After almost 17 years with a dull, flat look, Vincent Thomas Bridge will get a new paint job that promises to restore the shimmer and glimmer of That Old

Maybe it was no accident that Bill Hansel’s first jolt in Southern California was the Vincent Thomas Bridge, sparkling at sunrise like Oz, streaking emerald across the sea. Hansel, a bridge painter from Long Island and the son of a bridge painter, happened to be driving into San Pedro on that morning in October 1981.

“When the sun came up in L.A.,” says Hansel, now 45, “there was this bridge. It was, like, wow. I’m looking for the yellow brick road.”

How could he ever part with that love-at-first-sight glow? He couldn’t--he got a job painting the landmark two years after spotting it--and in a love story as Hollywood as Emerald City, that bridge would break his heart and then unbreak it.

In late 1983, his heartache began when the state switched paints on the bridge to comply with new environmental regulations. As part of the paint crew, Hansel had a hand in robbing the span of its signature iridescent green and converting it to Federal Color No. 595B, a green with the charisma of cash that coats scores of bridges across the country.

Cue the sun, almost 17 years later, and cut to Hansel, who is now the bridge’s paint supervisor for the California Department of Transportation. Last month, his crew started the 12-year job of repainting the bridge in . . guess what color?

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On a recent morning, Hansel, who has a long, blond ponytail, is squinting into the sun at a stretch of cable on the bridge. Part of the cable is shimmering in iridescent green, putting the old, flat green to shame. (Picture the difference between a shiny penny and a dull one.)

“It is gorgeous,” says Hansel, a married father of two. “Gorgeous.”

The bridge is returning to its original green glow, thanks in part to Caltrans chemists in Sacramento. Since 1989, when Hansel became a supervisor, he had nagged the chemists to design a paint that meets state standards and captures the glory of the old green. The new color will be unique to the Vincent Thomas Bridge, with a color as distinctive as the Golden Gate Bridge’s.

Caltrans’ old paints had too many oil-based solvents that react in sunlight and form ozone, a major component of smog. In late 1983, as a result of tougher regulations adopted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, Caltrans switched to water-based paints. That left the Vincent Thomas Bridge with a flat green look.

Caltrans chemists experimented with water-based paints but could not come up with an iridescent green for the bridge, says Andy Rogerson, a supervisor in Caltrans’ chemistry lab. Also, he notes, how the paint looks takes a back seat to requirements such as how it withstands fog, sun, bird droppings and other elements that are no friends of bridges.

But with Hansel riding him, and with advances in paint technology, Rogerson assigned chemical testing engineer Barry Marcks to work on the bridge’s color last year. Marcks studied samples from the bridge’s original paint, which had been formulated to work with the architect’s design. (The 6,050-foot bridge, which connects San Pedro to Terminal Island, opened in November 1963.)

Marcks, who had other projects pending, hit upon a formula seven months later and mailed a sample to Hansel’s office on Terminal Island. Hansel took the paint chips outside to look at them in the sun. Marcks had nailed it.

The new paint costs about $24 a gallon, about $7 a gallon more than the flat green paint because iridescent pigments are more expensive.

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In the next 12 years, bridge painting crews will use about 45,000 gallons of paint; which means the total cost of paint alone will jump about 41% (Paint costs vary each year in the competitive bidding process).

That’s a small price to pay to restore a landmark, Hansel argues. What’s more, he says, area homeowners had complained when the bridge lost its luster.

“This was the way it was designed,” he says of the iridescent green. “We owe it to the public to get back to it.”

In fact, one group of homeowners has fought for 12 years to illuminate the bridge in another way. The Vincent Thomas Bridge Lighting Committee has raised more than $400,000 to light the bridge at night, says chairman Louis Dominguez. By year’s end, the group hopes to raise enough money and address concerns of environmentalists who worry the lights could confuse migratory birds.

Long-time locals dote on the bridge--the site of major community gatherings--as a reminder of a once-vibrant harbor life. “Even though we have lost the canning industry and the ship-building industry, and one employee after another is leaving the area, the bridge is a symbol of hope,” Dominguez says.

Andrew Mardesich, who grew up in San Pedro, remembers the way the bridge looked when it opened.

“It had a life to it,” he says. “You see a sparkle when you’re driving by and the reflection on the beams and cable. It gives you a sense of warmth.”

Bridge crews are painting the 385-foot-tall towers first so passersby will notice the sparkle.

As a supervisor, Hansel doesn’t paint anymore. But on this job, he will pick up a paint gun again--the last time was when he had to help dull the bridge’s sheen--and, cue orchestral swell, the color will steal his heart once more.