San Franciscans have passionate perspectives on every subject, especially their signature landmark, though everyone agrees that it's a good thing that the navy didn't get its way over the bridge's design – naval officials preferred a hulking concrete span, painted with caution-yellow stripes, over the soaring art deco design of architects Gertrude and Irving Murrow and engineer Joseph B Strauss, which, luckily, won the day.
As far as best views go, cinema buffs believe Hitchcock had it right: seen from below at Fort Point , the 1937 bridge induces a thrilling case of Vertigo . Fog aficionados prefer the north-end lookout at Marin’s Vista Point , to watch gusts billow through bridge cables like dry ice at a Kiss concert.
To see both sides of the Golden Gate debate, hike or bike the 1.7-mile span. MUNI bus 28 runs to the parking lot, and pedestrians and cyclists can cross the bridge on sidewalks.
