Loma Prieta Periodic Comet Machholz 1 96P/Machholz on May 12, 1986. The first official West Coast Messier marathon was conducted from this site in March 1979. The epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was near the mountain. The mountain was the longtime site for the transmitter tower of San Jose television station KNTV (from 1955 to 2005). It moved its transmitter northwest to San Bruno Mountain in September 2005, after it became the Bay Area's NBC affiliate. Loma Prieta is the tallest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains and it is common to see snow on the mountain during the winter.
Emergency management in American universities first affected by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake which destroyed much of the original construction on campus. Two of the buildings most badly damaged by the 1906 earthquake were the Old Gymnasium and campus library, these two elaborate buildings had been damaged before they were occupied so Standford officials decided to demolish them completely. In 1989 Stanford sustained further damage after the Loma Prieta earthquake, which caused them to permanently close the Old Chemistry Building which had been commissioned before the 1906 earthquake occurred. Many of the campuses historical buildings that had been damaged by both the 1906 and 1989