Golden Gate Bridge

The Lone Sailor

Posted by Cindy on December 7, 2015

Dec 072015

Golden Gate Bridge
Vista Point
Marine County Side

This statue, in the center of Vista Point on the Marin County side of the Golden Gate Bridge, is a replica of the U.S. Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. by Stanley Bleifield

The Lone Sailor, represents a sailor’s last view of the West Coast as he sails out for duty at sea.

The attending plaque reads:

The Lone Sailor
This is a memorial to everyone who ever sailed out the Golden Gate in the service of their Country – in the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, the Merchant Marine.

There is also a quote by San Francisco Chronicle reporter Carl Nolte. “Here the sailor feels the first long roll of the sea, the beginning of the endless horizon that leads to the far Pacific,”

The Lone Sailor, along with his seabag was modeled on then Petty Officer 1st class Dan Maloney and was done in 1987.

Stanley Bleifeld (August 28, 1924 – March 26, 2011) was an American figurative sculptor.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Bleifeld’s best-known works include “The Lone Sailor” and “The Homecoming,” at the Navy Memorial, also baseball legends Satchel Paige and Roy Campanella at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

There is a circular deck surrounding the Lone Sailor designed by San Francisco landscape architect Fred Warnecke. The perimeter is marked by Sonoma fieldstone and four large ship’s lanterns. Below the Lone Sailor’s feet is a compass rose, its quadrants marked in different shades of granite cut at an Italian quarry.

The four sea services are also recognized with separate bronze relief sculptures, surrounding the sailor. *

The $2million project was funded entirely by private donations. The area is maintained by Cal Trans but is also part of the National Park Service.

Amazarasti-No Hotoke

Posted by Cindy on February 8, 2013

Feb 082013

Japanese Tea Garden Golden Gate Park At the eastern end of Long Bridge, inside the Japanese Tea Garden sits this magnificent statue. It is “Amazarasti-no Hotoke” meaning “The Buddha that sits throughout the sunny and rainy weather without shelter”. The figure was cast in 1790 at Tajima, Nara Prefecture, on Honshu for the Taioriji Temple. It passed from one Japanese collector to the next until is was purchased by A. L. Gump in 1928. It sat in the downstairs Oriental Court of the Post Street Gump’s store until remodeling banished it to storage. When a wooden Buddha in the Garden Continue Reading

Fort Point the Best Vantage Point to View the Golden Gate Bridge

Posted by Cindy on January 5, 2013

Jan 052013

Fort Point the Best Vantage Point to View the Golden Gate Bridge

It took 116 years for Fort Point to become a National Historic Site, and its life along that road was a bumpy one. Construction on Fort Point began in 1854. Thanks to the California Gold Rush, commerce was booming in San Francisco, and it was important that the portal through which valuable cargo flowed, the San Francisco Bay, was protected. The Fort, as it is configured today, is how it was originally envisioned. In 1857 a reporter for the Daily Alta California described the workmanship at Fort Point as “solid masonry of more than ordinary artistic skill which meets the eye at Continue Reading

Joseph B. Strauss, Golden Gate Bridge Engineer

Posted by Cindy on August 24, 2012

Aug 242012

Golden Gate Bridge Joseph Strauss (1870-1938) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to an artistic family of German origin, having a mother who was a pianist and a father, Raphael Strauss, who was a writer and painter. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1892. Strauss graduated with a degree in economics and business. He was hospitalized while in college and his hospital room overlooked the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge. This sparked his interest in bridges. Upon graduating from the University of Cincinnati, Strauss worked at the Office of Ralph Modjeski, a firm which specialized in building bridges. Continue Reading

Posted by Cindy on May 31, 2011

May 312011

Golden Gate Bridge Plaza San Francisco Side This is a piece of the cable that holds up the Golden Gate Bridge. I have loved this piece since I first laid eyes on it. The sign tells you that the length of one cable is 7640 feet, the diameter is 36 3/8 inches, there are 27, 572 wires in each cable (which is what you are looking at in the end there) they used 80,000 MILES of wire, and the weight of the cable is 24, 700 tons. I think the fact that you are looking at the ends of 27,572 Continue Reading

Golden Gate Bridge – Fort Point

Posted by Cindy on May 29, 2011

May 292011

Fort Point Golden Gate Bridge The building at the bottom of this picture is Fort Point. Many people look down upon this structure when they walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, but they never go to visit, which is a shame. Fort Point was completed just before the American civil war. Its purpose was to protect San Francisco harbor from Confederate and foreign attack during and after the U.S. Civil War. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began work on Fort Point in 1853. Plans specified that the lowest tier of artillery be as close as possible to water Continue Reading

Golden Gate Bridge – Hopper’s Hands

Posted by Cindy on May 28, 2011

May 282011

Fort Point Golden Gate Bridge These are Hopper’s Hands. This plaque is at Fort Point, under the Golden Gate Bridge on the San Francisco side. The area is a turn around spot for people running the Presidio area, and slapping the hands is a tradition. Hopper’s hands has a great story, that I am sure most runners aren’t even aware of. Ken Hopper is an Iron Worker on the Golden Gate Bridge. Iron workers often agree to train in suicide prevention and rescue on the bridge. Ken is one of those guys. He is one of the many unsung heroes Continue Reading