Field notes · San Francisco
The Bridge in the Fog
The steel arrived red with primer, and the consulting architect, Irving Morrow, grew to like it. He argued for International Orange: warm against the hills, and still visible when the fog comes in. The Navy had asked for black and yellow stripes.
Summer is the foggy season. As the Central Valley heats up, it pulls cool ocean air inland, and the Golden Gate is the one wide gap in the coastal hills. By late afternoon the marine layer pours through the strait, and the towers drift in and out of view above it.
When it opened in 1937, its main span of 4,200 feet was the longest of any suspension bridge in the world, a record it held until 1964. The towers rise 746 feet above the water.
