70 years ago today...

[multipurposegoddess]

...the Golden Gate Bridge opened to pedestrian traffic. According to my grandmother, everyone was more excited about driving across it which they were allowed to do the next day. She was 17 and rode across the bridge for the first time in my grandfather's car. He took the occasion to propose.

Twenty years and a few days ago, the bridge was closed to vehicular traffic so that more people could walk across it on its Golden Anniversary. So many people were on the bridge at one time that the graceful arch was flattened - one of those things I'm glad I didn't know until afterwards.

Comments

[maidengurl.livejournal.com]

I was at that celebration twenty years ago, selling cotton candy to all the folks who came out to walk the bridge. I never had the chance to get up and walk it myself that night. Like you, I'm glad I didn't know, at the time, how the bridge flattened.

[tskaredoff.livejournal.com]

My whole family got up in the wee hours of the morning to take BART into the city and walk from the Embarcadero over to the Golden Gate. We queued up for ages in that enormous crowd to get on the bridge and all lost each other. Strangely enough, once I made it onto the bridge the crowd opened up and there was all kind of room to spread out and wander around. It was pretty cool. Afterwards I drifted over to Chrissy Field and somehow we all managed to find each other again.

It would be a better story if I'd bought some cotton candy.

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

55 years is an odd (literally and figuratively) anniversary to celebrate. Am I misreading the post?

[tskaredoff.livejournal.com]

I mistyped, but now that I have edited you are totally misreading.

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

Well that makes a lot more sense.

[gingerk.livejournal.com]

This is so cool.