The finale of this San Francisco series is, of course, my favorite red bridge. Once you start living and exploring the city, you begin spotting it everywhere: its bright red towers peeking from behind the hills, appearing around corners, or showing up in the distance from beaches and rooftops. You gradually get used to its personality, almost as if it were a familiar part of everyday life. However, it has a habit of disappearing behind thick grey fog.
Walking and cycling over to the nearby towns across the bridge are almost local rituals. There are some spots where you can stand beneath it or look down at it from above a hill, and the scale is impressive every single time. Its distinctive International Orange color, originally chosen in part for visibility in the fog, looks beautiful against a clear blue sky and the deep blue Pacific. Even on the greyest days, those bright towers still stand out against the surrounding fog.
When it was completed in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world. The location is as dramatic as the bridge itself, where the Pacific Ocean meets the San Francisco Bay. The clearance beneath it allows enormous ships to pass through, while the wind can be strong enough to make crossing on foot feel like you are going to be blown off the bridge. Standing on it, with the water far below, the city skyline in the distance, and the red towers rising above you, gives you a very different appreciation of its scale than any photograph can do justice to.
The bridge stopped being just an engineering marvel a long time ago. It has become part of San Francisco’s identity and everyday life. It is how many of us picture San Francisco, and once you’ve lived there, it’s easy to understand why. The Golden Gate Bridge has earned every bit of that fame.
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