S.F. leaders hail city’s resiliency on anniversary of 1906 quake
The ground heaved and shook, buildings collapsed, fires ignited and thousands of San Franciscans died. The city was nearly leveled.
That was in 1906. But early Thursday, well before daybreak, dozens of people gathered on Market Street in front of Lotta’s Fountain to commemorate the 118th anniversary of the huge earthquake and fire that destroyed then reshaped San Francisco.
The annual ceremony, which takes place leading up to 5:12 a.m. — the moment the earthquake struck — featured speeches by public safety officials and dignitaries along with dramatic accounts of the quake and its aftermath and the singing of “Theme From San Francisco” (“San Francisco, open your Golden Gate … ”), an ode to the survivors of the earthquake and fire.
There was a contemporary note to Thursday’s remembrances
of the city’s resiliency: Much like the recovery from the earthquake and fire, San Francisco has the gumption to rebound from its post-pandemic woes — homelessness, rampant drug sales, thefts, vacant stores, officials said.
“All the bad things they say
about San Francisco goes out the window when we San Franciscans decide to do whatever we do,” said former Mayor Willie Brown, criticizing accounts alleging the downfall of San Francisco.
Acting Mayor Joel Engardio, filling in for Mayor London
Breed, who’s on a trip to China, said the festivities at the confluence of Market, Kearny and Third streets were not just a somber commemoration but “a hopeful event.”
“There was opportunity in the ashes,” he said. “Because San Francisco attracts people who are resilient, passionate and creative. This combination in our DNA is what saves us every time. It means never bet against San Francisco.”
“When we’re on the ropes, San Francisco will always become something better than anyone could have imagined.”
Around 5:12 a.m., the speeches halted, a moment of silence was held for the 3,000 people who died in the 1906 earthquake and fire and a series of police and fire sirens began to wail briefly among the mostly empty streets of downtown.
The ceremony, which included the placing of a wreath on the fountain that was donated to the city in 1875 by famed vaudeville performer Lotta Crabtree and is one of the city’s oldest landmarks, continued with some of the crowd venturing to 20th and Church streets for the annual gilding of a fire hydrant said to have saved the Mission District from the fire. The fountain is sprayed with gold paint each year.
As with every remembrance of earthquakes in the Bay Area, the ceremony included pleas to prepare for the inevitable next big seismic event.
“No one knows when the next big earthquake will come,” said longtime master of ceremonies Bob Sarlatte, a San Francisco native, actor and sports announcer.
“But San Francisco remains doomed to relive the events of 1906 because the San Andreas Fault never rests. It may strike tomorrow or not for 100 years, but it might just strike as the city sleeps tonight.”