that I didnt observe any strange

right stuff in one of the worst crises of the last 90 years. Everyone
cooperated, even the criminals

behavior. None of them even really

minded as it was happening
the penguins water all splashed
out, but they were fine. The only

the crime rate actually went down

for a few months.

LANG

ones who noticed were the spider

monkeys, who were quite upset.
Monkey Island had been a WPA

there was nothing unusual, though

people always ask.

was pretty amazing. We thought

there would be hundreds dead, but
we were lucky that so many had

I was at home. When I saw the

water jumping straight up out of
the fishbowl and falling right back
in, like a Dr. Seuss illustration, I
realized it was pretty bad.
I went down to the Wax Museum.

E S TA B L I S H E D 1 9 6 4

S T O R E A N D R E S TA U R A N T H O U R S : 1 0 A M - 6 P M
See website for details.

left work early to watch the World

Series. A normal day it would have
been much worse.

Out here in Watsonville,

we know 89 was ours.
LYDON

When the park opened again,

somebody put up a sign at the spot
he guessed the epicenter was, long

It was eerie. Its creepy in there

to begin with, but now it was

before USGS assessed it, and it

began to draw all these people who

like walking into the middle of a

massacre, as if all the figures were
people who had been gunned

had never been off the pavement

in their lives, guys in shorts and
women in cocktail dresses and

down, some doubled over and some

leaning back and some fallen over
completely. I was worried because

high heels. They all wanted to look

down the barrel of the gun. The
force of publicity calls this the San

the wax museum had been in our

family for 26 years, and each of
those figures costs about $50,000,

Francisco earthquake, but out here

in Salinas, Los Banos, Watsonville,
Santa Cruz, we know 89 was ours.

and it looked as if everything had

been ruined. But after a couple of
days of inventory, we found that
the only figures whose heads were
destroyed were Ronald Reagan and
Michael Jackson.

The whole city was

heroic.

I was really taken to a

place of darkness.
WILLIAMS

Its funny how you forget some of

those powerful emotions. I vividly
remember my emotions at the
time. I was really taken to a place

It was a very stressful and demanding time. But in many ways, it

of darkness. But then you forget

about it. Its like giving birth: You
go through the labor pains and
say, Ill never do that again, and

was one of the easier times I had

in terms of leadership because of
the extraordinary response of San

then a couple of years later you do

it all again. San Franciscos always
resilientit moves forward. U

AGNOS

GHIRARDELLISQ.COM

We had squad cars going around

with their lights on at all times just
to remind people that there was a
police presence still, but actually
crime went down. The volunteerism

RODNEY FONG, MANAGER OF THE

WAX MUSEUM AT FISHERMANS WHARF

JORDAN

project and was quite famous, and

it was so badly damaged that we
had to pull it down, which caused
some outcry. But other than that,

It was like walking into

the middle of a massacre.

SAN FRANCI SCO, CA.

A normal day, it would

have been much worse.

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San Francisco | October 2014