Photo of the Day
The Official Pedestrian Ticket for the opening day of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937
Golden Gate Bridge Opens First to Pedestrians May 27, 1937 San Francisco, California On a typical cold and foggy May morning, an estimated 200,000 people came to celebrate the pedestrian opening of the Golden Gate Bridge. Autos will be allowed to cross at a later date. By 6am, the starting hour of Pedestrians Day, 18,000 people were waiting to cross the span from both the San Francisco and the Marin sides. When the hour struck, foghorns gave great blasts, the toll gates opened and the young and eager, mostly high school students -- ran or walked out onto the bridge. During the day, thousands of people competed to be the first to cross the bridge in some unique manner. Donald Bryan, a sprinter from San Francisco Junior College, was the first person to cross the entire span. People roller-skated, walked on stilts, walked backwards, walked dogs and cats, tap-danced, rode on unicycles, played harmonicas and tubas, all setting first-time records. That evening there was spectacular production, "The Span of Gold", a musical pageant of California history. "Photo courtesy of Golden Gate Bridge, www.goldengatebridge.org"
Americana
The Warner Brothers move west and set up their West Coast Studios in 1919
In 1903, the four brothers Albert, Sam, Harry, and Jack Warner began in the film business as traveling exhibitors, moving throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania with their portable projector. By 1907, they were operating the Cascade Theatre in New Castle, Pennsylvania, with Albert and Harry selling tickets, Sam ran the hand-crank projector while Jack sang “illustrated” songs during the intermissions to sister Rose's piano accompaniment. Within the year, they had opened two more theaters in New Castle.
They soon realized that the large profits from movies would come not just from distribution and exhibition, but also from production, and they moved to California and established a small production base in Culver City.
Their first full-scale picture, My Four Years in Germany, premiered in 1918 and grossed an amazing (for that time) $1.5 million.
Later that year, they purchased property at 5842 Sunset Boulevard for $25,000, and the Warner Bros. West Coast Studios was born.
They incorporated their fledgling movie company on April 4, 1923, and in 1924, they created the world's first “four-legged superstar,” Rin Tin Tin. In 1927 they released the world’s first “talkie,” The Jazz Singer, and set a tone of innovation and influence that would become synonymous with the name Warner Brothers.
From Barbie and Ken to Hot Wheels cars, California-based Mattel is the largest toymaker in the world
Classic Coney Island Image
America
Grand Central Station
Documentary of the Day
MAN ON THE MOON | narrated by Walter Cronkite | July 16, 1969
Collectible Editions
You have a choice of three versions of our collectible edition to select from. 52-pages, 100-pages (special oversized edition) and our 104-page version (hard cover). Enjoy your stroll down memory lane!
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