Larry Hnetka Goes HMmmm

Photo Theme: METAL

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Vancouver's Lion's Gate Bridge - built in 1937/38, the bridge consists of three suspended steel spans and a long north viaduct. The main span is 472 metres, with a ship's clearance of 61 metres. In 1986 the Guinness family, as a gift to Vancouver, purchased decorative lights that make it a distinctive nighttime landmark.

Click on the photo for a larger view and to read the caption.

This week’s theme is METAL.

The Lion’s Gate Bridge, a Vancouver icon, is a steel suspension span bridge. The main span is 472 metres with a ship’s clearance of 61 metres. Having lousy sea legs, this was my first opportunity to see the underside of the bridge from the deck of a cruise ship.

Here’s the background to my photo this week.

I am on the Pacific Princess (yes, the Love Boat) on route from Vancouver to Los Angeles on a 3-day repositioning cruise following the Vancouver/Alaska cruise season. We boarded early, scouted out the ship and landed in one of the many bars on board. Of course we said sure to the “supersize” cocktails and gulped them down like slurpies for the next two hours.

The ship set sail at about 5:30 p.m. Having scoped out the best locales earlier, we managed to stagger and hang onto a railing at the farthest possible fore end of the ship.

Then I took the photo above. It was a Kodak moment. But a shattered Kodak moment.

Just as I snapped the shutter, from speakers somewhere very near our drunken heads blared the sappy Love Boat tv show opening song. In case you may have missed that memorable tune, I’ve included it in the YouTube clip below.

We laughed so hard we barely stayed on deck to sail under the bridge. I remember seeing the underside of the bridge but then I had to go and have a rest in my stateroom because the world was spinning round and round for some reason.

For more background about Vancouver’s Lion’s Gate Bridge click on the link to continue reading this post.

Vancouver’s Lion’s Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge (with only 3 traffic lanes) that connects the City of Vancouver with the north shore municipalities of North Vancouver and West Vancouver. The term “Lions’ Gate” reflects the Lions, a pair of mountain peaks north of Vancouver.

Alfred James Towle Taylor, the owner of the provincial franchise to build the bridge, did not have the finances to purchase the necessary large sections of property in North Vancouver and West Vancouver. However, he was able to convince the Guinness family (of the Irish beer fame) to invest in the land on the north shore of Burrard Inlet. They purchased 4,700 acres (16 km²) of West Vancouver mountainside through a syndicate called British Pacific Properties Ltd.

Construction began on March 31, 1937. After one and a half years and a cost of $5,873,837.17 (CAD), it opened to traffic on November 14, 1938. A toll of 25 cents was charged for each car. On January 20, 1955, the Guinness family sold the bridge to the province for $5,959,060, and in 1963, the tolls were dropped.

Essentially by underwriting the bridge, the Guinness family ensured a direct route to the exclusive and still highly desirable British Properties enclave of West Vancouver. So not only did they profit when they sold the bridge, the real estate purchases in British Properties made the bridge investment a win-win for the Guinness’.

For a larger view, click on these archival photos
from the McCord Museum website.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 3:53:59 AM and is filed under JOURNAL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.