A Child’s Sea-side Room Swept Away

Crescent City Beach

We couldn’t leave Crescent City without enjoying the pretty crescent shaped beach. We took Java along and she had a ball running through the sand after her Frisbee. Leonard even drew a heart in the sand with our initials - wow, a rare romantic moment! It seemed rather touching since I had played here as a small child during the late 50’s. I was on vacation with my parents and we stayed in a cute sea-side B&B; I was quite delighted to have my very own room with a dormer window and lace curtains. Leonard and I decided to try and find the house but we soon realized that it had probably been swept away in the devastating ocean surges of the 1964 tsunami, triggered by an earthquake in Anchorage Alaska. It took only 4 ½ hours for the first of a series of tsunami waves to reach Crescent City. The shape of the sea floor and bay caused the waves to amplify. The final 20-foot wave inundated the harbor and crashed into land covering 29 city blocks, 11 people lost their lives. Now a large city park occupies the area along the beach where these summer cottages and B&B's once stood – no wonder I couldn’t find that cute little house! Crescent City again faced a series of tsunami waves after the Tohoku earthquake in March 2011. The boat basin’s infrastructure was destroyed – 16 boats sank and many more were damaged. Now barely over a year ago, less than half the docks have been replaced. Most of the existing docks are only temporary, including the guest dock we were on. This California town understands the destructive power and financial loss of a tsunami perhaps better than any other West Coast town!