"We floated 30 feet south," marveled Los Angeles Industrialist Thomas Donohue, "then 20 feet east, and finally 10 feet straight down." He was talking about his house.
From a vantage point with a view atop suburban Pacific Palisades, Donohue's $100,000 Spanish-style house had picked itself up and headed toward Sunset Boulevard, 300 ft. down. It was a total loss. Also carried away in the hillside slide were a neighbor's $100,000 clifftop mansion, a psychiatrist's $75,000 eyrie, and about half of a $1,000,000, three-year-old apartment complex below them. One of the few residents...