Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

Today is the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco Earthquake, sanitized to be known in history as the "Great San Francisco Fire" so as not to inhibit rebuilding of that great, but shaky city. The quake occurred at 5:12 a.m.

At that time, my grandmother was 17 years old and living with her mother in the city. My great grandmother, Rachel Samuel is the woman seated on the left side of the shanty they jokingly named "Cafe Tincana." The young woman standing to the right pouring tea is either my grandmother Emma or her older sister Etta. I've not been able to identify the others in the picture. Hubby and I were watching a special on KRON/4 Sunday night and one of the pictures that flashed on the screen was of Rachel taken from a different angle.

My grandmother died when I was eight years old, so I never heard about the event from her, and by the time I asked my great-aunt, Etta about it, she really didn't remember much. Too bad, I would love to know the stories of my family members who were there.

According to the shows we watched, much of the city was rebuilt without proper building codes in order that rebuilding progress as quickly as possible. Scary!

I love San Francisco and always will, but I hope the next BIG one happens when I'm not there!