Hoping for a bit of normalcy under flaming red sky, East Bay residents take photos, fish and eat pizza

ByKate Larsen KGO logo

Thursday, September 10, 2020

East Bay residents attempt 'normal' day under flaming red sky

It was a day unlike any other in the Bay Area, as smoke filled skies cast a dark glow across the region. Despite the weather, people in the East Bay got out and went about their day....

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (KGO) -- It was a day unlike any other in the Bay Area, as smoke filled skies cast a dark glow across the region. Despite the weather, people in the East Bay got out and went about their day....

Photographers lined up along Treasure Island Road Wednesday evening, to get potentially once-in-a-lifetime snaps of San Francisco's skyline, cloaked in a cloud of orange.

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"It's really sad, the condition, the way it is, but it makes for some really dramatic pictures for sure," said Trevor Jolin.

Jolin and his friend, Daniel Bronshteyn, are both automobile photographers. But with a flaming red sky, they turned their back to the road and pointed their cameras up.

"Much more moody than the normal photos you get on a daily basis. Even the fog, normally it's more neutral colors, but today it's a lot more orange and red," said Bronshteyn.

In Walnut Creek, cars were covered in ash and in Oakland, the Zoo closed because of poor air quality.

The solar panels on an ABC7 photographer's house in Pinole, generated a fraction of the electricity, compared to a normal day, when the sun's rays actually reach the earth.

Out along the Bay, people were exercising and doing whatever they could to find a bit of normalcy.

"I was pretty disoriented, honestly. I missed an appointment. I almost never do that," said Jason Johnson, who was out for a run. He lives in Vallejo now, but says the weather reminds him of growing up in the Midwest.

"A storm would blow in around the time of a tornado or something like that and it would be pitch black outside all of a sudden, middle of the day," said Johnson. "It is very peculiar for this area."

Ray Gonzalves spent the evening fishing at Point Emery. "It's just so crazy, the virus, just everything, it's like, what next?"

Gonzalves, who lives in Albany, said the only other time he's felt this way, was when he was working on the collapsed Bay Bridge after 1989's Loma Prieta earthquake. "It felt like the end of the world."

But the sky didn't scare away outdoor diners in Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto.

"There was a craving for pizza, there was a dystopian reality, and we chose pizza," said Berkeley resident, Amanda Spiller.

When asked how the pizza was making her feel, Spiller exclaimed, "honestly, a lot better. I recommend it, yeah!"

So grab a slice - it's called comfort food for a reason.

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