Golden Gate Bridge turns 72 today - pics

[Kadie]

The Golden Gate Bridge under construction on November 9, 1936. (Chronicle Archives)


Opening day of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937. Pedestrians walk on the bridge, while planes fly between the North and South Towers of the bridge during opening day. (Chronicle File Photo)


Shot from the South tower facing south down onto the roadway overlooking a mass of people at the Golden Gate Bridge anniversary celebration on May 24, 1987. (Deanne Fitzmaurice / The Chronicle)


The full moon set seemingly on the deck of the Golden Gate Bridge as seen from Treasure Island. (Frederic Larson / The Chronicle)


Just the tops of the tallest buildings of the San Francisco skyline were visible just before sunrise as viewed from the Marin headlands looking through the Golden Gate Bridge.


more pics at...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/05/27/BAQI17R9ON.DTL&o=0

[Richard D]

1. Very cool.

I happen to be in SF today. Maybe I'll take a trip over it to commemorate the occasion. I've crossed that bridge many times (so to speak) and each time I go over it I still feel awe at it's beauty. Truly one of the most beautiful of our structures.

[taterguy]

2. It doesn't look a day over 40

[NYCGirl]

3. Thank you so much for posting those gorgeous pics. I love looking at images

from my hometown. (Even though it makes me homesick from time to time.)

[CreekDog]

4. I was in the middle of that crowd in 1987 for the bridge's 50th birthday

What an absolutely crazy Sunday that was!

We got there before 6am and the crowd quickly broke through the ribbon (before the ribbon cutting ceremony) and the expected crowd ballooned into a mess of 750,000 or something. There was so much weight from people on the bridge that the span sagged :wtf: (I'm glad I didn't realize that when I was on it!).



Reached the middle of the bridge and saw a wall of people approaching from the Marin side, so we turned around and saw a wall of people behind us from the SF side. The crowds met and then nobody could move, but idiots trying to get on the bridge were pushing us in the middle.

I stood at the railing looking out at the ocean for about 2-3 hours as we waited for them to get us off that bridge.

What an adventure! And later, that night, they showed a great fireworks display on TV.

[mdmc]

5. .