May 27, 1937: The Golden Gate Bridge Opens

May 27, 1937: The Golden Gate Bridge opens in San Francisco. Between the opening of the George Washington Bridge in 1931 and the opening of the the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in 1964, both in New York City, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. With its towers 746 feet high, it was also the tallest, and remains the tallest in America to this day.

It connects San Francisco with Marin County to the north, via U.S. Route 101 and California Route 1, replacing ferry service that had been in place since 1820. Its southern end is on the grounds of The Presidio, a former Spanish military installation that the U.S. Army kept as one until 1994. It is now a public park.

Irving Morrow was the main architect. He also chose "International Orange" as its color, to make it easier for ships to see through San Francisco's famous fog. The U.S. Navy, cognizant of shipping issues, originally suggested that it be painted with black and yellow stripes, which would have rendered it rather ridiculous. The paint is continuously applied: An urban legend that actually turned out to be true is that if a painting crew started at one end, by the time they got to the other end, the first end would already need to be repainted.

That orange paint makes the Golden Gate the most distinctive bridge in the world, and the most familiar symbol of San Francisco, more than the cable cars, Fisherman's Wharf, or the Haight-Ashbury "hippie" district. But it also makes it San Francisco's answer to New York's Statue of Liberty and Chrysler Building: Whenever there's a disaster movie with a scene set in the city, the shock value means that it's going to be destroyed:

* It Came from Beneath the Sea, 1955, by a giant octopus.

* Superman, 1978, damaged by an earthquake caused by Lex Luthor's missile, and Superman has to save a bus from falling off it.

* Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a 1999 episode, damaged by a Breen attack on Earth. In the Star Trek universe, The Presidio became the site of Starfleet Command and Starfleet Academy, hence a target for an enemy attack. The Golden Gate has been shown in several Trek productions, starting in 1979 with Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

* The Core, 2003, by unfiltered solar radiation from the Sun.

* 10.5, 2004, an earthquake much bigger than the iconic ones that struck San Francisco in real life in 1906 and 1989.

* X-Men: The Last Stand, 2006, by the supervillain Magneto.

* Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus, 2009, by the fight between the monsters.

* Monsters vs. Aliens, 2009, in a battle with a probe.

* Meteor Storm, 2010, by a meteor shower.

* Pacific Rim, 2013, by a monster.

* Godzilla, 2014, by the titular monster.

* San Andreas, 2015, by an earthquake-induced tsunami.

* Terminator Genisys, 2015, by a missile.

* Sharknado 5: Global Swarming, 2017, by the titular disaster.

The Golden Gate Bridge also figures into the climax of the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill, and is shown in the last scene of the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire. In the 1999 film Bicentennial Man, a scene set over 100 years in the future shows the bridge double-decked.

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May 27, 1937 was a Thursday. These games were played in what would later be called Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 5-4 at Yankee Stadium. Hank Greenberg and Pete Fox hit home runs for the Tigers, and Lou Gehrig hit one for the Yankees. Fox singled off Johnny Murphy to win the game in the top of the 13th inning.

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 8-7 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Senators beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-1 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 11-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Boston Bees beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-7 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. This was during the Braves' 1936-40 rebranding that never caught on.

* The St. Louis Browns and the Boston Red Sox were rained out at Fenway Park in Boston. This game was made up on June 27, as part of a doubleheader. The Red Sox swept it, 8-0 and 11-7.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates were rained out at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. This game was made up on August 3, as part of a doubleheader. The Pirates swept it, 5-4 and 10-4.