A View through the Fog: Life as a High Steel Painter on the Golden Gate Bridge
“Heading southbound through the Robin Williams Tunnel, formerly the Waldo Tunnel, on the way to the Golden Gate Bridge humbles the soul nearly any morning as the strikingly beautiful San Francisco skyline greets workers and visitors alike. A privileged encounter with the sun and sea! On the left, the radiating orb rising over the East Bay Hills quietly lays its rays upon Alcatraz Island. On the right, the picturesque Marin Headlands quietly yield to the endless expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Scattered clouds in the sky above cast their silhouettes upon the towers of the Bridge.
On a foggy day, the Bridge develops its own distinct environment: a white mist creeps along the Bridge, slowly wrapping its arms around everyone and everything that moves, leading all into a shifting fog bank. This thick white wall, accompanied by the eerie call of the Bridge foghorns, gives the illusion that this mass of concrete and steel is perhaps a living entity.” – excerpt from A View from the Fog
A View through the Fog is compelling, poignant, and packed with both moving and hilarious anecdotes. All human life (and death) is here. With his own distinct voice, McGee opens the door on the dizzying world of the Golden Gate Bridge:
- the beauty of both nature and the bridge itself;
- the camaraderie and friction with colleagues; and
- the devastating tragedies of suicide jumpers.
He brings an entire community to the page with a thought-provoking and richly detailed memoir that will resonate with many readers, painting this world he knows in a way that gives readers the feeling they are on the Bridge with him.
A full-color book, with 18 marvelous photographs of the bridge.
Bob McGee was a painter on the Golden Gate Bridge for 12 years. This is a great collection of stories about his unique experiences with the bridge and his coworkers. His chapters on suicides and near-suicides touch the heart. He has a marvelous connection with the bridge, and his writings make the reader love it as he has. – Lorri Ungarretti, San Francisco historian
Bob McGee was born in Richmond, California and attended California State University Hayward. After college, he became a third-generation steel painter. He spent 20 years painting bridges in the Bay Area, the last 12 as a member of the Golden Gate Bridge paint crew. Bob retired in 2014 and is now a contributing writer at Bicoastal Digest Magazine, with his work also appearing in Marin Magazine, and The Argonaut, Journal of the San Francisco Historical Society. He now lives with his wife in Valley Springs, California.
Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
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