I first began to think about San Francisco when my favorite baseball team, the New York Giants, moved there in April 1958 when I was 12 years old. The relocation didn't bother me as I lived 286 miles from New York City. Adding another 2,510 miles had no effect on me personally.
Fourteen years later (1972), I arrived in San Francisco for the first time in my brand new green Fiat 124 Sport Coupe (along with my ex-wife Bonita). I even made it to Candlestick Park to see my Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0.
In 2008, I made my second trip to San Francisco (along with my wife Cristina and friends Kevin and Connie), this time in a rental car. We stayed in the same hotel (at 940 Sutter Street) where Judy (Kim Novak) lived in the 1958 classic Alfred Hitchcock film, Vertigo.
"At 5:12 AM on April 18, 1906 (115 years ago today), a major earthquake struck San Francisco. As buildings collapsed from the shaking, ruptured gas lines ignited fires that spread across the city and burned out of control for several days.
More than three-quarters of the city lay in ruins, including almost all of the downtown core. Modern estimates (of the death toll) put the number in the several thousands.
More than half of the city's population of 400,000 was left homeless. Refugees settled temporarily in makeshift tent villages in Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, on the beaches, and elsewhere. Rebuilding was rapid and performed on a grand scale."
On October 17, 1989 (my late brother Ted's 47th birthday), my Giants and another San Francisco earthquake came together. Just before the start of the third game of that year's World Series at Candlestick Park (5 PM local time) between the Giants and the Oakland A's, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake occurred, causing the game to be postponed...for ten days, the longest delay in World Series history.
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