International Orange Gate Bridge?
Everyone knows the Golden Gate Bridge. But…why isn’t it gold?
Facebook let me know it’s the Golden Gate Bridge’s birthday today. As a San Francisco resident, that got me excited. “Oh, Happy Birthday Bridge!” Then, it got me thinking.
I used to see it from across the bay when I was in college (GO BEARS!) and I’ve done the 1.7 mile walk across the bridge with my family. I’ve driven across it for road trips to Napa and I’ve definitely tried to take pictures of it from too far away. Now, I can just barely see the top of the bridge from my apartment in the Sunset as it pokes out above the trees in Golden Gate Park. This bridge has been a part of my life for years — and then it dawned on me:
“If it’s called the Golden Gate Bridge, why is it that red-orange color?”
This question became especially interesting to me as I considered another familiar bridge. As a Bay Area resident for five years and counting, I was naturally curious about the famous Golden Gate Bridge. But I spent my childhood in Sacramento, where we actually have a gold-colored bridge — the Tower Bridge — which seems to have missed out on a golden (ha-ha) opportunity for a name. It’s original construction commenced on July 20, 1934, just one and a half years after the Golden Gate Bridge, for which construction began on January 5, 1933. The history behind this Sacramento bridge is a question for another day (maybe it’s simple: “ ‘Golden Gate’ was already taken”), but the history of the Golden Gate Bridge still intrigued me.
Through a Google search I discovered that 1) the answer is more complex than I would have guessed, and 2) unsurprisingly, this question has been asked by many before me. While it’s clear that the Golden Gate Bridge was not named for it’s color, what’s interesting is that both the name and the color of the bridge have their own unique histories.
To understand the story behind the name of the Golden Gate Bridge, I went back to before the bridge was even built: 1846.
John Charles Fremont — an esteemed explorer, geographer, U.S. Army officer, and second lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers — had been charged with leading four expeditions to survey lesser-known areas in the west. He began this series of explorations in 1838 and in 1846, found himself in what is now known as San Francisco. As the story goes, he gazed upon the narrow strait between the Bay and the Pacific Ocean, recognized the importance of this waterway for commerce between the North America and Asia, and said:
“It is a golden gate to trade with the Orient.”
Upon his return from expedition, Fremont delivered his Geographical Memoir to the U.S. Senate. In his writings, Fremont further explained the ‘golden gate’ name and demonstrates his admiration for the valuable waters:
“To this Gate, I gave the name ‘Chrysopylae’ or ‘Golden Gate’ for the same reasons that the harbor of Byzantium was called Chrsoceras, or Golden Horn.”
Fremont’s declaration stuck, and the ‘golden gate’ name persevered through the decades. When plans for a bridge to cross the strait emerged, it only made sense to continue the legacy.
…Okay, so the bridge was named after it’s location. But that still doesn’t explain why it’s not gold, or at least some version of yellow.
As it turns out, choosing the color for this bridge was quite an ordeal. During the Golden Gate’s construction from 1933–1937, consulting architect Irving Morrow needed the approval of the U.S. Department of War to commission the painting of what was the longest spanning suspension bridge at the time.
If that sounds daunting, it’s because it probably was. Different military groups each had their own ideas about what the best colors would be, and stripes were a popular choice: the U.S. Navy wanted yellow and black, so the bridge would be visible from their ships; the Army Air Corps wanted a red and white candy cane pattern for the same reason. Both were primarily concerned with the bridge’s visibility in fog, a trait known well by any SF local.
While Morrow ultimately decided against those suggestions, his logic was similar in nature. He chose the burnt red and orange hue of Sherwin-Williams “International Orange” for its high visibility in thick fog, not to mention its pleasant compliment to the greens of the surrounding hills and strong contrast to the blues of the sky and the sea. But that wasn’t before he submitted a 29-page report to the Department of War illustrating why this particular color was the right choice.
International Orange was approved, and has remained the highly-recognizable color of what is now the most photographed bridge in the world. (The title of Longest Bridge was lost to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York in 1964.)
Despite all that, I’m stuck on the fact that I always thought the bridge was red. Kind of a deep red, and not really orange, to be honest. Through a quick survey of my friends, I set out to uncover how people actually see the Golden Gate Bridge. Almost every response I received was unique — from orange to reddish-orange to burnt orange to red-orange to copper red to just plain old red. That’s when I realized, with this particular bridge, perception is reality. Everyone sees it differently, even if only a little bit, through their own eyes and their own experiences — that’s what makes it special.
