Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Northern California Earthquake

This is topic Northern California Earthquake in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 09-05-2000, 11:11 AM:

How did Film-Tech Forum members from Northern California fare in this weekend's earthquake? Hope you and your theatres had little damage or disruption.

BTW, does anyone have any good "earthquake" stories regarding theatres? Do you take any special precautions in "shaky" territory?

Someone once showed me some photos of a projector and platter that had toppled, saying it was caused by a film jam with polyester film. Of course they really were taken after an earthquake. (But tension-sensing failsafes are still a good idea).

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 09-05-2000, 11:39 AM:

I just can't help myself here.....I just keep thinking of Peter Sellers holding the projector down everytime the train went past the theater in "The Smallest Show On Earth".
Mark

Posted by Kevin Crawford (Member # 469) on 09-05-2000, 11:48 AM:

I didn't even know there was an earthquake until I read it in the paper.

Posted by Rory Burke (Member # 512) on 09-05-2000, 12:10 PM:

Last June while in Mexico city, I got hit at around 4:00pm by the 7.1 "Puebla" tremblor. Being a seasoned Earthquake vet living here in Calif for over 22 years now (Loma Prieta, Yucca valley, Northridge earthquakes etc etc) nothing compared to an eathquake in Mexico city. Something about the ground moving under you while it is technically almost a mile high to begin with I.m sure different phenomenons are present than the kind we get in Calif....The theater I was to service was in no condition shortly following the shake.
The theater was in the epicenter, the city of Puebla, located 2 hours south of the capital in a beautiful Colonial stone building. The structure suffered much damage...the projection booth was remenicent of Hiroshima.
Projectors moved over 3 feet + from their spots. Sound racks toppled over, surround speakers fell off the walls and yes even a front channel set fell through the screen off the baffle wall. Most damage was structural in nature though and it took the theater 3 weeks to get shows back on the screens.

IT would take more in Calif i think to yeild results like these. Construction is far superior and earthquake concious in the states. There was something really scary about hearing the stone crack off the walls of the buildings and hear and see them fall to the ground. And the funny thing....no after shocks either...that was the first for me...... Thank God for safety standards.

Rory

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 09-05-2000, 10:30 PM:

I was standing in the living room when the quake hit, all it did was shake the house a bit for about 5 seconds.

I know that there are a couple of single screen theatres in San Francisco (The Coliseum, for one) that had closed permanently after the Loma Prieta quake as there was too much structural damage to safely open the place... It has sat there closed since.

Aaron

Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 09-06-2000, 06:44 AM:

I was at this very computer when the quake hit.

Our theatres were unaffected to the best of my knowledge, although they're fairly far from the epicenter...

I wonder how the Uptown 4 in Napa (nearest to the Epicenter) faired? Is it even still in business? I'm sure the Cinedome was fine.

And more about the Coliseum in San Francisco - it's my understanding the UA still owns the building and the property, and just keeps it closed because the costs are too much to retrofit for earthquake safety.

And didn't the FOX Oakland close because of the 1989 quake? I've never seen or heard of any MAJOR damage from the quakes outside of structural damage from old or poorly designed construction. Never really heard about toppled projectors or the like.

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Scott D. Neff
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www.cinema-west.com

Posted by Ky Boyd (Member # 23) on 09-06-2000, 03:32 PM:

Scott,

Didn't UA sell the Coliseum to some community group in SF a while back? I know the Coronet was sold the Goldman Institute on Aging. If they didn't sell the Col they should - I'm sure they could use the money.

Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 09-07-2000, 02:42 AM:

I'm not sure about the Coliseum sale.

Two years ago one of my former managers was working for UA and was under the impression that it was still owned by them. He even made comment that the DM for UA (who might not be a VIP PDQ :0) err... anyway... said whenever a new DM was appointed... they were supposed to inspect the Col along with the other theatres in their territory.

But I'm sure he could be wrong.

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Scott D. Neff
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www.cinema-west.com