Open Up That Golden Gate (5/28/07)

It's one of the most photographed things on Earth and instantly identifies San Francisco, so as we note its 70th anniversary, here are eight things you might not know about the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

1. It isn't gold at all; it's International Orange.
2. It was opened to automobiles when President Franklin Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in the White House.
3. On its 50th anniversary, so many people crowded onto it that the span actually flattened.
4. It is estimated that someone jumps off of the Bridge every 15 days, almost always facing the city.
5. The Bridge's main cables each contain 25,572 separate wires and weigh 11,000 tons.
6. The concrete used in the construction could build two 10-foot-wide sidewalks from Chicago to Omaha.
7. High winds have closed the Bridge five times.
8. Each day, tidal flows send 390 billion gallons of water in motion under the Bridge.