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MK atop the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1987 shooting photos for a story on the 50th anniversary of the completion of the bridge.  Access was via a (very) small elevator that runs up a shaft inside the tower column.   Photo by George Sumner.

 Twenty-five years ago, on May 24, 1987, an estimated 300,000 pedestrians walked onto the Golden Gate Bridge – after it is was closed to vehicular traffic – to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the completion of the historic span.  As a freelance photographer for the Los Angeles Times,  I had the best seat in the house for one of the most spectacular and breathtaking events in Bay Area history.  Circling in a helicopter minus it’s doors, we flew between 600-800 feet above the road bed.  With one foot on the skid I was able to lean out and shoot unobstructed using two cameras – one loaded black-and-white and the other color negative. People were packed cheek-to-jowl for as far as the eye could see.  This image ran on the front page of the next day’s paper.

May 27, 1987

© Martin Klimek

Shot & processed with the iPhone 4

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