Although not a major event compared with the 1989 Loma Prieta one, the Sierra Madre earthquake of June 28, 1991 served to remind Californians that seismic hazard mitigation programs require constant monitoring to ensure their effectiveness and that the stock of precode, high risk buildings continues to prove difficult to eliminate. In this paper aspects of damage suffered by constructed facilities are summarized, specific examples of the behaviour of selected structures are reported and ongoing problems with earthquake insurance and the enforcement of state law requiring cities to identify buildings particularly prone to earthquake damage are described.