• Story alerts   • Letter to Editor   • Pin it  The City of San
Diego has a website (www.sannet.gov/development-
services/industry/pdf/urmpn.pdf) that contains a list of 706
local buildings supposedly built out of unreinforced masonry --
that is, bricks held in place with mortar but not tied together
by steel reinforcing. On this list, you'll find such prominent
structures as the La Jolla Arcade, the venerable complex that
lends charm to the intersection of Girard Avenue and Prospect
Street. There's the building at 3325 Adams Avenue that once
housed a movie theater (and now contains a discount fabric
store). In Ocean Beach, Hodad's restaurant and The Black inhabit
buildings on this list. Dozens of downtown buildings are listed.
Although the Little Pig outwitted the Big Bad Wolf by building
his house out of brick, one assumes he didn't live in earthquake
country. In seismically active areas, unreinforced masonry is
considered one of the most dangerous building materials. Its
lethal potential was demonstrated in