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Golden Gate Bridge
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IF YOU'VE EVER GOTTEN A POST CARD FROM SAN FRANCISCO, THERE'S A GOOD CHANCE THAT BARON WOLMAN TOOK THE PICTURE.
"There's an infinite number of views. I'm in my airplane taking pictures from above; I've been up on the tower looking down at the roadway. I've been underneath it, for a point looking up, at this incredible structure and, it's my favorite photographic subject. It's impossible for anybody to take a bad picture of the Golden Gate Bridge. I guarantee you."
When I came to San Francisco in the early 60s, there was a lot to love about San Francisco, obviously. The cable cars and the hills and the views and the great weather and the fog and all, but, the thing I really loved most was the Golden Gate Bridge."
THE BRIDGE IS MUCH MORE THAN A PRETTY PICTURE. EACH DAY AN AVERAGE OF 166,000 VEHICLES MAKE THEIR WAY ACROSS THE ORANGE SUPER-STRUCTURE.
BUT IT'S THE BRIDGE'S NINE MILLION ANNUAL PEDESTRIAN VISITORS THAT HAVE MADE IT ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR TOURIST DESTINATIONS.
AND FOR THE AUTHOR STEPHAN CASSADY, IT SEEMED LIKE THE PERFECT SUBJECT FOR A BOOK.
"There is nowhere you can go and nobody that you can talk to that doesn't know what the Golden Gate Bridge is."
WE MAY TAKE THE BRIDGE FOR GRANTED NOW BUT THE CURRENTS OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY ARE SO STRONG AND THE WATER SO DEEP THAT FOR CENTURIES NO ONE THOUGHT A BRIDGE COULD BE BUILT HERE.
"The Golden Gate, has ocean waters that start as far away as Antarctica, finding their way, into the California coast line and the tides are just very dramatic and its very dangerous."
BUT BY 1916, CONGESTED FERRY TRAFFIC CAUSED SAN FRANCISCO RESIDENTS TO DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE.
LUCKILY, THE COUNTRY'S LEADING BRIDGE BUILDER HAD JUST COME TO TOWN.
Joseph Strauss was probably a genius, it was through his energy, his vision, his dream, his single mindedness that got this project going.
STRAUSS WAS AN ENGINEER FROM CHICAGO WITH MORE THAN 400 BRIDGES TO HIS NAME.
AND IN 1919, STRAUSS BEGAN DRAWING UP PLANS TO BRING THIS ENGINEERING MARVEL TO LIFE.
From that moment when he first said, we would like to do this, until they broke ground, it's a period of 14 years elapsed, In that time, there was tremendous resistance from people that didn’t want the bridge.
BUT STRAUSS STUCK TO HIS GUNS AND, FINALLY, IN 1933, THE FIRST WORKERS PUNCHED THE CLOCK.
FOR THE MEN ON THE JOB, THE LABOR WAS LESS THAN GLAMOROUS.
Bridge working is not for the weak of heart. It's very dangerous; it's very disconnecting when you're 746 feet off, the ground.
All set here, Are you ready barge?
The issue here of course is the tremendous distance, the hydro physics of the channel and the, uh, the fact that nobody had, um, built a bridge that, that had towers this tall, with a center span this long.
USING THE LATEST BRIDGE-BUILDING TECHNOLOGY, STRAUSS AND HIS TEAM STARTED TO MAKE HEADWAY.
FOR FOUR SOLID YEARS, THEY POUNDED RIVETS AND SUSPENDED MASSIVE STEEL CABLES.
When they got finished, they had 80,000 miles of cable, enough to span the earth at, it's equator three times over.
"As it turned out 11 people only died. And of those 11, ten occurred in one accident. And you look at the reasons for why the number was so low, they just paid, uh, meticulous attention to how to save lives.
IN MAY OF 1937, CONSTRUCTION WAS FINALLY COMPLETE, AND THE CITY WAS READY TO CELEBRATE.
You can imagine in 1937, The Depression's over, the war hasn't started, something has just been accomplished that they said couldn't be done and it was done.
UNFORTUNATELY, JOSEPH STRAUSS, NEVER GOT A CHANCE TO BASK IN THE GLORY OF HIS ACHIEVEMENT.
HE RETIRED TO LOS ANGELES AND DIED LESS THAN A YEAR AFTER FINISHING WORK ON THE BRIDGE.
BUT HIS ULTIMATE CREATION HAS STOOD THE TEST OF TIME AND FOR PHOTOGRAPHER BARON WOLMAN THAT HAS BEEN THE INSPIRATION FOR SOME OF HIS BEST WORK.
It's virtually impossible to imagine San Francisco and the Bay area without the Golden Gate Bridge. And, from some, gift of fate, the design, the ultimate finished design, is so in harmony with the landscape. That you don't see it as something, that's been put upon the land. You see it's something almost that's organic-grown up from the land.
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金门大桥
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我永远不会忘记我第一次见到它的时候，它是那么的神秘 那么的独特。我一生都无法忘却那种感觉，它让我感动， 我从没有见过这般令人迷醉的景致，如果你收到一张来自圣弗朗西斯科的明信片，那很可能是巴伦·沃尔曼的杰作。
它的美令人无法抗拒。我坐在飞机里从高处拍摄或站在高塔上俯瞰或站在桥下虔诚地仰视这个颇有震撼力的建筑。它是我最喜欢的拍摄实物，任何人都能拍出绝佳的金门大桥的照片我保证。
60年代初,第一次来到这里时，这个城市的电车、丘陵、还有薄雾都令我心仪，但在所有这些中，金门大桥是我的最爱。
这座桥不单是一幅美丽的图画，每天有大约十六万六千多辆车从这座橙色建筑物上飞驰而过，但使金门大桥成为旅游热点的却是每年九百万的步行参观者。对作家斯蒂芬·卡萨迪来说，它就像一本书的经典主题无论你到哪里，无论你和谁攀谈，没有人不知道金门大桥。
我们也许认为这座桥的存在是理所应当的，但它的水流那么急，那么深。很多世纪以来，没有人认为在这儿可以架桥。金门大桥下的海水来自遥远的南极流，一路流入加利福尼亚海岸海水湍急而且暗藏着危险的潜流。
但到了1916年，拥挤的轮渡交通是人们主要的交通方式，建桥是圣弗朗西斯科居民的奢望。幸运的是，这个国家最重要的桥梁建造者，刚好来到这个城镇。
约瑟·斯特罗斯是个天才，他过人的精力和才情、敏锐的洞察力、充满智慧的头脑，都使这个梦想最终得以实现。斯特罗斯是一名来自芝加哥的工程师。他设计建造了400多座桥梁。
1919年，斯特罗斯开始起草计划，他要让这个惊人的工程在他手中诞生。
从他第一次说，我们要做这件事到最后破土动工 14年过去了。
刚开始的时候，他们遭到了重重阻挠，但斯特罗斯矢志不移，执著于梦想。1933年，第一批工人开工了，对进行这项工作的人来说，这项劳动艰巨而危险。
建桥的工作不是怯懦的人能干的，它充满不可预知的危险性。当你离地746英尺时，你会有一种无助感，一切都准备好了。
准备好挪动了吗？
问题是海峡惊人的长度和巨大的水力。还有，从未有人尝试建设中心跨度那么长，主塔这么高的桥梁。
运用最新的建桥技术，斯特罗斯和他的队伍开始了工作，他们用了足足4年的时间来固定铆钉，悬挂缆绳。
他们做完这些，用掉了8万英里的缆绳，足以绕地球赤道三圈还多。
结果表明，只有11人死亡，而其中有10人死于同一个事故，事故机率如此低的原因是他们有严密的措施保障工人的安全。
1937年5月，这座桥终于竣工了，整个城市充满了节日的喜庆，可以想象 1937年经济危机过去了，战争还没有开始，人们认为无法企及的事情也终于成真了。
不幸的是，约瑟·斯特罗斯却永远没有机会享受他的杰作给他带来的喜悦了。退休后，他去了洛杉矶在他完成工程一年后，不幸去世了。但他的创造经受住了时间的考验，对巴伦·沃尔曼来说，很多作品的灵感都源于这座大桥。
几乎无法想象如果没有金门大桥，圣弗朗西斯科及海湾会是怎样。这座桥的风格与这儿的地貌惊人的和谐，你不会认为这桥单纯地架在空中看起来与地面是如此地水乳交融，将美感与功能完美地结合于一身。
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