It was a typical Monday at the Lincoln Heights Senior Center – until the ground began to shake.
Anthony Montiel, the facilities manager, said the seniors handled it more calmly than he did.
“I’m more scared than anybody, because they’re seniors and have more life experience,” Montiel said with a laugh.
“It felt like a truck hit the building,” he said of the magnitude 4.4 quake in El Sereno. “It was like a strong jolt that lasted a few seconds, and nothing like a rolling earthquake.”
Monday’s storm — centered near the senior center in Northeast Los Angeles — caused little damage and no known injuries. But the earthquake, albeit modest, rattled many.
In Highland Park, windows rattled and dogs barked and coffee spilled from a table. Elsewhere in the Alhambra, pictures were knocked from a shelf, drawers opened and shoes thrown from a rack.
The quake occurred at 12:20 p.m. Its tentative epicenter was in El Sereno, about 300 feet southwest of Huntington Drive and Collis Avenue.
The earthquake caused a water pipe to burst at Pasadena City Hall, where water leaked for about an hour before it was shut off, city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
It also caused problems with elevators in the building and an employee was stuck in one of the cars for about 20 minutes before being let out. The elevators will be closed until they can be repaired.
The fire department is conducting surveys around the city, and an engineer is being sent to the Rose Bowl as a precaution to assess any problems.
Residents should take the earthquake as a reminder to always be prepared for a major disaster.
“This could be a precursor to a bigger quake. We want people to be prepared, not scared,” Derderian said.
Darlene Hampton, a senior office assistant in the city manager’s office in Pasadena, was assisting a resident at City Hall when the shaking began.
“She was having a little bit of a bad day,” Hampton said of the resident. “I was able to calm her down, and we just said, ‘Everything’s going to be okay, right?’ And then the earthquake hit. But we said a little prayer, too.”
All employees and customers were able to exit the building safely, Hampton said, and wait outside until firefighters arrived.
“The funny thing is, when she walks out the door, I said, ‘See how quickly God works?’ “