If you've ever driven west on University Ave towards Hillcrest, you've driven under this bridge...
known as the Georgia Street Bridge which is 100 years old as of this year and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is an "open spandrel" arched bridge, modeled after the Mission Revival Style.
The bridge is on the outer edge of North Park right before it turns into Hillcrest.
Here is the northwest corner of University and Park. With our drinks in hand, we made the short walk over to the ramps that led to the bridge, which was built to originally accomodate street car lines. The grade of the hill was too steep to have an intersection so a bridge was built instead.
View on the bridge facing westward:
Yes, that is my drink set unceremoniously on the bridge...
The bridge, while historic, has been deemed as "seismically unfit" by Caltrans. There are talks by the City Council to fix the. While on the bridge, I noticed many crumbling sections along the span and the arch.
View from the southwest side of the bridge. The tall building is a senior living high rise called Grace Tower. We saw some of the elderly residents out walking around that morning.
View from the southern ramp looking east...
On the northeast corner looking east towards University Ave...
On the northern ramp looking west...
Back on the northwestern side. It's neat that this bridge is still around a century later.
I hope that the city finds the funds to fix this bridge. It was kind of sad seeing all of the crumbling parts and I did feel kind of nervous walking across the bridge!
A short video of the bridge:
More info about the Georgia Street Bridge at these sites:
Bridge Hunter and wikimapia, San Diego History, and Waymarking.com
Articles:
"Caltrans deems Georgia Street Bridge deficient" SD Reader, Nov. 1, 2011
"Georgia Street Bridge future under examination" SD Uptown New, Sept. 20, 2012
"The Bridges of San Diego County" SD Union Tribune, Sept. 1, 2013
Before heading out to lunch, we made a quick stop at our favorite bookstore, where yes, TC sought out her favorite bookstore cat, Bart...
I found a used piano book for $12...
It had the Bee Gees "How Deep is your Love" in it! Well, that and a bunch of other songs I wanted to learn to play...
In addition to the piano book, a few seconds before we were about to leave the store, I thought I would look at the horror section to see if this particular Stephen King compilation was there...
and by golly, it was! "Different Seasons" (1982) is a compilation of four short stories by King, which include several that became movies, such as , "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" (a great movie!), "Apt Pupil" (pretty chilling that movie was), and more famously, "The Body" which was the novella upon which "Stand by Me" was based.
I'd read the book years ago but never owned it. Hey, it was $3!
Also $3 each were these earrings at the folk/art store, Back from Tomboctou.
Some of these may end up being future gifts for some friends of mine. The price was right and the earrings were pretty vibrant and unique. I might end up keeping the that purple teardrop pair!
Our next stop was in City Heights for a red-meat free lunch...
2 comments:
Different Seasons is one of my favorite collections from King. I love his stuff. The last book I read of his was "Full Dark, No Stars". Intense and full of revenge.
It's also one of my faves. Every story in the compilation is chilling and dark. OMG, "The Breathing Method" just creeps me out; same with "Apt Pupil"!
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