San Francisco Bay Bridge At Sunset

Yerba Buena offers breathtaking views of the entire Bay Area. Back in 2019, we set out to explore some of the views, and see if any resonated. Some did, and this classic view of the City at sunset—the sky still glowing brightly, but the light dim enough for the bridge illumination and the fairy trails of traffic across the bridge, city lights on in the distance—tugs at threads of emotions and memory. Even with all its modern challenges, there is just something about this city.

Yerba Buena Island sits between Oakland and San Francisco, connected to each respectively by the new gleaming Oakland segment and the classic suspension bridge between the island and the city. The suspension bridge is an imposing powerful structure, echoing America's age of gigantic bridge-building. Although the idea for a Bay Bridge had been proposed repeatedly and debated vigorously for over 60 years before—almost since San Francisco's founding, since it was recognized that the completion of the transcontinental railway into Oakland could easily doom San Francisco to second city status—construction of two bridges and a bored tunnel through Yerba Buena Island finally began in 1933 and was completed in 1936 (think about that and compare it to modern projects), a truly stunning engineering achievement. Per the Wiki:

“The western section of the bridge between San Francisco and Yerba Buena Island presented an enormous engineering challenge. The bay was up to 100 feet deep in places and the soil required new foundation-laying techniques. A single main suspension span some 4,100 feet in length was considered but rejected, as it would have required too much fill and reduced wharfage space at San Francisco, had less vertical clearance for shipping, and cost more than the design ultimately adopted. The solution was to construct a massive concrete anchorage halfway between San Francisco and the island, and to build a main suspension span on each side of this central anchorage.”

“The eastern span — a combination of cantilever, through-trusses, and causeway stretching more than ten thousand feet — was the longest bridge of its kind in the world. Twenty-four men died during construction.”

These are structures representing the fierceness of human ambition, determination, and aspiration.

This particular prospect is no longer accessible, which makes this image and memory all the more dear to us.