When I first visited San Francisco, California, USA, in the 1980's for several days, I had an almost overwhelming feeling that I must live the rest of my life there! It was that beautiful and exotic then, something this Kentucky girl had never experienced. Mr. Frederick Simpich will tell us how the city was in 1932, Out in San Francisco: Fed on Gold Dust and Fattened by Sea Trade, a Pioneer Village Becomes a Busy World Port, National Geographic Magazine, April, 1932. "It is not the city's size, or the manner of its structure that sets it apart. Rather it is a quality of spirit . . . this much you must accept on faith" (p. 395). I believe it!
San Francisco suffered a massive earthquake in 1906. The subsequent fire destroyed most of the city. Hence, it had to be completely rebuilt. "It was an infant Mexican village when the gold rush of '49 (1849) peopled it pell-mell with frenzied, shouting thousands, who made it, almost overnight a fighting, gambling, gold-mad city whose uproar echoed around the world" (p. 395). The sea has shaped San Francisco even more than gold, Simpich concluded. I loved to watch the giant ships from far-away ports in the harbor.
in 1848, the State of California was annexed to the United States. The population then was 900 citizens. In 1932, San Francisco had a population of 1,750,000. Today the Bay Area is home to 7.15 million, considerably larger. The city is famous for its hills and cable cars, old Spanish missions, and giant redwood forests.
One long-standing area is the Presidio, an Army base built by the Spanish in 1776. The Army hospital there is located directly under the Golden Gate Bridge. In the 1989 great earthquake, I was watching the World Series baseball game coming from the stadium in San Francisco. All at once the TV picture, coming from the Goodyear blimp overhead, started shaking. Horrified, I watched the city go dark while many fires broke out all over the city due to ruptured gas lines. At the time, I knew my parents were in the Presidio Army Hospital because mother was going to have should replacement surgery the following day.
I heard no news about my parents until Thursday! It took them that long to get home to Sacramento. Mother recalled, "Dad and I were in the basement of the hospital having supper when the walls stared shaking around 5 o'clock (p.m.). I thought we were finished, the shaking was so violent. But the hospital didn't come down although there were large cracks in the walls. There was no power. They told me to go back to my room (by flashlight) and take three showers during the night because I would have my surgery as scheduled the next day.
Your Dad held the flashlight over the shower and I took the three showers. In the morning they told me, "The surgeon had to stay up all night doing emergencies. We can't do your surgery now." She had the surgery 6 weeks later. Meanwhile, till I heard from them, I was sick with worry. The area experiences a lot of mini-earthquakes and everyone jokes, "Oh, California will fall into the Pacific Ocean any day now!"
The Golden Gate Bridge was completed in 1937. Eight miles long, it spans the bay from San Francisco to Oakland. It was proposed to be a Toll Bridge. It is magnificent, high above the water, and vibrates noticeably, even if you're in a car. The wind is incredibly fierce. When we visited the Presidio, we had to wear winter coats in July.
Don't think I'll complain about the cost of mail anymore. In Gold Rush times in San Francisco, "There was the pony express to St. Joe, Missouri, with postage at $5 a letter" (p. 410). I couldn't believe how large the gold mines in that area are. While in Kentucky the coal miners travel in a line of bucket railcars single-file, the gold mines in California have bucket railcars nine cars wide. As my mother once told me, "California is different. Everything is BIG!" I certainly hope to return some day!
No comments:
Post a Comment