Alexa, play 'ALIEN SUPERSTAR' by Beyoncé
Images of the Golden Gate Bridge populate almost every available postcard that’s meant to evoke a sentimentality of San Francisco life. Greeting cards of the seven-by-seven are rarely made without mentioning at least a sideways glance to the iconic, 1.7-mile long cable-stayed bridge; it’s a marvel of human ingenuity, no doubt, and one that deserves all the signal boosts.
While most of us are familiar with what the bridge looks like driving over it — a rusty-red spiderweb made of strong metal, predominantly high-tensile steel, that humps with two superstructures and, as of late, has also begun whistling in the presence of strong winds — I’d wager to say many know very little about what it looks underneath. I, myself, am guilty of such a void in my understanding of the Golden Gate Bridge.
But this photo uploaded by Luke Spray on Twitter has me believing that perhaps the GGB is even more symmetrically pleasing to look at from below than it is from up top.
In the uploaded picture, you can see the suicide barrier support beams — which hold a network of nets meant to catch falling bodies — perfectly aligned, following one after another in near-symmetry. It’s fascinating to also see a still of the bridge completely absent of its famous suspension cables. All that’s captured from the beach vantage point below is the bridge’s deck, those aforementioned thin beams, and a north-facing support tower.
Spray’s picture speaks volumes about the Golden Gate Bridge’s iconoclastic status: it’s nearly as recognizable at sea level as it is 220 feet above the Pacific Ocean.
Now only if I can improve my surfing skills enough to get a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge’s underbelly… that’d be swell.
Feature Image: View from underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. (Courtesy of Twitter via @lukespray)
