The Bay Bridge gets its bling
The Oakland Bay Bridge, with its double deck, opened in November 1936, six months before the Golden Gate Bridge, and has always been considered the latter’s ugly cousin. Then in 2013, the eastern span, from Treasure Island to Oakland, was recast into a great white swan of a bridge, and the western span—which offers a terrific view of the city from the top deck as you drive across—became the unlikely canvas for one of the most ambitious light sculptures ever made.
The man responsible for this luminescent face-lift is artist Leo Villareal. His work, which you’ll find in such venerable institutions as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., features LED lights, which are controlled through a custom-designed computer program.
Info
Address Pier 14, San Francisco, CA, 94105, thebaylights.illuminatethearts.org | Public Transport Light rail: T-Third, N-Judah (Embarcadero & Folsom St stop) | Hours The Bay Lights are lit sunset–2am| Tip Savoring oysters at Water Bar (399 Embarcadero) is the perfect complement to an enjoyable view of the Bay Lights.
In 2013, he transformed the north side of the bridge’s drab countenance using 25,000 separate lights strung 12 inches apart along the vertical suspension cables. The lights appear to float up and down the cables as they blink on and off in randomized patterns. The effect this creates has a mesmerizing musical quality, as the installation blends in with the headlights of the bridge traffic and the high-rise windows of downtown San Francisco. It lends the entire waterfront a jewel-like ambience.
Electricity for the project costs about $30 a day and the lights can be set to different levels of brightness. The lights are visible from many angles along the waterfront from sunset until 2am, but are especially dazzling when viewed from the public deck behind the Ferry Building, on the Embarcadero. For safety reasons, the light show cannot be seen by motorists driving on the bridge.
The Bay Lights have become so popular that the installation will burn long past its original expiration date of 2015. Funds raised will transform the spectacle from temporary to permanent.
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