How the ’33 Long Beach Quake Affected CV

By the 1930s the Los Angeles area had experienced two unusual phenomenon – a very long stretch of time without significant seismic activity (1857 had been the last big quake), and an unprecedented building boom with construction techniques brought from the eastern U.S. That combination spelled disaster in March 1933 when a relatively mild quake destroyed hundreds of unreinforced masonry buildings.

At 5:54 p.m. on March 10, 1933, a break occurred on the Newport-Inglewood Fault, eight miles below Huntington Beach. Although the quake was short (about 10 seconds) and what we would consider moderate (6.3), the water-soaked sandy soil of that region amplified the shaking. A newly built Long Beach had been constructed by Easterners, who favored “sturdy” brick structures. Those brick buildings came apart in the short period of shaking. About 120 people died, crushed by bricks, many of those on the sidewalk as they rushed from buildings. Particularly sobering was the toll on school buildings. Seventy schools were completely destroyed and 120 severely damaged. Had school been in session, thousands of children would have died.

The effect locally was negligible. Nothing was damaged and residents felt only a small, short shake. Our reaction was an outpouring of aid to stricken areas. The local Red Cross put out a call for donations. Merritt Kimball (who owned Kimball Sanitarium) was head of the Crescenta chapter’s fundraising. Our donations bought food and water and the Red Cross, as a whole, was eventually able to give cash (a couple of thousand dollars each in today’s money) to help the many homeless rebuild. The Verdugo Hills post of the American Legion sent 50 able-bodied members into the quake area where they cooked food, distributed aid and helped with security.

The Crescenta Valley hosted several refugees from the stricken area. Some had driven up here from Long Beach the night of the quake and slept in their cars until they felt they could return. Some stayed longer in vacant homes. One small house had a Long Beach family of 13 living inside, and 10 people were allowed to camp at Indian Springs.

The paper carried the account of one La Crescenta resident who had just moved to Long Beach, Theo Balanger (who built the Rocky Cola building). He and his wife were at dinner and both were knocked to the ground. They picked themselves up and ran outside. Although there was little damage to their home, they lived in a tent in the yard for several days.

A week later, Merritt Kimball tried to quell local fears of quakes. At a meeting of the Foothill Association he declared that, based on his research with the USGS, the faults in the Crescenta Valley move constantly, rather than build up pressure. Thus, we would experience no big quakes here.

More far-ranging effects from the quake were on the way. In June of ’33, the local paper incredulously reported that, due to new building codes enacted after the quake, permits would be needed for all new construction, even additions to existing buildings. The new permitting system would cost builders a whopping $5 per $1,000 of building cost.

Perhaps even more far-reaching was the Field Act of 1933 that acknowledged the damage schools had received in that quake. It mandated that schools would be built to seismic standards by qualified architects. Our own La Crescenta Elementary School, built in 1915 in a gorgeous Moorish style, was built of unreinforced masonry by contractors who knew nothing about quake-resistant building. It sustained a few cracks in the quake, but was patched up. In 1939 the Field Act caught up with our fragile old school and it was condemned. The war put things on hold and it wasn’t until 1947 that the school was finally torn down and the current buildings put up. The Field Act has been successful, and it’s been noted that there has never been a collapse of a school built to Field Act standards.

Although our valley dodged the bullet of the ’33 quake, just a few months later we experienced a different blow from Mother Nature: the New Year’s Eve Flood.

  mike lawler