San Francisco Rising
One hundred years ago this month, San Francisco survived an earthquake. You may have heard of it. Well, despite the odds (and the sky-high earthquake insurance rates), people keep moving here, and San Francisco's celebrating 100 years of rebirth and survival.
The big day is April 18. And there's no shortage of things to do! Just to pick events randomly: the Commonwealth Club is holding a panel discussion about the 1906 quake on April 17. The SF Fire Department's historical society is sponsoring the 1906 Expo at Pier 48, from April 15-17, which will feature historical exhibits and modern-day preparedness events (and a costume party!). And City Hall will host a photo exhibit about post-1906 rebuilding (and a show about the PUC and Hetch Hetchy. It's so Bay Guardian!).
And, like they have for the last 35 years, history buffs will meet at Lotta's Fountain on 3rd and Market, and then paint gold the one hydrant in SF that didn't fail in 1906 (on 20th and Church). Warning, though, the fountain meetup starts at 4:30 a.m., because that's when the quake hit. Adding insult to injury (if the quake itself wasn't injurious or insulting enough), they're expecting huge crowds for this event, to the tune of giant screens on Market Street showing the scene in closed-caption. The fountain gets painted at 7:30 a.m. We sincerely hope KRON 4 labels this program clearly so we can just TiVo it to watch later.
Lots and lots and lots of other events after the jump -- we'll try and update this periodically as the big day gets closer. Let us know if we've left anything out too!
Picture of the post-quake Financial District from the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco
The California Historical Society is sponsoring a Caruso Sing-Along on April 17, to commemorate the last concert Caruso ever sang in San Francisco, the night before the Big One. The Historical Society also has an exhibit up about Jack London and his 1906 earthquake experience, at 678 Mission Street (x 3rd).
In the East Bay, the Oakland Museum of California has a number of earthquake-related exhibits up, including "Oakland to the Rescue!," about how Oaktown took in stranded SF residents, and a general exhibit on the quake, called "Aftershock."
The Chinese Historical Society is sponsoring an exhibition called "After the Quake," about the unreported deaths of thousands of illegal Chinese immigrants during the quake, and the subsequent rebuilding of Chinatown.
The SF Public Library has a number of earthquake exhibits up, including "How to Survive an Earthquake: A Humorous Look at San Francisco, 1906," an exhibit of personal photo albums from 1906, and an archaeological look at what they found from the quake at the library when it was being redeveloped.
On April 19, Intersection for the Arts will present new works in a variety of artistic media reflecting on the big quake: spoken word artists, musicians, dancers, and documentary filmmakers will be on hand.
The Mechanics' Institute is sponsoring a variety of earthquake-related events on April 18, including book discussions about the quake and a screening of the Clark Gable San Francisco movie.
If you'd rather see Clark Gable on the big screen, the Balboa will also be screening San Francisco, as part of its Reel SF film fest, from March 17-19. On the 18th, they will also be featuring rare shorts from the Library of Congress, and films of both the 1906 and 1989 quakes.
The Randall Museum demonstrates how seismographs work by letting you jump on the ground and measure your movement. They've also got some earthquake shanties, and models of the Hayward Fault.
Starting April 12, the Society of California Pioneers is presenting "Shake, Bake, and Spin!", about the media's presentation of the 1906 quake to encourage redevelopment.
As we discussed before, the SFMOMA and the Legion of Honor have up photo exhibits featuring the quake too.
The Presidio is hosting lectures all month on the quake, and has put up an exhibit about life in a 1906 quake camp, since they were nice enough to host all of the 'fugees back in the day. There's also a commemoration event on April 22.
Earthquake engineers have commissioned a new dance, called, prosaically enough, "Earthquake," which will be performed at the Yerba Buena Center on April 5.
Find more events here.