Downtown Santa Cruz minutes after the 1989 earthquake

The quake hit at about 5pm, a few hours later this is waht it was like at the Pacific Garden Mall in Santa Cruz. Many people had just died here in the rubble.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• santa
• cruz
• earthquake
• minutes
• after
• people
• died

[bluenote71]

Downtown SC had a very eclectic culture; blue collar people, white collar people, uni students and artists were all together in relative harmony, and as a kid, I thought the place was magic. The quake destroyed all the buildings that housed the culture, and a lot of the businesses that were there couldn't afford new buildings to own, or rent. Big businesses like Barnes and Noble, and Virgin Mega Store came in, and changed the vibe. Plus, it became totally transient.

[A2theO2010]

I was living in santa cruz during this time and remember the earthquake vividly the sadest part of everything is that Santa Cruz was never the same after this. This is really sad becuase it is a beautiful city and it has great people and everything, it is just sad to see how this disaster changed it completly.

[1TICKHAND]

I WAS THERE I THOUGHT WORLD WAS COMING 2 THE END

[1jpaschal]

Santa Cruz has a Curse on it! I hope to see another one of these Quakes even bigger occur there soon! Then you will be homeless!

[nezumi102]

This happened the day before my 6th birthday. I remember being so bummed that I couldn't have my birthday party at the Scotts Valley Skating Rink. I agree with @bluenote711, though. I think that the '89 quake was the end of 'true' Santa Cruz.

[DJcaliban]

Many people did not die in the rubble in the PG mall. One fatality was recorded, that's it.

[mscrazy51501]

i rember this i was 7yrs old thank 2 that i now hate earthquakes!!

[ellinlvx]

It was like the spirit left the place. No more Cooper House, bookstores and music down the tubes, the secret tunnels caved in, all the musicians were made to feel as unwelcome, the entire place took a one eighty nosedive. God, I missed it!

[Tornado1994]

Santa Cruz is the most earthquake prone part of Northern California. I'm glad I've never lived there. In Navato our Safeway was destroyed so I can't imagine how many people were killed in Santa Cruz and in Oakland.

[sleepyfish]

what wasnt the same about it?

[rman2682]

I lived their when that happend and my grandmother worked at ford's and was in the back room when the quake hit. It was a very scary time

[iluvmyveedub]

Wow, that was quite an evening at my house in Boulder Creek.

All kinds of shit was falling off the walls, and my neighbors house burned down and the 100 gallon propane tank exploded... quite the evening indeed.

[evanoahsea]

the title is misleading yes. it should be corrected to read, "hours" rather than minutes perhaps. (some people are unaware they can update titles on their videos on yt). that said, i was equally thrown off by your comment, 'middle of the afternoon'. =) thank you for the info you shared. i'm sorry for the losses you experienced. life has its way of working us over, often inadvertently.

[lumbo]

Exactly...and this is obviously later in the evening. I meant that it was still daylight. The title is incorrect although the description does point out that this was shot hours later. A woman had her leg severed in Fords. A picture was printed in color of her being carried out on the front page of the Sentinel....very bad taste. A girl I knew was killed when a wall fell on her at the coffee roasting company she worked at up the street.

[evanoahsea]

fact: the quake struck after 5 pm.

[lumbo]

This video is obviously not "minutes" after the quake. I was working at Rainbow Records right in the middle of Pacific Ave. when it happened and it was the middle of the afternoon. The saddest building to go was Cooper house right across the street.

[ishmaiden]

I never thought much of the Pacific Garden mall anyways. But it took foerver to finally fill some of the gaps left by the wrecking crew who knocked down the condemned buildings.

[bluenote71]

I remember living in SC when this happened, and sadly, it was never the same place. I left two years later.