An iconic bridge -- and its people / Hundreds paint, repair, take tolls to keep landmark in golden shape - By Julian Guthrie, San Francisco Chronicle
It is used by more than 100,000 commuters a day, visited by as many as a million tourists a month, and crossed by 40 million drivers a year. Its bold beauty is staggering, its mystique legendary.
But the Golden Gate Bridge, which opened to pedestrians 70 years ago today -- at 6 a.m. on May 27, 1937 -- is more than an international icon in burnished red. To the 200 people who work on the bridge, taking tolls, painting cables, replacing steel and providing security, it is a paycheck first. An honor second.
To these workers, the massive monument is alive, with its own personality and problems, its good and bad. The painters know how to clean mildew from the thick suspender ropes. The ironworkers know the best bolt to replace rusty rivets. The toll takers know that the nicest commuters are not always in the nicest cars.