veteran businesses like
Bookshop Santa Cruz
(www.bookshopsantacruz.com;
1520 Pacific Ave; h9am-10pm
Sun-Thu, 9am-11pm Fri & Sat;
c), which operated out
of a tent in a parking
lot for months after the
earthquake, are proof of
the town’s rebirth.
A block away at the
intersection of Water
St, Pacific Ave and
Knight St, a small plaza
showcases the city’s
historic Town Clock.
While not destroyed in
1989, its hands stopped
at exactly 5:04am, a
haunting reminder of
that day’s devastation
until the timepiece was
repaired weeks later. A
plaque on the red-brick
base memorializes those
who died that day.54 p67
The Drive » Return north on
Hwy 17, and exit at Summit Rd,
approximately 13 miles north
of Hwy 1. Cross west over the
highway and take Skyline Blvd/
Hwy 35 north for 20 miles toPage Mill Rd, a breathtaking
journey along the scenic
ridge road of the Santa Cruz
Mountains. Take Page Mill Rd
east about 1.5 miles to the Los
Trancos parking lot.7 Palo Alto
One of a number of
attractive and bucolic
parks cluster around
dreamy Skyline Blvd,
and the Los Trancos
Open Space Preserve
(www.openspace.org; Page
Mill Rd; c#) spans the
San Andreas Fault as it
bisects the tree-dotted
rolling hills. Lined with
stations explaining the
movements of the fault,
the easy 1.5-mile San
Andreas Fault Trail
uses the landscape to
illustrate the effects of
seismic activity.5 p67
The Drive » Follow winding
and pastoral Page Mill Rd north
to Hwy 280 North, another
scenic route of crystal-blue
reservoirs framed by fog-combed ridges. After 20 miles,
exit back onto Skyline Blvd/
Pacifica, where a glorious
coastal panorama peeks
through the trees. Turn west
on Manor Dr and then north
on Palmetto Ave. Bear left onto
Westline Dr for Mussel Rock
Park.8 Daly City
The epicenter for the 1906
San Francisco earthquake
is marked by mangy
Mussel Rock, which sits
amid the thrashing surf
just offshore from Daly City.
It was here on April 18 that
the San Andreas Fault let
loose a couple of centuries
of built-up pressure. The
resulting quake – estimated
at 8.3 on the Richter scale –
is among the most powerful
of all time.
The site is overlooked
by Mussel Rock Park (120
Westline Dr; c#), a grassy
coastal expanse that
easily stirs up images
of geologic chaos. The
sandy ground is unstable
and surrounding streets
are riddled with offshoot
faults from the San
Andreas. Many homes
on Westline Dr have
been undermined by the
unstable earth. End your
adventure by scouting
out the secret cave by the
water’s edge.The DeRose Winery (www.derosewine.com) in
Hollister is my favorite stop on a fault-finding tour
of northern California. The winery is in a beautiful
valley that has been carved by the creeping San
Andreas Fault. The main building sits squarely on the
fault – keeping the structure supported has been a
challenge. But gosh, the wine is good. To me, it serves
as metaphor: Californians not just surviving, but
thriving in earthquake country.
Susan Elizabeth Hough, author of Finding Fault in
California, An Earthquake Tourist’s GuideDEROSE WINERY
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE:
NORTHERN.CALIFORNIA3
(^) EARTHqUAKE TRAIL