RON HENGGELER

October 30, 2011
A King low tide along Marshall Beach with views of the Golden Gate Bridge

Yearn to burst the folded gloom
to bare the eternal heavens again
to feel once more in placid awe
the strong imagination roll
a sphere of stars above my soul.

Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began on January 5, 1933 and the last rivet was placed on May 27, 1937. The bridge is 6, 450 ft. long and 90 ft. wide. The towers rise 746 ft. above the water and the height of the roadway span at center is 220 ft. above low tide. The main cables from which the span hangs (each 36.5 inches diameter and 7, 660 ft. long) are made up of 27, 572 strands of 0.2 inch diameter steel cable. . .22,000 tons worth and 80,000 miles long. This 0.2 inch cable could circle the globe at the equator more than five times. 693,000 cubic yards of concrete (enough for a sideway 10 ft. wide stretching from San Francisco to New York City) and 100,000 tons of steel were used in spanning the Gate. 25,000,000 man hours went into building the Golden Gate Bridge. . .eleven men lost their lives during its construction. The bridge, as designed, can sway 27.7 ft. during high winds. The paint color of the Golden Gate Bridge is International Orange. There are now well over a thousand known suicides who have jumped off the bridge since it opened in 1937. Nearly all these desperate souls who finally went over the side, did so facing towards San Francisco, but that is simply because pedestrians are not allowed on the opposite (Pacific Ocean) side of the span. Text by © Ron Henggeler

“There is no stupidity great enough to ruin the majesty of the Golden Gate Bridge. It has been the subject of terrible poetry and worse paintings, but it rises easily and grandly above the mundane, its towers poking through the fogs, natural and man-made.” Herb Caen

All of these photos were taken Friday night during low tide. It is only during an extremely low tide that this beach on the ocean side of the bridge is accessible.

 

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The images are not in the public domain. They are the sole property of the artist and may not be reproduced on the Internet, sold, altered, enhanced, modified by artificial, digital or computer imaging or in any other form without the express written permission of the artist. Non-watermarked copies of photographs on this site can be purchased by contacting Ron.