The Bay Bridge Is Down 25 years ago at 5:02 today I was in SF to cover the World Series for 92.5 KZPS when the earth begin to shake wildly . I wasnt a sports writer I was a comedy / Infotainment guy. Back in the days when more then 3 multi conglomerates (Thats even a scary word, why do we allow such things to exist that require that description ?) owned all the radio stations it was pretty great. KZPS was where a lot of the old guard that had been fired from KZEW in a blood bath went a couple years later. Though my partner and I were the replacement for all the all those who had been fired at KZEW , eventually I would quit and join the good guys at KZPS. For a brief period between like 89 to late 92 there was a fair amount of freedom at KZPS and a hell of a lot of fun. If John Rody or I could think it up, we usually could get a little bit of $ to go and do it . We would go to see the Stones in Houston and report back , rafting in Big Bend National Park, Trip To Mexico etc. I wanted to see the Giants beat the As and visit my best buddy Gene Evans in San Francisco. Oddly they said yes and even gave me a giant early version of a Cellular Phone to report back. I promised to prerecord segments on my Road Trip to play in my absence and call in when I could. I pretended to drive and record my adventure to be played until I got to Candle stick for Game 4. The bits were funny and I flew out early and stayed with my buddy Gene in the only consistently sunny place in SF , Noe Vally on 24 th & Church. I love San Francisco , I always have. Being raised in Sacramento , an Hr & 1/2 to the north and east , it was the big city where great things happened. When I was 9 we went for a weekend there, all 3 boys and my mom and dad. My mom was a 1st grade teacher so we were properly amped for the trip with books and the sixties iPad . It was visual transporter that could take you anywhere in the world If you slid the white disk with pictures in film around the edges and looked through the lenses like you would binoculars. It was called...... The View-master for it was the master of the best views. We knew what everything would look like weeks before we got there . The Golden Gate Bridge , Lombard Street, Fishermans Wharf, Golden Gate Park, The Presidio, The Zoo, Ghiradardilli Square ...all of it. By the time we crossed the Carquinez Straits we were in an absolute lather. Im not sure how my dad made it through without back handing us all. I knew this name Carquinez Straits because in late summer whenever we got a breeze through the hot , dust filled , 111 degree air in Fair Oaks, a suburb of Sacramento , my dad would say Yep, .....there it is that breeze from the Carquinez Straits then take swig of Olympia beer and crack more sunflower seeds and spit the shells out. Everybodys dad I knew would say that so ya heard it a lot. It was also where they mothballed all the Navy ships and battle ships with big guns even at a distance were cool. We had heard of it but there it was , right out the window !! Still miles away from San Francisco and all 3 boys bouncing off the walls with anticipation. When we finally got to San Francisco we did everything we had seen in the view master and more. It was the most exciting, best trip I had ever been on in all my 9 years. In the coming years though high school and beyond , I would see my first play there at ACT Theatre. Saw The Stones Some Girls tour there, The Who, The Clash and countless other great Day On The Green concerts or at the old Cow Palace.Latter , I shuttled between Sacramento and San Francisco working as a PA on Partners In Crime a TV show with Lonnie Anderson and Lynda Carter. My buddy Gene lived on a boat docked at Pier 39 . I loved my time in The City. I loved San Francisco and couldnt wait to get back. I got there and though it was going really poorly for my Giants I was having a great time hemping up and drinking Anchor Steam beers and eating incredible food with Geno and some other of his pals. I was writing stuff and recording it over the phone for The Farm Report. I was on in the afternoon but I called in to the morning show to John Rody everyday on my Trip. John Rody was the best free form , crack the mic and just go radio guy I have ever heard and I loved doing call in bits with him even though I had to get up early. The giants had been getting trounsed in the first games so we had decided to wait till the 1st inning and head down on Genes motercycle and get some scalped tickets and watch the game we thought they would loose and get some sound for the radio bits. We were sitting on his wooden back patio above a persian rug store drinking beer, smoking a bit with friends eating Italian salami in chunks with cheese. We heard it coming in the distance. Like a train but deeper from the time I said Wait to the time it reached us was maybe 2 seconds. Gene and the rest of the locals knew what it was immediately , I had felt quakes in Sacramento but this was way different. The old boards on his deck rattled and came up. Earthquake!! they all yelled as everyone that was inside moved to the patio. The city is old and wooden so it ALL rattled and shook. Everything came off the wall in massive crashes , book shelves , pots & pans crashing inside. Still shaking violently. We looked up the hill to the highest point, twin peeks and the telephone poles were whipping from side to side, the wires ripping through the air in each direction. Transponders exploding in fiery sparks in all directions , sights and sounds you only see and hear in movies. Then hundreds of car alarms. The shaking had stopped but this night, this complete disaster End of part 1 until I can remember part 2. Click Y if a part 2 is needed.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 00:04:03 +0000