Remember That Rainy Day When Cesar Chavez Boulevard Was Surfable?

/ Todd_Lappin

Chavez.WhiteWater.Ce

While doing some digital archaeology on an old hard drive recently, I re-discovered an image I took during a very rainy day at the corner of Cesar Chavez Boulevard and Shotwell on February 25, 2004 — almost exactly 11 years ago. Since it’s raining today, this seems like a good time to look back.

Of course, the 2004 image was captured a decade before the installation of all the sexy infrastructure upgrades that gave us a brand new sewer main beneath Cesar Chavez, as well as a tropical-themed median strip. But on that wet February morning in 2004, the old Army Street sewer pipes were overwhelmed, filling the street with so much riverine water that the old concrete medians were completely submerged.

I crossed Cesar Chavez in four-wheel-drive on that day — nervously but successfully.

Later that morning, when I showed my photo to a graphic designer I worked with at the time, she decided to have some fun with the image. Let the Cesar Chavez Surf Competition Begin!

Chavez.Surf

PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics

 

4 thoughts on “Remember That Rainy Day When Cesar Chavez Boulevard Was Surfable?”

  1. Nice. I’m wondering how the area near Folsom/Shotwell/17th will do in the storm surge we’re supposed to get later today. Seems they’ve had flood repair people there forever after the last big rain storm.

    Same goes for the CC underpass below 101. Wonder if it will flood again this evening.

  3. I remember having to cross that river, and successfully doing so, to get to work. And then thinking how dumb that was to try to drive across it.

Comments are closed.