ext_11697 ([identity profile] wombat1138.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] wombat1138 2006-03-01 02:43 am (UTC)

The DeYoung itself is very different, since the Loma Prieta earthquake wrecked the place in 1989 and it had to be completely rebuilt. (I can't recall if I saw the old version, which didn't actually close until 2000. IIRC my first visit to the Bay Area was in 1991, but was mostly a several-day stopover between the East Coast and the Philippines; the only sightseeing I remember is trotting around Chinatown.) The Asian Art Museum was spun off to an entirely different building downtown.

ISTR reading somewhere as a factoid about the sturdiness of jade that during Loma Prieta, a number of ancient Asian artifacts toppled off their shelves onto the floor, several feet below, where the ceramics smashed but the jade bounced. I have no idea exactly where I read this, though....

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