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Pacific Park Plaza for kids

The Tower That Wiggles. A true story near Emeryville, CA, told for kids 6-8.

Watercolor illustration for The Tower That Wiggles, near Emeryville
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Look up, up, up! See that super tall building? It has thirty floors! That's Pacific Park Plaza, the tallest building in Emeryville. It's even the tallest in the whole Bay Area outside of San Francisco and Oakland!

It's about 318 feet tall. That's taller than a football field is long, standing on its end! Imagine kicking a football over THAT. Now here's the whoa part. In 1989, a big earthquake shook the Bay Area.

This tower had special instruments inside to measure how it moved. Scientists studied what it did, so they could learn how to build safer buildings. Count how many floors you can see as we zoom by. Can you get to ten before it's gone?

Quiz the back seat

Why did scientists study this tall building after the earthquake?

Show the answer

To learn how to build safer buildings. Safer buildings! The tower had special instruments inside to measure how it moved, so scientists could learn from it.

3 fun facts

  • Pacific Park Plaza is 30 stories and 318 feet tall.
  • It was completed in 1984.
  • Its response to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake has been extensively studied because it had instruments.

For grown-ups

Written with AI from public sources, then checked claim by claim against the sources below before it was published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.

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