Golden Gates They’re Not : Several cities have famous bridges, but Los Angeles isn’t among them. The city’s spans, and there are about 1,200 of them, never have gotten much respect.

Think of great cities, and the famous spans that decorate their skylines: London and the Tower Bridge, New York and the Brooklyn Bridge, Lake Havasu and the London Bridge, San Francisco and the Golden Gate, Los Angeles and the . . er . . . uh.

Well, there’s the 7th Street Bridge, offering an unmatched view of the concrete-lined Los Angeles River as well as some railroad yards.

Like the Golden Gate, the 7th Street Bridge had an anniversary last year--its 60th--and ranks as one of the oldest in the city, but no celebration was held, possibly because city records don’t say what date it opened.

Of course, bridges here have never received much respect, even the few that actually cross water.

‘Shame and Disgrace’

An 1871 editorial in the Los Angeles Star newspaper complained:

“It is a shame and disgrace that a city of the size and wealth of Los Angeles has not a bridge--not even a decent footbridge across the Los Angeles River. The abominable abortion which is now straggling across the river should at once be removed.”

In the 1960s, opening ceremonies for the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro had to be postponed three times before state officials said they could attend (and then-Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown was still a no-show for the dedication).

Movie-makers haven’t really helped the image. Glamorous Kim Novak is drawn to the Golden Gate in “Vertigo”; Los Angeles’ 4th Street Bridge gets an attack of zombie pimps in “Hollywood Shuffle.”

Statistically, Los Angeles ranks as one of the nation’s leaders with about 1,200 bridges listed in the city computer (not including the Collapsing Bridge on the Universal Studios Tour).

But most are gray bridges over troubled motorists--freeway overpasses, whose “simplicity,” critic John Pastier once noted, “gives an impression of insensitivity more often than it gives one of elegance.” Actually, the city does boast some scenic spans, ranging from the turreted Franklin Avenue (Shakespeare) Bridge in Los Feliz and the L-shaped 4th Street Bridge near Boyle Heights to the Spanish-influenced Macy Street Bridge and the high-arched City Mall footbridge downtown.

Then there are the low-pitched Venice canal crossings, age 81, the oldest functioning bridges in the city. Once, gondoliers and silver-prowed boats imported from Italy passed beneath.

Stephen Mikesell, an environmental planner for Caltrans who is writing a book on the bridges of California, said: “After I started researching, I was quite frankly surprised there were so many historic bridges in Los Angeles. You just don’t associate them with L.A.”

“I’ll tell you how much I appreciate the Shakespeare Bridge--I often walk to my business so I can pass over it,” said Chris Hershey, owner of a design firm, giving the ultimate testament of a Southern Californian. “It’s like stepping into the past.”

No one knows exactly how the Bard’s name became attached to the 62-year-old landmark. “It’s one of the unsolved mysteries of place names in L.A.,” said Alma Carlisle, an architect for the city.

The most logical theory seems to be that the sobriquet derives from its design as well as other local geographical names (St. George Street, Ivanhoe District) that smack of Olde England.

Legend has that it was built by Cecil B. DeMille or Walt Disney, both nearby residents, for some cinematic purpose. Actually, its Gothic-style architecture--the steeple-like turrets and the classical balustrade (hand rails)--was the work of a city engineer, J. C. Wright.

“Back then,” said Tom La Bonge, a bridge buff and press aide to City Councilman John Ferraro, “people put some thought into these things.”

In contrast to the Shakespeare, the derivation of Studio City’s unloved Singing Bridge was all too apparent. When automobiles traversed the unusual grilled deck of the Colfax Avenue span over the Los Angeles River, it emitted a sound that was likened to that of “a weird contralto.” So many complaints resulted that the grillwork was filled in with concrete in 1956. End of celebrityhood.

Suicide Bridge

The grimmest local nickname--Suicide Bridge--was hung on the 75-year-old Colorado Street Bridge in nearby Pasadena after a series of fatal leaps from there in the 1930s.

The virtual anonymity of Los Angeles’ crossings, architect and lecturer Arthur Golding said, stems from their limited roles today.

“They’re not symbols of the city, such as the Golden Gate,” Golding said. “They aren’t public destinations themselves. Some bridges in Italy are lined with shops, for instance. And they (Los Angeles’ bridges) don’t make a great urban access to, say, a church (as the bridges in Paris do).”

In addition, he pointed out, in Los Angeles it isn’t possible to appreciate the bridges and their great supporting arches from the water, as fanciers can in other cities.

People have started to take a bit more notice of the bridges lately, however.

Aside from Mikesell’s project, a second book about city bridges by Golding and USC architectural historian Deborah Robbins will feature a section on Los Angeles’ offerings.

Want to Light Cables

Meanwhile, a citizens’ committee is trying to raise funds to light the cables on the Vincent Thomas Bridge at night.

Unquestionably scenic, the mile-long, 185-foot-tall suspension bridge is, however, somewhat hidden at the southern end of the city, where it connects San Pedro and Terminal Island. “I’m always surprised at how few people seem to be aware of it,” critic-author David Gebhard said.

It was the first bridge in California named as a monument to a living person--its chief backer, Assemblyman Vincent Thomas (who was later defeated for reelection). About 22,000 cars cross it daily--tight-rope artist Steve McPeak trod its longest cable in 1976--and an intrepid six-man team of painters freshen up some part of its green surface every working day of the year.

Caltrans is planning a gala celebration on Nov. 6 for the 25th anniversary of the Vincent Thomas. No, Gov. George Deukmejian hasn’t RSVP’d to his invitation yet.

Another bridge attracting some attention is the Glendale-Hyperion (south of Griffith Park), which landed a cameo role in the current movie, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”

Improvement Project

Councilman Ferraro also recently pushed through a landscape improvement project for the Hyperion, which is distinguished by its graceful arches and octagonal pylons. The 60-year-old bridge will be enhanced by nearby beds of flowers in red, white and blue, as well as by cobblestone surfacing. A 30-foot flag pole will also be installed, a reminder that the Hyperion was built as a memorial for servicemen who lost their lives in World War I.

The earliest bridges across the Los Angeles River were wooden, and no match for a good flood.

The approaches at each end of the 1st Street bridge were knocked out during a heavy storm in 1886, trapping two horses in the middle. The animals were fed daily by a rescue party in a rowboat until the structure was repaired.

The pride of the town was Macy Street’s covered bridge that spanned the river from 1870 to 1904. A public-spirited taxidermist who lived at the eastern end put out coal lamps each night to light it.

The only holdover from those days is the 98-year-old walkway from North Broadway over the railroad tracks east of Chinatown. Once used by bad guy Alan Ladd in the movie, “This Gun for Hire,” it has been closed for several years.

Distinctive Features

The current Macy Street span was one of a number of concrete bridges built across the river in the 1920s and 1930s to accommodate the growing population to the east.

Each of the crossings was decorated with distinctive features meant to catch the eye of pedestrians or slow-moving drivers. The Washington Boulevard Bridge has colorful friezes depicting various phases of bridge-building activity, the 6th Avenue has dramatic steel arches overhead, and the 4th Street has stately concrete portals, or gateways, as well as ornamental benches and stairways.

Now it’s rare to find a pedestrian on any of them.

“The 7th Street bridge had all kinds of foot traffic back in the ‘30s,” recalled Carl Fricke Jr., whose father founded the Taverner & Fricke Paper Co. downtown in 1933. “There was a Harvey House depot near there that supplied the trains, and the Pullman porters would come to work over the bridge. People used to like to stand on the bridges and watch the trains (pass underneath), too.”

John Kinsling, a retired Los Angeles police commander, still remembers a bridge-watcher he came across on the Colorado-Hyperion 52 years ago.

Youngster’s Head Stuck

“We got a call that a youngster watching the cars on Riverside Drive had gotten his head stuck in the (decorative guard rail of the) bridge,” he said. “We had to call the Fire Department. They put a hook-and-ladder below and another fireman went over the side and hung by ropes. Finally, they put some Vaseline-type stuff on his ears and they pressed his ears against his head with something like a putty knife, and pulled him out.”

The decorative openings in that guard rail, which cracked in later years, have since been filled in with concrete.

Some locals were dismayed, but, as Kinsling pointed out: “I guess no heads are going to get stuck in there any more.”