The Great Quake of October 17, 1989.

See the "X" Crack in the Tower's Base?
You could see North Oakland through it!
 

City Hall West

Entering the Lobby that evening. 15th and Clay
The yellow sign on the back wall is reflecting from a puddle on the floor behind the caution sign.  The sprinklers were set off by the shaking that night: the water was ankle deep.  The next morning pieces of the Building's facade lay on the sidewalk by the service garage entryway.  The entry to the Elihu Harris State Building is there now.

To the Mezzanine!

On Closer Inspection...

    James Mahoney, Electrician Supervisor, OGS, further inspects the opening in the Back Wall.  Across the back Alley way, a dim glimmer of hope?!

 
  Dare to turn around?

    Lottsa Luck going up these stairs!  This is the third floor staircase hanging vertically.  If you came out from the second floor, directly behind this, instead of looking downstairs, there would be a wall with a sprinkler head in its center directly in front of you!  John is, once again, in the middle of things.  True, no hard hat nor orange vest, but that night it wouldn't have made a difference!  Adrenaline was flowing and no one was prepared for what we found.
 
 

Looking up,

Looking Down.

Meanwhile, On the 2nd Floor...

    Mr. William Rodgers, Electrician, OGS,  was working after hours to connect the Terminal on the desk behind him in the center office.   Fortunately for us, he was also dabbling in photography at the time and had his camera close at hand.   Notice, in the same picture, the "Water Heater" Light fixture.  These were used since there were no overhead light fixtures in this space.  Who's ever desk this was would have had this one land right across their lap!

More on the Floor! 

John and James stand in the middle of OEDE on the second floor of City Hall West.  Notice another Water Heater across the aisle way and filing cabinets like dominos!  Great shots of no ceiling light fixtures, too.
 
 

    In the photo on the left, the shattered lamp of the waterheater across the aisleway is still lit!  A high pressure sodium lamp can glow white hot outside the vacuum of it's globe.  We were actually there that evening to secure the building.  Left unattended, this lamp could have eventually causes a building fire.  On the right, I remember this was Guadalupe's work station.  We were all very happy she went home on time that evening!
 
 

Hi Tech Stuff!

    This is an IT&T 584 key system, three racks of 401 cards with three interuppters (the gold knobbly things at the right end) and three 24VDC Power supplies.  It had swung open during the shaking and caught a piece of the ceiling "in it's teeth"!  In many of the Phone closets the backboards came loose and only the massive amounts of cabling kept the walls from crashing in!
 
 
 
 

Hotel Dalziel

About the Fourth Floor.

Oh, Faithful Friend!

here once was a Hotel behind City Hall on 15th St. whose tenants had as much character as the small glimpse of this facade would exude.  Power was down in the Hotel thus, the elevator wasn't working.  One tenant, on the sidewalk, sat lamenting she couldn't climb the stairs to her apartment and so spent the night on the street.  Another camped with his 'best friend',  holding down the fort 'til the boss got back, nearby.  This was on the 15th St. side of the Clay Street Garage, in the Plaza now.

And Around Town...

Out of the Attic!

A Shower of Glass!

Linda's Market

The Rotunda!

Cracked At the Floor lines.

B'way Alley Side.

Down the Alley way.

 Back to:

Top of Page                                       City Hall West                            Mezzanine
Staircase                                            Second Floor                          Phone System
Hotel Dalziel                                       Around Town                           The Rotunda

-Page created by John Hendry, OIT
City of Oakland
2000