People.com Celebrity BLACKED OUT: By People Staff Published on March 17, 1998 12:00 AM Share Tweet Pin Email The City of San Francisco, Tuesday, for seven hours (starting at the height of the morning rush hour), affecting more than 370,000 households and businesses, halting trading at the Pacific Stock Exchange, dimming lights on the Golden Gate Bridge and causing some of the worst chaos seen in the area since the devastating 1989 quake. Simple human error was blamed.