When you think of San Francisco, the first thing that comes to mind is the Golden Gate Bridge.

I initially thought it was just a pretty bridge painted red. But as I looked into it, I found that this bridge has many interesting stories.

First of all, the name is quite misleading.

Some people think that the name Golden Gate refers to the bridge being gold in color, but that's not the case at all. The strait between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean was called the Golden Gate Strait long before the bridge was built. In the 1840s, U.S. Army officer John C. Frémont named the strait Golden Gate, which is believed to be the origin of the name.

Also, the color of the bridge that we think of as red is not exactly red.

The official name is 'International Orange'.

It wasn't originally planned to be painted this color. The steel framework brought in from the steel company was coated with a reddish primer for rust prevention, and architect Irving Morrow thought that the color blended beautifully with the surrounding landscape. It stood out well against the sea and sky. Eventually, a similar shade called International Orange became the official color.

The size of the bridge is much larger in person than it appears in photos.

Its total length is about 1.7 miles, or 2.7 km, and the towers rise about 227 meters above the water. When it was completed in 1937, it set a world record for the longest main span at 4,200 feet between the towers. The weight of the bridge itself, excluding the concrete anchors, is about 380 million kg.

But what fascinated me the most were the cables.

Inside each of the massive main cables on either side, there are a staggering 27,572 thin wires. If you were to connect those wires end to end, it would stretch more than three times around the Earth. From a distance, they just look like two thick lines, but in reality, they are a collection of wires.

There are even more astonishing stories from the construction process.

In the 1930s, fatalities on large construction sites were much more common than they are today, but during the Golden Gate construction, a massive safety net was installed beneath the bridge. In fact, 19 workers fell and survived thanks to this net, and they were nicknamed the 'Halfway-to-Hell Club', which translates to 'people who went halfway to hell and came back'.

The name is funny, but considering the situation, it's not funny at all.

During the construction, 11 lives were lost, and 10 of those were in a single accident in 1937 when scaffolding fell through the safety net.

The fog that is a hallmark of the Golden Gate isn't just for atmosphere. Fog is created when humid air passes over the cold California current, and since the bridge opened in 1937, fog horns have been installed for ships. Even today, if the fog is thick, you can hear the distinctive low horn sound.

Another interesting fact.

The cost to build this incredible bridge was about $35 million at the time. What's even more interesting is that most of the construction costs were not covered by the federal government but were financed through bonds. The last construction bond was paid off in 1971, with the principal of $35 million and nearly $39 million in interest paid from bridge toll revenues.

So, the Golden Gate Bridge is not just a pretty red bridge that looks good in photos.

It was the largest civil engineering project in the world at the time, starting in the midst of the Great Depression, taking over four years to complete, and enduring fierce currents, winds, and fog.

The next time I visit San Francisco and see this bridge, I probably won't just pass by saying, "Wow, it's beautiful" like before.

Thinking about how there are over 27,000 wires in that thick cable, I will likely keep looking at the cables first.