Many friends and family members were still awaiting word of their missing loved ones as crews searched for remains in the Oakland warehouse where at least 36 died in a fire.
Some gathered outside a sheriff's office for official confirmation on their status.
"This is horrible, we can't sleep at all," said a family member of the missing Alex Vega.
Relatives of Peter Wadsworth and Jennifer Mendiola also were awaiting word, part of a long list of families now waiting by the phone or waiting at help centers.
Funded by PG&E, the unity council opened its doors for anyone emotionally affected by the fire and in need of counseling.
A representative said it's a place where folks can come and hang out, get information and direct them to the Red Cross.
Most of the families and friends just wanted some sort of information, regardless of whether it's good or bad news.
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"It's very hard to wrap your head around something like this," said Erica Richardson, a friend of one of the missing.
Others among the missing were Alex Ghassan and his fiancée, Hanna Henrikka Ruax.
Ghassan is a director and producer who worked with Spike Lee and Talib Kweli. He also is the father of twin toddlers.
Ruax is a yoga instructor, entrepreneur and activist visiting from Helsinki, Finland. She arrived in Oakland in late November.
The pair had been dating long-distance, and Ghassan was preparing to move to Europe, said his roommate Vikram Babu. "He was fed up with the U.S.," Babu said.
Before the fire, Ghassan posted video of the warehouse party on Instagram.
Nick Walrath, 31, of Oakland texted his girlfriend, Alexis Abrams-Bourke, from inside the burning structure, saying there was a fire and that he loved her.
Abrams-Bourke said Monday that Walrath was among the missing. She spoke between sobs as she described him as a wonderful person who was open and vulnerable and goofy and generous.
"I feel like my future has been ripped from me," she said.
The two moved together from New York City several years ago after Walrath got a job as a clerk for the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Photos: Inside the Oakland 'Ghost Ship' Warehouse Building Before It Caught Fire
Barrett Clark, 35, was a popular sound engineer at the San Francisco club The Bottom of the Hill. And his friends say he appeared to be everywhere.
Parker T. Gibbs, chief operating officer at Magnolia Media Productions, said when he'd walk into a rave full of strangers, he'd always spot Clark. "I knew where I'd be for the rest of the night," Gibbs said. "Right next to him.'""
Authorities have listed Clark among the missing.
Friends say the Santa Rosa native was a sound engineer and DJ who was a "standup guy" and appeared always ready to help musicians and fellow DJs.
Friends and family were holding out hope that photographer Amanda Allen, 34, would be found safe.
The Chelmsford, Massachusetts, native is a dancer with a passion for music, loved ones told The Lowell Sun.
"We are all praying for a miracle and coming together as a family," said her mother, Linda Smith Regan.
Allen's husband, Andy Kershaw, a DJ, called her vibrant and magnetic.
Allen graduated from Bridgewater State University in 2004. She and Kershaw moved to San Francisco from Boston in 2008.
Kershaw said his friend and fellow DJ Johnny Igaz also was unaccounted for.
Igaz reportedly was playing a set when the fire broke out. He was listed on Facebook as a record buyer at Green Apple Books and Music in San Francisco.
Riley Fritz, 29, a musician and artist from Connecticut, recently moved to San Francisco to be with friends, according to her brother, Ben Fritz.
"She was a kind and beautiful person who had the strength to be her true self even when she knew that was not an easy path," Ben Fritz, 39, told The Associated Press. He said she appeared to be the "happiest she had been in a few years."
Ben Fritz said the family was notified Sunday night that Riley, also known as Feral Pines, likely was killed in the fire.
Ben Runnels and Nicole Renae Siegrist, known as "Denalda," named their last album "Temporary Heaven" to describe the fleeting nature of life and the moments of happiness when you feel completely comfortable with who you are, no matter how different from others you may be, said Brendan Draeper, who helped operate Mixtape, the Oakland-based company that managed their band.
That's also the message the two friends, who formed the group Introflirt, would want the world to remember about their music, Draeper said. They dubbed their sound "croonwave" and made it their mission to create a "soundtrack for the insecure," according to Mixtape.
Runnels and Siegrist went to the warehouse show with friends.
NBC Bay Area's Rick Boone contributed to this report.
