Earthquake Hits Los Angeles-1971

It was a quiet weekday morning, Feb. 9 to be exact. I was baking my buns by the upstairs wall heater, trying to defrost before heading down for breakfast.  I had an early morning electronic music class at , and I was excited to try my hand at an eclectic musical composition, when all of the sudden, at 6:05 a.m. our house began to pitch and roll....

My twin sister Teresa came flying out of her bedroom shrieking “We’re all gonna die! We’re all gonna die!” as our 1928 two-story Tudor home began to shudder. 

My older brother Jim came out of his room and calmly began to usher us downstairs. Thankfully he had some levity in the situation as my sister and I were basket cases, and my mother was beside herself as well.  I watched our chandelier begin to sway, as we scrambled downstairs before the plaster began to crumble from the upstairs ceiling.

For those of you who remember the 1971 earthquake, or Sylmar Earthquake, it was not a pretty day. Earthquakes are the norm in Los Angeles, but this was my first big one, and I assumed our house would be leveled with us inside of it.

Thankfully, we didn’t live in Sylmar, and our home didn’t undergo too much stress, aside from some cosmetic damage, but it was enough of a wake-up call to remind me to say some goodbyes, hellos and I love you’s in case the worst was yet to come. 

I remember walking down Laurel Canyon with Teresa, and we could feel a number of aftershocks that day. Each one gave us a start, and being rather high strung, it was hard for me to take these tremors lightly.  Structures in other parts of the valley had far greater damage than our home, and I was thankful that we weren’t crushed by plaster, exploding windows, or worse.

In 1994, another earthquake reminded us that despite our best efforts, nature always wins. We were up in a small motel in Mussel Shoals when that earthquake hit, and I could swear that the motel was going to slide into the ocean. The room was rattling like it was possessed by a poltergeist, and I assumed the epicenter was right outside our motel window. 

Another earthquake had hit L.A., but thankfully, we were spared once again.

I called our neighbors, and they told us the pets were ok, but that we should get home ASAP to sweep up the debris.  We knew the worst was over, so opted to take our time and celebrate by having a double double at an In-and-Out in Ventura.  Why hurry home to face a broom?

Recently, we were on a Caribbean cruise when we heard about the tsunami in Japan.  Again, I was thrown back to that time in 1971 and 1994, when we were the victims of nature. I imagined floods hitting L.A., and Marina del Rey becoming a thing of the past.  Thankfully, most of California was spared, but I felt for those in the path of such destruction.  Life can deliver a whammy without notice, and this was another example.

Is the big one coming? Will L.A. soon have Catalina as its port?  I don’t know. I just live my life. But hey, I’ll take an earthquake any day over the ominous spiral of a tornado, flash floods, or 12 feet of snow. 

A disaster every 20 years is much more manageable.