Photos: Sanfranman59 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mliu92 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Patrick Nouhailler's… · CC BY-SA 3.0
Free coffee in the dark on Market Street, a wreath, sirens on the minute, then a procession south to the hydrant credited with saving the Mission.
Why it's unique
Every year, at the minute the 1906 earthquake began, the city gathers before dawn at the fountain that served as a meeting point afterwards. Some people come in Edwardian dress, and many have been coming since childhood.
Organisers call it the longest-running public commemoration of a natural disaster in American history. That is their claim and it has not been independently checked, so confidence is modest.
Before you go
Turn up at 4:30, when the free coffee and tea start. The wreath goes on at 5:10, antique fire engines sound their sirens at 5:12 after a silence, and at 5:15 the crowd sings "San Francisco", the song from the 1936 film.
After that the procession moves about two miles south to spray gold paint on the Little Giant, at 20th and Church above Dolores Park. An actor plays Emperor Norton. Reported crowds run from 75 to several hundred, so it feels more like a neighbourhood gathering than a spectacle.
