The Golden Gate Bridge's first public day belongs entirely to pedestrians. Two hundred thousand people walk, run, skate and cycle across. Cars can come tomorrow.
San Francisco finally had its enormous new road bridge. Naturally, opening day banned cars.
On Thursday, 27 May 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge opened to the public.
For one day, the public did not include automobiles.
The first day of the new bridge's life was officially Pedestrian Day, opening a week-long celebration of an engineering project that had transformed the entrance to San Francisco Bay.
By six in the morning, thousands were already waiting at both ends.
Then the gates opened.
What followed looked less like the inauguration of a highway and more like San Francisco discovering an exceptionally long public plaza.
More than 200,000 people crossed during the day.
Some walked.
Others ran, cycled or roller-skated.
People competed to become the first to cross in various unusual ways, while the bridge—built principally to carry traffic between San Francisco and Marin County—spent its first public hours carrying almost everything except normal traffic.
The distinction was intentional.
Thursday belonged to pedestrians.
Cars received the bridge on Friday.
On 28 May, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used a telegraph signal from the White House as part of the ceremonial opening to vehicular traffic. Thousands of cars then began crossing the span.
The Thursday arrangement gave the public something that would become increasingly difficult to imagine once the Golden Gate settled into ordinary transportation duty:
an entire day when one of the world's most famous road bridges was simply theirs to wander across.
There was an engineering achievement beneath the party.
The bridge's 4,200-foot central span was then the world's longest suspension span, completing a project whose location, winds, currents and financial circumstances had made construction exceptionally difficult.
But San Francisco did not introduce that achievement with ordinary commuting.
First came runners, skaters, cyclists and roughly two hundred thousand pedestrians.
The cars could wait twenty-four hours.
The bridge had opening-day plans.
A landmark road bridge celebrated finally being ready for traffic by spending its entire first public day closed to cars.
The Golden Gate opened for transportation. Transportation was asked to wait until Friday.
Evidence status
Sources
Official bridge history
Original language: EnglishNational historical records
Library of Congress — Opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, May 27
Library of Congress — Golden Gate Bridge historic engineering record
Original language: English