San Francisco › Places and landmarks
Golden Gate Bridge
The orange suspension bridge across the mouth of the bay, about five kilometres west of the game’s map.
Photo: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Golden Gate is the strait between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, given its name by the explorer John C. Frémont in 1846. The bridge across it opened on 27 May 1937, after four years of work in fog, wind and strong currents. Its main span of 1,280 metres was the longest in the world until 1964.
Its two towers stand 227 metres above the water. The colour is called International Orange: the architect Irving Morrow chose it because it stands out in the fog and goes well with the hills round it. A team of painters keeps touching it up all year.
The bridge lies at the north-west corner of the city, too far west for the piece of San Francisco in the game. On a clear day you can see its towers from the top of Coit Tower. Ride through San Francisco in 3D ›
More in San Francisco
Transamerica PyramidThe white pyramid of the Financial District, 260 metres tall, the sign of San Francisco’s skyline since 1972.
Ferry BuildingThe ferry terminal at the foot of Market Street, with its clock tower after the Giralda of Seville, now a food hall.
Coit TowerThe slim concrete tower on top of Telegraph Hill, built in 1933 with the money of Lillie Hitchcock Coit.
Dragon GateThe gate into Chinatown on Grant Avenue at Bush Street, with green tiled roofs, dragons and two stone lions.
ChinatownThe oldest Chinatown in North America, along Grant Avenue and Stockton Street, with lanterns over the street.
Union SquareThe square of the big shops and hotels, named after the rallies for the Union before the Civil War.
Cable carsThe last cable cars in the world still running in city streets, pulled up the hills by a cable under the road.
Washington SquareThe green heart of North Beach, the Italian quarter, before the white church of Saints Peter and Paul.
City LightsThe bookshop of the Beat poets on Columbus Avenue, which published Allen Ginsberg’s Howl in 1956.
Lombard StreetThe block of Lombard Street on Russian Hill with eight hairpin bends between flower beds, west of the game’s map.
AlcatrazThe rocky island in the bay, a federal prison from 1934 to 1963, built so that no one could swim away.
Sourdough breadThe sour, chewy bread of San Francisco, baked since the Gold Rush from a living dough.