Editing Golden Gate Bridge (section)

===Opening festivities, and 50th and 75th anniversaries===
[[File:25th Anniversary Golden Gate Bridge Plaque b.jpg|thumb|150px|A plaque on the south tower commemorating the 25th anniversary of the bridge]]
[[File:GG-ftpoint-bridge-2 b.jpg|thumb|left|The Golden Gate Bridge and [[Fort Point, San Francisco|Fort Point]]]]
The bridge-opening celebration in 1937 began on May&nbsp;27 at 6:00{{nbsp}}a.m. and lasted for one week.<ref name=optdy>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6rgzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1e4HAAAAIBAJ&pg=5919%2C986451 |work=Lodi News-Sentinel |location=(California) |agency=United Press |title=Bay Bridge fete opens today |date=May 27, 1937 |page=1}}</ref><ref name="first person across">{{cite magazine | url=https://time.com/archive/6892596/transport-gate-party/ | title=Transport: Gate Party | magazine=Time | date=7 June 1937 | accessdate=18 February 2025}}</ref> The day before vehicle traffic was allowed, 200,000 people crossed either on foot or on roller skates.<ref name="two"/><ref name=trtggsr>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LhtWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=suMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4122%2C3915984 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=Thousands rush to Golden Gate |date=May 28, 1937 |page=1}}</ref> Donald Bryan, a student [[Sprint (running)|sprinter]] from the [[San Francisco Junior College]] (now the City College of San Francisco), was the first to make it across the bridge from end to end.<ref name="first person across"/> On opening day, Mayor [[Angelo Joseph Rossi|Angelo Rossi]] and other officials rode the ferry to Marin, then crossed the bridge in a motorcade past three ceremonial "barriers", the last a blockade of [[Beauty pageant|beauty queens]] who required Joseph Strauss to present the bridge to the Highway District before allowing him to pass. An official song, "[[There's a Silver Moon on the Golden Gate]]," was chosen to commemorate the event. Strauss wrote a poem that is now on the Golden Gate Bridge entitled "The Mighty Task is Done." The next day, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President Franklin D. Roosevelt]] pushed a button in Washington, D.C. signaling the official start of vehicle traffic over the Bridge at noon. Weeks of civil and cultural activities called "the Fiesta" followed. A statue of Strauss was moved in 1955 to a site near the bridge.<ref name="Owens"/>

As part of the fiftieth anniversary celebration in 1987, the Golden Gate Bridge district again closed the bridge to automobile traffic and allowed pedestrians to cross it on May&nbsp;24. This Sunday morning celebration attracted 750,000 to 1,000,000 people, and ineffective crowd control meant the bridge became congested with roughly 300,000 people, causing the center span of the bridge to flatten out under the weight.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_20695952/day-golden-gate-bridge-flattened |title=The Day the Golden Gate Bridge Flattened |author=Tung, Stephen |date=May 23, 2012 |work=San Jose Mercury News |access-date=January 17, 2016}}</ref><ref name=qmcas>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lPdVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fuEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6130%2C6367545 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=1 million celebrate a symbol |date=May 25, 1987 |page=1A}}</ref><ref name=hgbggss>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-LAzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jDIHAAAAIBAJ&pg=7001%2C3189935 |work=Lodi News-Sentinel |location=(California) |agency=UPI |title=Human gridlock brought Golden Gate Bridge to a standstill
|date=May 26, 1987 |page=3}}</ref> Although the bridge is designed to flex in that way under heavy loads, and was estimated not to have exceeded 40% of the yielding stress of the suspension cables,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gndec.ac.in/~librarian/book/Book%20Cds/25885/PDF/CASES/CABLES/GOLDEN_G.PDF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011090153/http://gndec.ac.in/~librarian/book/Book%20Cds/25885/PDF/CASES/CABLES/GOLDEN_G.PDF |archive-date=October 11, 2011 |title=The Golden Gate Bridge |author1 =Pollalis, Spiro N. |author2 =Otto, Caroline |year=1990 |publisher=Harvard Design School |access-date=April 3, 2011}}</ref> bridge officials stated that uncontrolled pedestrian access was not being considered as part of the 75th anniversary on Sunday, May 27, 2012,<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/26/us/golden-gate-crowd-made-bridge-bend.html |title=Golden Gate Crowd Made Bridge Bend |author=McCarthy, Terrence |date=May 26, 1987 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 3, 2011}}</ref><ref name="MIJ">{{cite web |url=http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_15588533 |title=Golden Gate Bridge officials nix walk for 75th anniversary |author=Prado, Mark |date=July 23, 2010 |work=Marin Independent Journal |access-date=April 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227010207/http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_15588533 |archive-date=December 27, 2010 }}</ref><ref name="GSA">{{cite web |url=http://goldengatebridge75.org/celebrate/golden-gate-festival.html |title=Golden Gate Festival :: Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary |work=Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy |access-date=March 21, 2012}}</ref> because of the additional law enforcement costs required "since [[September 11 attacks|9/11.]]"<ref name="WSJ-BayArea">{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304019404577418440018082040 |title=A Historian's Long View of Golden Gate Bridge |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=May 24, 2012 |access-date=August 31, 2013 |author=Fowler, Geoffrey A. |pages=A13C}}</ref> To commemorate the bridge's 75th anniversary, automated user-controlled [[Heliograph|solar beacons]] were temporarily installed atop the towers.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.berkeley.edu/2012/08/31/solar-beacon-will-bejewel-golden-gate-bridge-through-september/ | title=Solar Beacon will bejewel Golden Gate Bridge through September | work=UC Berkeley News | date=21 August 2012 | accessdate=14 February 2025 | author=Sanders, Roberts}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="190">
File:GoldenGateBridge openingday.jpg|A pedestrian poses at the old railing on opening day, 1937.
File:Golden Gate Bridge Opening - (1936).ogg|Opening of the Golden Gate Bridge
File:Invitation to Golden Gate Bridge opening, 1937.jpg|Official invitation to the opening of the bridge. This copy was sent to the City of [[Seattle]].
</gallery>