Bay Bridge Construction 1935

This 1935 silent documentary, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Construction, shot in black-and-white 16mm, offers great historical footage of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge’s progress in the 1930s. Spanning Oakland and San Francisco, it captures workers perched on steel beams, cranes hoisting girders into place, and the bridge’s evolving skeleton across the Bay. A pre-war testament to engineering ambition, it showcases labor and innovation during the Depression, connecting two cities amid a transformative era, though safety conditions remain a silent backdrop.