Romance and tragedy on the bridge over troubled waters
HOW can anyone get all misty-eyed over something made of iron and steel, built more than 50 years ago? Ask any resident of San Francisco and you'll have your answer.
There really is something majestic about the Golden Gate Bridge, which goes far beyond its millions of iron rivets and its Art Decor orange rust-resistant paint. The bridge's serenely elegant beauty gives physical form to San Francisco's standing as oneof the world's most romantic cities.
Born at the beginning of the automobile age, when California was better known for orange groves and vineyards than for its traffic jams, the Golden Gate's 1,260-metre span was the world's longest in 1937.
And, even today, few bridges can match the Golden Gate's length. The bridge's two towers soar 225 metres above the water - as high as a 48 storey building, suspending a six-lane roadway, plus two pedestrian walkways.
The idea of spanning the treacherous waters that swept in from the Pacific Ocean into San Francisco Bay was first floated in 1870, by an Englishman who later went insane after losing his fortune in the California Gold Rush.
The idea wasn't taken seriously until America was deep in the Depression and the project promised work for thousands of unemployed Californians. Even then, in true American tradition, 2,000 lawsuits were filed to stop construction.
What's more, many experts were convinced that erecting such a bridge was a physical impossibility in that location. As the only cleft along the northern California coast for 1,000 kilometres, the tidal flow which surges through the Golden Gate is awesome- three times that of the Amazon River, and 14 times the Mississippi's.
The water here travels at 100 kilometres per hour, and is more than 100 metres deep. Fierce winds and dense fog also sweep through the headlands.
Despite misgivings, construction began in 1933; four years later the Golden Gate Bridge was formally opened on a warm May morning; cars were barred that day allowing 200,000 people to leisurely stroll high above the raging straits, from San Francisco to then rural Marin Country.
Ten men lost their lives while building the bridge, when the scaffolding they were on tore loose and they fell through a safety net into sea. Nineteen others were saved by the nets.
When the Bridge celebrated its 50th birthday on May 24, 1987, 800,000 celebrants walked across the Golden Gate, their sheer weight flattening the central span for the first time. Every year some 40 million cars pass over the bridge and untold thousands of joggers.
The cables which support the bridge contain 27,572 individual steel wires compressed into a diameter of one metre. The two main cables contain enough steel wire to encircle the Equator three times.
The bridge's famous festive reddish colour was not in fact chosen for its cheeriness, but rather for its ability to resist rust. Despite this, a team of 43 painters are continuously re-painting the bridge, a job that takes four years to complete, by which time, it needs a new coat.
Over the years, the Golden Gate has found fame in scores of Hollywood films. It has also become an international mecca for would-be suicides.
Since its opening 56 summers ago, more than 900 sad souls have attempted to take their lives by leaping off into the cold waters below. All but three have succeeded.
So as not to encourage more, the city of San Francisco stopped publicising the number of jumpers in 1990. But they are said to be rapidly approaching the 1,000 mark.
Intriguingly, thus far, virtually every jumper has opted to leave this world from the side of the bridge which faces the city.
Psychologists suggest that having the glittering lights of San Francisco as a last earthly vision is far more comforting than peering out into the dark and misty waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Singapore Airlines flies daily to San Francisco. Air fares start at HK$7,000.
