A Bridge Too Far?

The headline in the October 18, 1989 edition of the San Francisco
Chronicle went right to the point about the previous day's events

Anniversaries are funny things.  I don't think about this one much nowadays, but postings on social media and news outlets reminded me that we had reached the 30th anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake.  Centered in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the south portion of the Bay Area, this 6.9 magnitude quake ended up killing 63 people, damaging or destroying more than 27,000 structures, and tallied $10 billion in recovery and rebuilding costs.

Of course, the earthquake's effect proved more durable than normal on a larger scale due to the circumstances of that day. Game 3 of Major League Baseball's World Series between the cross-bay rivals San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's was approximately 30 minutes from starting when the quake struck. Once the broadcast signal was restored, a national audience watched stunned as live shots of collapsed freeways, damaged buildings, and fires contrasted with the worried faces of both players and fans alike.

I have my own tale from that day, one that I have only shared with close friends and family until now.

The House That Sarah Built: The Winchester Mystery House (San Jose, CA)

The front of the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California

Way before San Jose, California, transformed into the anchor of what eventually became known as Silicon Valley, I had two personal mental associations with the city. One was the Dionne Warwick song "Do You Know The Way to San Jose", one of the first songs I remember listening to and liking immensely.

The other association was The Winchester Mystery House, which I always perceived as something of a cheesy attraction, based on both the promo ads I heard and read as well as the story (essentially, superstitious rich widow, in this case, Sarah Winchester, takes fortune teller’s crazy story to heart and builds a likewise crazy house to match in the quest for immortality.)

However, as we were happy to find out on our first visit ever, the tale behind The Winchester House is far more nuanced than that, with aspects about Winchester herself as well as the house she ended up building wouldn’t realize upon first glance.

Three For The Road: Until We Meet Again, Bay Area...

As is typical, our Bay Area travels covered a number of random delectable destinations around the region, and we'll be closing this extended series with three of those places, covering the worlds of craft beer, coffee and ice cream.

Barebottle Brewing Company - San Francisco's Bernal Heights neighborhood is a little bit off the radar for most visitors to the area, but the area holds some fairly respectable culinary charms.  Barebottle Brewing Company's arrival to the area in June 2016 (courtesy of Michael Seitz and Lester Koga, whose success in homebrewing competitions encouraged them to go professional) added a craft beer element to the area.