When I was a child, our family had a regular babysitter who, as an eight year old, had lived through the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. One of the stories she told me was about a man who was trapped in some rubble and they had to amputate his leg on site to free him. It made a real impression on her as an eight year old when she witnessed it, and on me as a nine year old when she told the story.

The Monadnock Building at far right was still under construction when the 1906 earthquake hit. It not only survived that and the fire, but 2 separate attempts by the US Army to dynamite it in order to create a firebreak to protect the Palace Hotel.

Below is the same view from September of 2009.

At the left edge, the 1889 De Young Building survives, or at least its restored façade does, and also the historic Lotta's Fountain, both seen in this photo I took on March 1, 2015.