The Golden Gate Bridge, completed after more than four years of construction at a cost of $35 million, is a visitor attraction recognized around the world. The GGB opened to vehicular traffic on May 28, 1937 at twelve o'clock noon, ahead of schedule and under budget, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in the White House announcing the event.

The Marin Headlands side of the Golden Gate Bridge is a great place to take pictures—such as this July 4th fireworks photo—and watch freighters and sailboats cruise under the bridge as you enjoy a view that stretches from Golden Gate Park and Twin Peaks to The Bay Bridge and beyond.
The Golden Gate Bridge's 4,200 foot long main suspension span was a world record that stood for 27 years. The bridge's two towers rise 746 feet making them 191 feet taller than the Washington Monument. The five lane bridge crosses Golden Gate Strait which is about 400 feet, or 130 meters, deep.

The design of the Golden Gate Bridge echoes an Art Deco Theme. Wide, vertical ribbing on the horizontal tower bracing accents the sun's light on the bridge. The towers that support the Golden Gate Bridge's suspension cables are smaller at the top than at the base, emphasizing the tower height of 500 feet above the roadway.

Coit Tower is another San Francisco landmark with an art deco design. Timothy Pflueger was probably the most prolific and renownd Art Deco Architect in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Linking San Francisco with Marin County the Golden Gate Bridge is a 1.7 mile-long suspension bridge that can be crossed by car, on bicycles or on foot.

The Brooklyn Bridge, completed 54 years earlier in 1883 and designed by wire rope patent holder John A. Roebling, was the first famous suspension bridge. It helped to define and add fame to New York City in much the same way that the Golden Gate Bridge has for San Francisco.

Joseph Baerman Strauss (top section is about the Bay Bridge, scroll down for Golden Gate Bridge information) had a dream of building a bridge across the Golden Gate.

Though Strauss only lived a year beyond completion of construction he disproved the conventional wisdom of the time that "no one can bridge the Golden Gate because of insurmountable difficulties which are apparent to all who give thought to the idea."

Fort Point — at the south end of the bridge — was designated a National Historic Monument October 16, 1970. Fort Point was built out of brick in 1853–1861 at the begining of the Civil War.

The historic fort was used as a base of operations for building the Golden Gate Bridge as seen in this historical photograph. The Fort Point Lighthouse — visible in my panorama shot from the roof of Fort Point was the second lighthouse built in California. The locations of the first and third California lighthouses are also visible from here. The first was on Alcatraz Island and the third was built at Point Bonita.

Official Golden Gate Bridge facts and other information can be found at the Golden Gate Bridge Research Library. For instance, did you know that Golden Gate refers to Golden Gate Straight — a name that originated around 1846, and that the Golden Gate Bridge has always been painted orange?

A one and one half hour San Francisco Bay Cruise will take you under the Golden Gate Bridge, past Angel Island and around Alcatraz Island on a sailboat.

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening into the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. It connects the city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula and a portion of the south-facing Marin County headlands near the small bayside town of Sausalito. The entire bridge (including the approach) spans 1.7 miles long; the distance between the towers ("main span") is 4,200 feet, and the clearance below the bridge is 220 ft at mean high water. The two towers rise 746 feet above the water. The diameter of the main suspension cables is 36 inches .

The Golden Gate Bridge was the largest suspension bridge in the world when it was built in 1937 and has become an internationally recognized symbol of San Francisco.