Where were you during the ’89 quake?

I was out at the Polo Fields for a team practice. I remember it was very warm, and there was no wind. After the quake stopped, all the eucalyptus trees that border the polo fields were swaying back and forth, even though there wasn’t a bit of breeze.

During the quake, I remember looking downfield at another school’s football practice. It looked like the team shifted from one end of the field to another. Very surreal.

Afterwards we all went back to what we were doing, thinking “it’s just another quake in California!”. But then a man walked by with a portable radio and said “the press box collapsed at Candlestick Park!” where the A’s and Giants were playing the World Series. It wasn’t true of course, but it was enough to jolt us into the realization this was not just another quake. I don’t think we had power at my house until 72 hours later.

What’s your ’89 quake story? Leave it in the comments.

Check out these pics of Green Apple after the ‘quake.

Sarah B.

I was living at 25th & Anza — but I was in the basement of Dwinelle Hall at UCBerkeley when the quake hit. Actually, standing in front of a sink in the ladies’ room — a woman came out of a stall very agitated and said excitedly “was that an earthquake?!” I don’t now what possessed me to say this, but I said “well, if it was, I think it was a BIG one” -and with that, I felt myself being pulled forward. I immediately forgot about it, however. Walking out Sather Gate, I looked to the right and there was a huge plume of black, oily looking smoke towering a couple of blocks away and I thought “oh, that looks like a bad fire!” (I later learned it was an auto supply store.) Got in my car, heading for Bay Bridge, tuning into KNBR to hear the World’s Series. I used to work there as an intern, gathering traffic info. They were all agog about the ‘quake and saying that on-ramps on the freeways closed…but nothing specific. I didn’t want to get on the Eastshore and find I couldn’t get off & was stuck in a parking lot…this was before cellphones, so I pulled off at a gas station to call KNBR and tell them the info they were providing wasn’t very useful. When I pulled off — a bunch of cars started pulling in and I one man started saying the Bay Bridge had collapsed. I said “oh, that’s ridiculous!” and he said, no — it was true! I had no idea what to do so I went to the brew pub on Shattuck and waited, watching TV. After about 1.5 hours, news said that the Richmond-San Rafael bridge was open as well as the Golden Gate Br. I drove across and, mid-span, stopped to wonder how they could know it was safe? (was told later they shoot sonar through it to see if there are cracks.) I was annoyed that they were collecting tolls in the midst of a disaster…but by the time I was crossing the GG Bridge, I found it amsuing (“grandma, where were you during the ‘quake of ’89?: “oh, I was standing in the toll booth on the GG Bridge!”) Figured they were going to need the money! Got home — no street lights. No lights in apt. Went down to California @ 22nd to some friends — but apartment buzzer was electric, so it was out. The Blarney Stone was at 23rd & Geary and they had candles out and people were gathered around, chatting, merry. I gravitated towards it. They were selling 6-packs of beer for something usurious at the time, like $15. The last thing the city needed were drunk people driving in a city with no headlights and damage that hadn’t been assessed, so the cops came and shut them down pretty quickly. PG&E was out in force. I had aftershocks, but only one thing broken. The raised tiles edging my 1950s tile countertops in the kitchen had “stepped down” about half an inch in one spot. the top of the shortish refrig was leaning forward a lot more than before. Other than that, no damage. At midnight or so, I heard my answering machine click on, singalling that I had electricity — my sister, on upper Filmore went almost another full day before she got any. What I remember most is how everyone was listening to radios, watching TV and the Chron even publihed the paper from out of town — but no one seemed to have any idea what was going on in the rest of the City. It was “earthquake weather” too — the day after, I was lying down in gorgeous sunshine with a friend at Baker Beach, because they didn’t want people coming downtown until they’d assessed damage, etc.

October 19, 2009
Susan Fry

I was living at 25th & Anza — but I was in the basement of Dwinelle Hall at UCBerkeley when the quake hit. Actually, standing in front of a sink in the ladies’ room — a woman came out of a stall very agitated and said excitedly “was that an earthquake?!” I don’t now what possessed me to say this, but I said “well, if it was, I think it was a BIG one” -and with that, I felt myself being pulled forward. I immediately forgot about it, however. Walking out Sather Gate, I looked to the right and there was a huge plume of black, oily looking smoke towering a couple of blocks away and I thought “oh, that looks like a bad fire!” (I later learned it was an auto supply store.) Got in my car, heading for Bay Bridge, tuning into KNBR to hear the World’s Series. I used to work there as an intern, gathering traffic info. They were all agog about the ‘quake and saying that on-ramps on the freeways closed…but nothing specific. I didn’t want to get on the Eastshore and find I couldn’t get off & was stuck in a parking lot…this was before cellphones, so I pulled off at a gas station to call KNBR and tell them the info they were providing wasn’t very useful. When I pulled off — a bunch of cars started pulling in and I one man started saying the Bay Bridge had collapsed. I said “oh, that’s ridiculous!” and he said, no — it was true! I had no idea what to do so I went to the brew pub on Shattuck and waited, watching TV. After about 1.5 hours, news said that the Richmond-San Rafael bridge was open as well as the Golden Gate Br. I drove across and, mid-span, stopped to wonder how they could know it was safe? (was told later they shoot sonar through it to see if there are cracks.) I was annoyed that they were collecting tolls in the midst of a disaster…but by the time I was crossing the GG Bridge, I found it amsuing (“grandma, where were you during the ‘quake of ’89?: “oh, I was standing in the toll booth on the GG Bridge!”) Figured they were going to need the money! Got home — no street lights. No lights in apt. Went down to California @ 22nd to some friends — but apartment buzzer was electric, so it was out. The Blarney Stone was at 23rd & Geary and they had candles out and people were gathered around, chatting, merry. I gravitated towards it. They were selling 6-packs of beer for something usurious at the time, like $15. The last thing the city needed were drunk people driving in a city with no headlights and damage that hadn’t been assessed, so the cops came and shut them down pretty quickly. PG&E was out in force. I had aftershocks, but only one thing broken. The raised tiles edging my 1950s tile countertops in the kitchen had “stepped down” about half an inch in one spot. the top of the shortish refrig was leaning forward a lot more than before. Other than that, no damage. At midnight or so, I heard my answering machine click on, singalling that I had electricity — my sister, on upper Filmore went almost another full day before she got any. What I remember most is how everyone was listening to radios, watching TV and the Chron even publihed the paper from out of town — but no one seemed to have any idea what was going on in the rest of the City. It was “earthquake weather” too — the day after, I was lying down in gorgeous sunshine with a friend at Baker Beach, because they didn’t want people coming downtown until they’d assessed damage, etc.

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