Cypress

When everything is on the line, when death stares you in the face, what matters most is sure to come bubbling up to the surface. What legacy are we leaving behind? Did we measure up to what was expected of us?

These are the questions that Sal Ramano must ask himself as he responds to one of the Bay Area’s most horrific disasters. 

It’s 1989, the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s are playing in “The Battle of the Bay”, a historic world series. Sal is a young upstart fireman, primed to be named captain with a baby on the way with his wife Marisol, he is confident and optimistic. Too confident. He doesn’t get the captain job because of his attitude - the lieutenant fears that Sal’s arrogance will get in the way of him making smart decisions on the job.

Right as the World Series game is about to start, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake shakes the Bay Area, hitting San Francisco and Oakland the hardest. 

Sal and the rest of his crew respond to the Cypress Freeway Structure - a double freeway that has collapsed on to itself. Sal must work against time to save those still alive before the next aftershock hits, or before the freeway completely collapses. 

Reminiscing on his past as a troubled young man saved by his grandfather and looking forward to the future with his new family, Sal is tested in every way imaginable during this horrific event. 

Growing up in the Bay Area, we constantly heard stories about the 1989 earthquake. Pretty much everyone knows exactly where they were when the earthquake hit. 

Giovana had an even more visceral image of this event because her father was a first responder to the collapse of the Cypress structure. Hearing about his life and his memories of that day are what led us to writing our script Cypress. 

The most iconic image from the earthquake is probably the top section of the Bay Bridge that collapsed onto the bottom section. It trapped commuters in the city and traumatized thought who were on the bridge. 

But the largest death toll from the day came from the less talked about Cypress structure. While researching this script and interviewing Giovana’s dad, we tried to think about why this wasn’t as talked about in the media as the Bay Bridge. Unfortunately we realized it probably had to due with institutional racism and the fact that it happened in Oakland, a city full of people of color that had a reputation of gang violence in the ‘80s. 

With this script we want to shed light on this part of the story - one that is not often told. Hopefully by bringing this tragedy to light we can pay tribute to the city of Oakland and to the 42 lives that were lost on the Cypress on October 17, 1989.