Golden Gate Bridge, 1937 and 1957

Here in San Francisco, excitement over the 75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge has reached a fever pitch. Images abound online of different moments captured during the bridge’s history. These two, shown below, I found on the Chronicle’s website and have become personal favorites.
Here is a photo from 1937, taken on the day the bridge opened to the public, of some girls who at the time where students at San Rafael High School. Look how excited they are – linking arms as they prepare to run across the bridge from the north side.

Just as amazing is this photo, taken twenty years later at the bridge’s 20th anniversary celebration, of those exact same girls, now quite grown up. This time they approach from the south, and two are missing from the original photo. According to the Chronicle, one of them couldn’t get a babysitter, and the other had passed away.

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