The Golden Gate bridge, with its soaring art deco design, its ability to sway 27.5 feet in high winds, and its arches posed against the backdrop of the sea, more than any other monument symbolizes San Francisco. It spans a submerged cleft in the coastal mountain range, dubbed the "Golden Gate" by prospectors on their way to California's gold fields in the mid-1800s. When completed in 1937, it was the world's longest suspension bridge (1.86 miles) and the highest structure west of New York (745 feet). Its chief engineered was Joseph Strauss.

Its daily load of approximately 100,000 cars is supported by cables that are three feet in diameter. When the thick fog pours in rendering it invisible from land, the bridge's distinct color, "international orange," keeps seagulls from crashing into it.

The Golden Gate bridge, in San Francisco.