I worked in Santa Clara at that time but snuck home early to catch the first ever Bay Area World Series. At 5:03 I just threw down my keys, turned on the game, thumbing through the mail and then the quake hits. As Moss Beach is 50 miles north of the epicenter it was quite unnerving, even to this lifelong veteran of many a quake (grandma was in SF in '06). With flat line of the Pacific horizon in the background I could see my neighbors house about 40 yards away twisting and moving up and down as ground waves rolled through.We had guests from back east who left our house that day and went to Santa Cruz. They had left Santa Cruz for points south just (and I mean just) before Loma Prieta struck (5:04 pm).
Meanwhile in Santa Clara, with the acoustical ceiling coming down, coworkers Frank and Gary, two late fifty's chubby balding men, are under one desk together when Frank calmly says to Gary "I imagined my death next to someone far more attractive than you Gary". Gary wasn't so calm and recounted his story many times as we all did and do. That was really a big one, as they say.