This city awoke before sunrise Tuesday to mark the 100th anniversary of its darkest hour–a deadly early-morning earthquake that killed more than 3,000 and left half the city homeless.
As the first strains of dawn colored the sky, thousands gathered at Lotta’s Fountain on Market Street to observe a moment of silence for those who perished and to honor survivors of the April 18, 1906, temblor.
Men sported black bowlers and carried finely crafted walking canes. Women wore corseted dresses and platter hats. One man turned up in a stocking cap and nightshirt, illustrating how residents then were driven from their beds to wander the streets.
Tuesday’s activities, which included 6 a.m. beers and Bloody Marys served up at nearby watering holes and a 10 a.m. parade, started in solemn remembrance as Mayor Gavin Newsom and other dignitaries laid a wreath at the fountain and recognized a dozen survivors in attendance.
The survivors were treated as celebrities. They signed autographs and were ushered to a breakfast in a 1931 Lincoln.
As one elderly survivor in a red sweater and pink scarf ambled onto the stage, she raised her arms in victory, like a boxer after a knockout.
The crowd erupted in cheers.
Roving about like a game-show host, Newsom interviewed the survivors on a brisk morning where temperatures dipped into the low 50s.
How did white-haired Norma Norwood feel?
“Cold,” she responded.
Then, without missing a beat, she added, “But I’ve got Gavin Newsom to warm me up.”
One after the other during the 90-minute event, officials boasted of how magnificently the city rebuilt itself. In the background hung the centennial commemoration’s official banner: “San Francisco Rising.”
“In the days after the quake, the writer Jack London wrote for eastern readers that `San Francisco is gone. Nothing remains of it but memories,'” Annemarie Conroy, director of the city’s Office of Emergency Services, told the crowd. “But we say today, `How wrong he was!'”