Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
I'm not sure I could ever afford to live there, but San Francisco is one of my favorite cities. There's always something to see or do in town, there's tons of places to visit again and again, there are beautiful views from tons of spots in town, it's very walkable, and oh, yeah... I got married there. *grin* Probably the best reason of all!
These days San Francisco is gearing up for the 100th anniversary of the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906, and as such, there are articles periodically highlighting or anticipating this event. At the end of the year, in December 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle profiled a 109-year-old woman, Lucile (Kilhofer) Meyer, who is one of the few survivors who can remember the days of April, 1906. Although she was not in the city proper at the time, but in nearby San Mateo, she definitely knew something was going on:
It's a pretty common sentiment for anyone who has survived a huge natural disaster, such as an earthquake, a flood, or a hurricane. Most of my family and some of my friends have experienced large earthquakes, ranging from the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake to the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake to the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. I even have a couple of relatives who survived 1906, although they are now long gone. It's part and parcel of being in California. While we Californians are used to the possibility of earthquakes the way people along the Southeast and Gulf Coasts are used to the possibility of hurricanes, it's not necessarily something to celebrate (despite the Halloween costumes I saw in West Hollywood, I haven't seen too much evidence of Katrina parties!). Yet come next month, there'll be quite a few ceremonies, commemorations, and other extravaganzas in honor (or in memory?) of April 18, 1906 and the days that followed. Fortunately, some of the events will offer opportunities for public education about earthquake safety, so that's good. The clearinghouse for festivities is the 1906 Earthquake Centennial Alliance-- while there will be remembrances in places such as Santa Rosa, where the downtown district was completely destroyed, and had the most deaths per capita, most of the events will be in San Francisco proper. The S.F. Fire Department, for one, is organizing a costume ball with participants requested to dress in turn-of-the-century attire, a safety expo, and a parade.
There are other aspects of the times that remain in the public consciousness as well. Metal detector hobbyists have run across refuse from former landfills and sites that existed in 1906, turning up brass fire badges, tokens, and other personal items that have been long forgotten in the decades since. I'm sure in the weeks to come, as April 18, 2006 approaches, we'll be hearing more, whether in newspaper articles, online pieces, magazine layouts, TV shows, and the like.
I'm sure during the week, people will be singing or listening such classics as "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" ("to be where little cable cars/climb halfway to the stars...") and "San Francisco" ("San Francisco, let me beat my feet/Up and down Market Street..."), both of which are official city songs. While I'm sure Tony Bennett will make an appearance one way or another, given the festive planning to remember such a tragedy, it might make more sense to invite Jerry Lee Lewis, who could give a rousing rendition of "A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On." Just think about it-- tons of people at the top of their lungs, singing, "I said shake it baby shake it/ I said shake baby shake/Come on over whole lot of shakin' goin' on..."
Come April 18 next month, there certainly will be a whole lotta shakin' goin' on in San Francisco.
These days San Francisco is gearing up for the 100th anniversary of the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906, and as such, there are articles periodically highlighting or anticipating this event. At the end of the year, in December 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle profiled a 109-year-old woman, Lucile (Kilhofer) Meyer, who is one of the few survivors who can remember the days of April, 1906. Although she was not in the city proper at the time, but in nearby San Mateo, she definitely knew something was going on:
Just before dawn, she and the other little girls were awakened by the great earthquake, knocked out of bed. "I could see the swinging of the lamps, back and forth," she said... [L]ater in the day, the people in San Mateo saw San Francisco burning. "You could see all the smoke from the city," she said, "You could see bits of ashes coming down from the sky."Needless to say, it's not an experience she wishes to repeat anytime soon. "Every time we get a little quake," she said, "I get shaky."
It's a pretty common sentiment for anyone who has survived a huge natural disaster, such as an earthquake, a flood, or a hurricane. Most of my family and some of my friends have experienced large earthquakes, ranging from the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake to the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake to the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. I even have a couple of relatives who survived 1906, although they are now long gone. It's part and parcel of being in California. While we Californians are used to the possibility of earthquakes the way people along the Southeast and Gulf Coasts are used to the possibility of hurricanes, it's not necessarily something to celebrate (despite the Halloween costumes I saw in West Hollywood, I haven't seen too much evidence of Katrina parties!). Yet come next month, there'll be quite a few ceremonies, commemorations, and other extravaganzas in honor (or in memory?) of April 18, 1906 and the days that followed. Fortunately, some of the events will offer opportunities for public education about earthquake safety, so that's good. The clearinghouse for festivities is the 1906 Earthquake Centennial Alliance-- while there will be remembrances in places such as Santa Rosa, where the downtown district was completely destroyed, and had the most deaths per capita, most of the events will be in San Francisco proper. The S.F. Fire Department, for one, is organizing a costume ball with participants requested to dress in turn-of-the-century attire, a safety expo, and a parade.
There are other aspects of the times that remain in the public consciousness as well. Metal detector hobbyists have run across refuse from former landfills and sites that existed in 1906, turning up brass fire badges, tokens, and other personal items that have been long forgotten in the decades since. I'm sure in the weeks to come, as April 18, 2006 approaches, we'll be hearing more, whether in newspaper articles, online pieces, magazine layouts, TV shows, and the like.
I'm sure during the week, people will be singing or listening such classics as "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" ("to be where little cable cars/climb halfway to the stars...") and "San Francisco" ("San Francisco, let me beat my feet/Up and down Market Street..."), both of which are official city songs. While I'm sure Tony Bennett will make an appearance one way or another, given the festive planning to remember such a tragedy, it might make more sense to invite Jerry Lee Lewis, who could give a rousing rendition of "A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On." Just think about it-- tons of people at the top of their lungs, singing, "I said shake it baby shake it/ I said shake baby shake/Come on over whole lot of shakin' goin' on..."
Come April 18 next month, there certainly will be a whole lotta shakin' goin' on in San Francisco.
posted by Mr. Sandman | 5:13 PM
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