Golden Gate Bridge

About Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Strait was named by explorer John C. Frémont in 1846 because it reminded him of the Golden Horn in Istanbul. Before the bridge, the only way across was by ferry, a trip that could be dangerous in the erratic Bay weather. Irving Morrow, the consulting architect, was responsible for the bridge’s signature color and its stepped Art Deco towers, arguing that a bold hue was necessary to make the structure visible to ships in the fog. Despite its age, the bridge is constantly being maintained; a crew of nearly thirty painters works year-round to touch up the steel, consuming over 5,000 gallons of paint annually to fight the corrosive salt air.

Suspended between the Marin Headlands and the San Francisco presidio, this Art Deco masterpiece is painted a color that technically shouldn't exist in nature: International Orange. The Golden Gate Bridge is a two-mile long engineering marvel that defies the treacherous currents, gale-force winds, and dense fogs of the Pacific entrance. Its two towers rise 746 feet into the sky, supporting massive cables that contain enough wire to girdle the earth three times. While it serves as a vital artery for the Bay Area, it is also a giant musical instrument, humming in the wind and vibrating under the weight of forty million vehicles a year. It remains the most photographed bridge in the world, a soaring testament to the idea that a utilitarian structure can also be a work of high art.

Experts originally said the bridge was impossible to build due to the 60-mile-per-hour winds and the depth of the water. Chief Engineer Joseph Strauss spent over a decade lobbying for the project, eventually convincing the public to bond their own homes to fund it during the Great Depression. Construction began in 1933, a brutal four-year slog through the 'pea soup' fogs that frequently blinded the workers. Strauss insisted on a safety net beneath the floor, which saved the lives of nineteen men who became known as the 'Halfway to Hell Club.' When it opened in 1937, it was the longest suspension bridge on earth, a record it held for twenty-seven years until the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge was completed in New York.

The air is cold and tastes of heavy salt, often accompanied by the 'wet' feeling of the fog rolling through the cables. You hear the rhythmic 'thrum-thrum' of tires over the expansion joints and the mournful, low-frequency roar of the foghorns located on the south pier and mid-span. Walking across the pedestrian path, you feel the bridge sway slightly in the wind and the subtle vibration of the massive steel suspension wires. You notice the intricate Art Deco detailing on the towers, designed by Irving Morrow to catch the light even on the greyest days. The water below is a churn of dark navy and whitecaps, making the orange of the steel pop with an intensity that seems artificial. Standing at the mid-span, the city of San Francisco looks like a toy town dwarfed by the Pacific horizon.

The bridge is accessible from the San Francisco side via the Presidio, with numerous hiking trails and bus lines leading to the Toll Plaza. Biking across from Fisherman’s Wharf to Sausalito is the most popular way to experience the span, though the wind can make the return trip difficult. For the classic viewpoint, take a car or rideshare to the Marin Headlands on the north side, specifically to Battery Spencer, where the bridge towers look like they are close enough to touch.