Golden Gate Bridge Trivia | 40 facts about the famous landmark

The Golden Gate Bridge is the bridge of Golden Gate strait, that is actually San Francisco’s most popular landmark.

Let’s find out more about it!

1. The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America.
2. It connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean.
3. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula.
4. Since 1937, it has been spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge.
5. The entire shoreline and adjacent waters throughout the strait are managed by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
6. During the last Ice Age, when sea level was several hundred feet lower, the waters of the glacier-fed Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River scoured a deep channel through the bedrock on their way to the ocean.
7. The strait is well known today for its depth and powerful tidal currents from the Pacific Ocean.
8. Many small whirlpools and eddies can form in its waters.
9. With its strong currents, rocky reefs and fog, the Golden Gate is the site of over 100 shipwrecks
10. The Golden Gate is often shrouded in fog.
11. That happens especially during the summer.
12. Heat generated in the California Central Valley causes air there to rise, creating a low pressure area that pulls in cool, moist air from over the Pacific Ocean.
13. The Golden Gate forms the largest break in the hills of the California Coast Range.
14. It allows a persistent, dense stream of fog to enter the bay there.
15. Although there is no weather station on Golden Gate proper, the area has a mediterranean climate with very narrow temperature fluctuations, cool summers and mild winters.
16. For the nearest weather station see the weatherbox of San Francisco.
17. The Golden Gate Bridge being nearer the ocean and at elevation indicate it being cooler during summer days.
18. Nearer the San Francisco urban core, the temperatures resemble the official NOAA weather station instead.
19. Before the Europeans arrived in the 18th century, the area around the strait and the bay was inhabited by the Ohlone to the south and Coast Miwok people to the north.
20. Descendants of both tribes remain in the area.
21. Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay.
22. A ferry service began as early as 1820, with a regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for the purpose of transporting water to San Francisco.
23. The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km) strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean.
24. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula—to Marin County, carrying both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the strait.
25. The bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco and California
26. . It was initially designed by engineer Joseph Strauss in 1917.
27. It has been declared one of the Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
28. In June 1935 an earthquake struck the region as men worked atop the bridge’s unfinished south tower.
29. During construction, a safety net was suspended under the floor of the bridge, extending 10 feet wider than the bridge’s width and 15 feet longer than its length. The net proved an invaluable precaution as it saved the lives of 19 men.
30. These men became known as members of the “Half-Way-to-Hell Club.”
31. Despite such safety measures, 11 men died during the bridge’s construction.
32. The bridge’s orange color was originally intended just as a primer.
33. The U.S. Navy had lobbied that the bridge be painted in blue and yellow stripes to increase its visibility.
34. But when the steel arrived in San Francisco painted in a burnt red hue as primer, the consulting architect decided the color was both highly visible—and more pleasing to the eye.
35. The bridge’s color is officially called international orange.
36. As many as 200,000 people crossed the bridge during on May 27, 1937.
37. It cost $0.50—each way—to cross the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937.
38. San Francisco celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge on May 24, 1987 with a bridge walk. The bridge began to groan and sway with an estimated 300,000 people packed like sardines onto it. The middle of the bridge sagged seven feet under the unprecedented weight, causing the iconic arch to flatten.
39. Officials quickly closed the bridge, preventing an additional 600,000 people from crossing.
40. Engineers afterward said that the bridge, which was built to bend, was never in danger of collapsing.