What gives the city identity beyond mere municipal boundaries and civic government? Unique icons. Great cities, in time and space, have an element that could be either manmade or natural, but the presence of it is singular enough to become so closely associated with the area and its people. It’s something that one city has that no other can authentically claim. Every city has at least one.
New York City has the Empire State Building. Seattle has the Space Needle. Los Angeles has the Hollywood sign.
Each of these cities obviously has more architectural and natural features that also contribute to a sort of metropolitan image association. San Francisco has many as well. Sanfran has a distinct architectural style of houses that immediately leaps out and gives away its location. Other towering structures uniquely Sanfran are the Transamerica Building, which serves as the company’s logo, and Coit Tower. Sanfran also has monuments that double as modes of transportation: cable cars, responsible for transporting thousands per day and improving sales of Rice-a-Roni. But Sanfran’s most iconic landmark has size, span and sensory stimulation.
Nothing in San Francisco is more iconic than the Golden Gate Bridge.
We know the bridge is one of mankind’s engineering marvels. We know thousands travel between Sanfran and the North Bay, and many more visit it for the perfect photograph or vacation video. What’s not as well known, probably because it doesn’t have much visual appeal and because the forest is more interesting than the sum of its trees, is that the Golden Gate Bridge has a posse.
Golden Gate is not just a bridge. It’s a bus company as well.
And a ferry service.
Let’s ride across the Golden Gate Bridge using the structure’s own coach service.
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