General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUpdate on SF's sinking Millenium tower. Values plummeted then soared again
kimbutgar
(21,188 posts)As we unpacked we would put a box down and it would slide across the floor on its own. Then we would watch rolls of tape move k their own. We joked about ghosts but later when I found out the building was sinking I knew the cause was it was tilting.
My late boss lived there briefly and said he never felt steady on his feet in that building!
Demovictory9
(32,475 posts)chowder66
(9,080 posts)They were trying to build skyscrapers on a major fault line. It's been a serious bone of contention around here.
It was going to dwarf the Capitol Records building and obstruct views. Not exactly sure where it all stands now.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)I remember how alarmed I was long ago to learn that the old masonry highrises rock on their bases in earthquakes. That's what they were supposed to do, though, and almost none failed. They build them a lot better now, but even if they didn't people would pay big money knowingly to live in them. Not many die in collapsed skyscrapers.
A detailed map of the faults underlying LA looks a lot like a crackle glaze, and my best guess is the obstruction of views issue was a bigger problem.
Of course a disaster movie would run a fault right under a skyscraper so that people in a 30th-floor condo found themselves 40 feet apart. After they spent the first half hour revealing the fissures in their relationship, of course.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I don't know why anyone would choose to live in a building like that, especially given how earthquake prone the region is. Not to mention that the area it is built upon is prone to liquefication as it is mostly landfill.
I lived there for about 6 years and experienced a few minor earthquakes living on the 2nd floor of an older 4 story apartment building, but I was on solid bedrock in Pac Heights and even that was scary. I am glad I left and would never move back there.