Where Were You 23 Years Ago Today?

At 5:04 p.m. on Oct. 17, 1989 the ground in Santa Cruz shook.

A lot of the area's attention was focused on the World Series game that was about to start between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, but suddenly sports was insignificant as a 6.9 quake centered at Loma Prieta in Nisene Marks Park, rocked Nothern California.

In the the quaint cobblestone downtown – then known as the Pacific Garden Mall – unreinforced brick tumbled, killing two in the Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Company and a third in Ford's Department Store.

Much of the downtown was deemed unsafe afterwards and knocked down. Businesses moved into tents for years of planning, fights and rebuilding.

The city and county would never be the same.

What do you remember about the day and the time? How has your life changed?

Was the area successful in rebuilding? Did downtown lose its quaintness with its bricks and snaking street? Are we better off?

Have we learned from the disaster and are we better prepared for the next one?

Here's a list of the Santa Cruz County dead from the Sentinel.