The Great Shake: San Francisco 1906 1906


A few blocks away, in a luxurious suite in the Palace Hotel, the world's greatest tenor, Enrico Caruso, was asleep after a bravura performance at the Opera House the night before. He awoke to find:
 
Everything in the
Click here for another image of the Palace Hotel.
room was going round and

round. The chandelier was trying to touch the ceiling and the chairs were all chasing each other. Crash-crash-crash! It was a terrible scene. Everywhere the walls were falling and clouds of yellow dust were rising. My God, I thought it would never stop!"

 



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Faultline © 1999, Exploratorium

Photo credit: The Museum of the City of San Francisco,
photos of the 1906 earthquake