January 17, 1994

It was Martin Luther King Day: January 17, 1994.

Our 3-1/2 year old daughter had crawled into bed between us.

When parts of the Golden State Freeway collapsed, the vehicles on the remaining “islands” of freeway had to be removed by crane. Can you imagine being a driver in one of those vehicles? Photo by Brant Ward/SF Chronicle

It was at 4:31 AM when the earth began to move.

The Northridge Earthquake

It was fortunate that it was so early: most people were still in bed, just like we were. Freeways were empty. But when the earthquake hit, those empty freeways began to sway … it was estimated that the I-5 Golden State Freeway bridges near us in the Newhall Pass moved 9′ side to side … and they had been designed to only move 3′ side to side. They fell.

About a mile from the collapse of the Golden State Freeway bridges, the 14 freeway also had bridges collapse. A CHP motorcycle cop, hurrying to work as a first responder, drove off this bridge and fell to his death.

As Los Angeles woke up, remarkably, there were thankfully few fatalities attributed to the most destructive earthquake the area had seen in years. 61 people were killed … compared to 3,000 killed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Property damage from the Northridge Earthquake was extensive; this was the most expensive quake to hit California. Damages were estimated at $67 billion, making this the 3rd most expensive US natural disaster (after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, $145 billion, and the 1998 drought/heat wave in the central & eastern US, $76 billion).

The Mowrys Were Fine

My family escaped relatively unscathed. We had one knick knack that broke … and that’s it. Across the street, our neighbors had their water heater fall. There were cracks in a few walls in our neighborhood. A few miles away, second stories collapsed onto first stories. We were very lucky.

When the quake hit, the first thing Velda and I did was protect our little girl. We both protected her by covering with our bodies … and after the earth stopped moving, we heard a muffled whimpering from Lauren that was buried under us. She was fine — she just needed to get us OFF of her!

All of the utilities were out. Cell phones worked, so we used them to call the families in the Midwest … but our batteries were shot, so we could only talk less than a minute before batteries were gone.

Electricity came back in 24 hours, and that’s when we first had television to see the devastation visited upon LA. Water was back on fairly quickly, but wasn’t drinkable for some time. Those were minor inconveniences in the end … we were fine.

The freeways, however, were a mess. I literally couldn’t get to work until debris was cleared from the surface streets. It was clear that everyone’s commute would be a nightmare for many months. Therefore, I drove west to Ventura 2 days later (those roads were clear) and bought my first PC (as they were called in those days). Previously, we had used an Apple II GS, which was great for preschoolers but was not business-friendly. I bought an “IBM Compatible” computer and set up my home office. Phone service for the office was installed on Friday — just 4 days after the earthquake! One week after the earthquake, I was working in a home office.

I didn’t have a choice. My one-way commute was 3 hours.

I worked in my home office for 9 months, until the freeways were back. I drove into the office on Fridays to lead the sales meeting and make sure everyone remembered who I was. I learned that if I left really, really early, then I lessened my commuting nightmare. Thus began my ever-earlier commutes to work to avoid rush hour traffic as best I could.

My experiences working from home in 1994 served me well, though: it helped me understand how to set up an at-home, multi-location work force as that became necessary. Eventually, I had several sales reps working for me from their homes. That was not normal in the 90s! And, who knew that 15 years later I would begin working from home full-time!

A Natural Disaster

The earthquake was devastating to Los Angeles. I know most people who don’t live in earthquake zones think they are the worst possible act of God. In the years since, though, we’ve seen hurricanes, drought, snow storms and floods affect our friends. It seems natural disasters find us all from time to time. It’s just like Rosanne Rosannadanna said: “It’s always somethin’!”