Sunday, May 27, 2012

Happy Birthday, Golden Gate Bridge (and me!)

The Golden Gate Bridge celebrates its 75th birthday today--and I celebrate my 48th!

The bridge is a supremely iconic image of San Francisco, and indeed one of the images that people think of when they think of California, and even of the United States. Construction started in 1933 and the bridge opened on May 27, 1937. It is still one of the largest Art Deco structures in the world. The Golden Gate Bridge's signature color, an orange vermillion called "international orange," was chosen by the architect of the bridge because it complemented the natural surroundings and because of its high visibility in fog.

By contrast, I was born on May 27th, twenty-seven years later. While considered iconic to only a handful of people, I am not painted any particular shade and am not very visible in fog.


Take a look at the opening day of the bridge in this glorious, moving footage from the past.


And here I am on my opening day.

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