Treasures of the Valley

The 1971 Earthquake

A reader reminded me that the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake (sometimes called the San Fernando Earthquake) had come and gone a few days ago. I have written about it in the past, but a revisit is always appropriate.

The fault that caused the quake was the Sierra Madre Fault, the major fault that runs through our valley. The Sierra Madre Fault runs about 50 miles along the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, from the San Gabriel Valley through the San Fernando Valley. Its name comes from the old name for the San Gabriel Mountains, formerly called the Sierra Madre Mountains in the 1800s. The Sierra Madre Fault passes through our valley a little above Markridge Road. According to one geologist, it’s actually visible in Deukmejian Park on an eastern ridgeline above Dunsmore Canyon, showing up as a lighter colored band of rock.

In 1971 it broke on the northern end of the fault, in the Sylmar area. It was just after 6 a.m. on Feb. 9, 1971, and it registered 6.6 on the Richter scale. The actual quake lasted just 12 seconds, but shaking was felt for 60 seconds, followed by several strong aftershocks. Damage in the San Fernando Valley was extensive. Two hospitals were destroyed, the overpass of the 5/14 freeway interchange came down, and Van Norman Dam was seriously damaged, but was drained before it broke. The brand-new 210 Freeway broke in several spots and many dwellings were destroyed.

Here in the Crescenta Valley, damage was fairly light. We lost two buildings entirely, the Roger’s Pharmacy building on the corner of Honolulu and La Crescenta avenues, and Spike Jones Market at Foothill Boulevard and La Crescenta. Another building, the former Montrose Hotel on Honolulu, lost its second story. In all cases, they were brick buildings. The upper deck of the two-story parking lot that fronted Shopping Bag (today’s Ace Hardware) on Foothill was split apart. A few houses were rendered uninhabitable, and several brick and stone chimneys fell. The Montrose sheriffs had to abandon a patrol car that was trapped on the Angeles Crest Highway between two landslides. The Glenwood plant of the Crescenta Valley Water District caught on fire.

Much of the reported damage had to do with lost stock in retail stores. One of the worst was at Reed Hardware in the two-story brick Roger’s Pharmacy building, which was entirely condemned. Inside Reed Hardware, broken pipes poured water into the interior, inundating the merchandise on the floor. Someone took a sledgehammer to the front of the building, knocking out a floor level hole, which allowed the water to flow out. Any stock that was salvageable was moved to the parking lot for an impromptu sale. In Montrose Hardware down the street, broken paint cans made a rainbow on the floor of oil-based paint, and paint thinner was used to clean it up.

Alpha Beta Market on Foothill was a foot deep in cans and packages in its aisles. The photo lab at Woodall Camera suffered a big loss in photo chemicals, which spilled everywhere. Vince Dundee kept a local warehouse full of liquor and glasses for his two restaurants, and the breakage was predictably massive.

A huge loss of merchandise at Meldon’s Shoes was not directly because of the quake. It occupied the two-story Montrose Hotel building. The bottom floor was the shoe store, but the upper floor was storage for 25,000 pairs of shoes. That second story was ripped open by the quake. In an “adding insult to injury” scenario, an inch of rain fell one week after the quake. Water leaked through the broken roof, and the thousands of shoes stored upstairs were ruined. (The first floor was salvageable, and is today Andersen’s Pet Shop.) The local schools fared well, suffering only fallen acoustic tile and broken plaster.

But the long-term damage was perhaps aesthetic. Many of the surviving brick buildings were clad in stucco for a semblance of seismic safety, and many pretty neon signs were removed. Not too bad really. But as we are told, a bigger one is just around the corner.

Mike Lawler is the former
president of the Historical
Society of the Crescenta Valley
and loves local history.
Reach him at lawlerdad@yahoo.com.