January 17, 1994: The Northridge Earthquake

January 17, 1994: The Northridge Earthquake strikes Southern California, at 4:30 AM Pacific Time (7:30 Eastern), with a magnitude of 6.7 on the Richter scale. It was followed by 2 aftershocks that both registered at 6.0. It kills 57 people, and costs $50 billion in damages.

Along with the 7.1 that hit San Francisco in 1989, this is as close as California has come to "The Big One" that has been so long predicted, but has not yet come. It was felt as far east as Las Vegas and Phoenix.

The epicenter was actually in Reseda, about a mile and a half south of downtown Northridge, and 23 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Sixteen people were killed as a result of the collapse of the Northridge Meadows apartment complex. The Northridge Fashion Center and California State University, Northridge also sustained very heavy damage, most notably the collapse of parking structures.

The earthquake also gained worldwide attention because of damage to the vast freeway network, which serves millions of commuters every day. The most notable was to the Santa Monica Freeway, Interstate 10, known as the busiest freeway in the United States, congesting nearby surface roads for three months while the freeway was repaired.

Farther north, the Newhall Pass Interchange -- the junction of Interstate 5, the Golden State Freeway, and State Route 14, the Antelope Valley Freeway -- collapsed as it had 23 years earlier, in the 1971 San Fernando Earthquake, even though it had been rebuilt with minor improvements to the structural components.

The quake had an adverse effect on 2 of the Los Angeles area's stadiums. The damage to Anaheim Stadium (now known as Angel Stadium) was relatively minor, but it was enough that the planned filming of a remake of the 1951 baseball classic Angels in the Outfield, even though they could now use a team called the Angels, was moved up the Pacific Coast to the Oakland Coliseum.

And, while it was repaired in time for the 1994 football season, the damage to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was a big reason why the Raiders moved back to Oakland.

The quake may also have been a reason why the Rams moved to St. Louis after the season – for all the good that both of those moves did: The Rams are now back at the Coliseum, waiting for their Inglewood stadium to be finished, and the Raiders are planning to move to Las Vegas.

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January 17, 1994 was a Monday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was between its Conference Championships Games and Super Bowl XXVIII, which the Dallas Cowboys would win over the Buffalo Bills.

There were 7 games in the NBA. None of them involved either of the Los Angeles teams, and it wouldn't have mattered, anyway: Neither The Forum in Inglewood, then the home of the Lakers, nor the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, then the home of the Clippers, sustained any damage. These games were played:

* The New York Knicks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 106-94 at Madison Square Garden. Patrick Ewing scored 34 points.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Washington Bullets, 100-87 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Center) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 102-98 at The Omni in Atlanta. Dominique Wilkins scored 37 points.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Orlando Magic, 114-107 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Detroit Pistons, 109-94 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 121-91 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Phoenix Suns, 104-99 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

And there were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Florida Panthers, 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Washington Capitals, 3-1 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Boston Bruins beat their fellow New Englanders, the Hartford Whalers, 5-3 at the Boston Garden.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-3 -- in a neutral-site game, at the Target Center in Minneapolis. In the early 1990s, the NHL tried several neutral-site games, to gauge interest for future expansion or moves. The 1993-94 season was the 1st without a team in Minnesota since 1966-67, since the Minnesota North Stars had moved to become the Dallas Stars. For 2000-01, the expansion Minnesota Wild began play.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Calgary Flames, 3-2 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).