The bridge was opened for business on May 27, 1937, providing an easier route between the city of San Francisco and Marin County -- and across the Golden Gate, a term for the strait where the San Francisco Bay meets the Pacific Ocean.
The bridge has been hailed for its design, noted for its orange-red color (known as International Orange, which is also used in the space industry), and featured in just about every movie with a San Francisco story line.
But there's also a dark side to the bridge: It's the top suicide site in the world, and there is an ongoing debate about installing some sort of barrier to prevent these suicides, especially since 37 people died this way last year, when 100 more suicides were prevented, according to a Los Angeles Times report. The bridge already has suicide hotline phones and signs that are meant to deter people from jumping.
A daylong Golden Gate Festival on Sunday is free and open to the public. Festival-goers are encouraged to use public transportation, bike, or walk to the event, as there will be no public parking in certain areas. People traveling through the area should note the bridge will be closed for one hour -- from 9 to 10 p.m. PDT (from midnight to 1 a.m. EDT) -- due to a half-hour fireworks display that will begin at 9:30 p.m. PDT (12:30 a.m. EDT).
Source: Golden Gate Bridge To Close For Sunday's Anniversary Fireworks Celebration, By IBTimes Staff Reporter
The orange span was on glorious display Friday morning as the sun shone down on it and hundreds of people - many draped in the color du jour - gathered to exalt the bridge on its 75th birthday. The ceremony kicked off a weekend of celebrations that will culminate in a festival and fireworks display Sunday night.
In addition to professing their love and awe for the iconic bridge, many of the dignitaries who addressed the crowd on Friday noted the incredible foresight of those who built and supported the unprecedented public works project - particularly impressive because it happened during the Great Depression.
"I love that song, especially the second verse - 'O beautiful, for patriot dream/ That sees beyond the years.' That's exactly what the people who envisioned this bridge did. They saw beyond the years," Pelosi said. "I want to celebrate what this bridge has given us, what it means to the city, the state and the nation. ... We are possessive of it in this area, but it is a national treasure that is recognized around the world."
While the visionaries who engineered the bridge have long since died, some of their descendents were on hand Friday. Lorna Strauss Bantz, the great-niece of chief bridge engineer Joseph Strauss, and Lucinda and Chris Cone, the granddaughters of resident engineer Russell G. Cone, said they all grew up in families where the Golden Gate loomed large.
"My grandfather arrived here on Valentine's Day - they all knew how difficult this would be," said Lucinda Cone, who lives in Sacramento. "He loved his men. He was a guy's guy, an Irishman who liked to drink and smoke. ... He used to give out sauerkraut juice to the men who arrived with hangovers. They were all hard-drinking guys."
Source: Golden Gate Bridge anniversary celebration begins, By Marisa Lagos, SFGate
The bridge's legacy lives on, Pelosi said, thanks to federal stimulus dollars provided by President Obama as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
"No matter how daunting and overwhelming an obstacle, America always invests in big and bold infrastructure," she said.
Some of that money is paying for the new Presidio Parkway, the San Francisco approach to the Golden Gate Bridge, which Pelosi said is "enhancing what this bridge means to us and what it does for us."
"This is a bridge we always want to strengthen," she said.
Mayor Ed Lee noted that the bridge has continued to serve as "a symbol for progress, for growth and for continued innovation."
All three elected officials -- Lee, Brown and Pelosi -- presented bridge officials with proclamations at the local, state and federal level declaring today be observed in the bridge's name.
The event concluded with the official opening of several bridge plaza buildings, some old -- such as the renovated historic Roundhouse -- and some new, such as the Bridge Pavilion Welcome Center.
Friday's event was only the beginning of the celebrations of the span's 75th birthday.
Sunday, tens of thousands of spectators are expected to gather along the city's northern shore between Fort Point and Marina Green.
Wayfinding towers and white tents had already been erected Friday in advance of the Golden Gate Festival, a 12-hour celebration that will feature music, art and dance and will culminate in a fireworks extravaganza.
Source: New Golden Gate Bridge visitor center unveiled for 75th anniversary, By Bay City News