# SF Bay Bridge Light Display Was Shut Down... It's Back! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 13, 2023, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-bay-bridge-light-display-was-shut-down-its-back/981093 "2023-03-13T03:28:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-bay-bridge-light-display-was-shut-down-its-back/981093/1 "2023-03-13T03:28:31Z")
Some may be aware that the art installation of thousands of LED lights on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge recently went dark with no word on if or when the display might ever return. Here’s a link. > **[Bay Bridge lights go dark after 10 years, millions needed to bring them back](https://www.ktvu.com/news/bay-bay-lights-go-dark-after-10-years-millions-needed-to-bring-them-back)** > > After ten years, the Bay Bridge lights display has been turned off, and it’s unknown when, or if, the lights will return.  (Sorry it’s written out but all the options like italics and hyperlinks are all missing from the site currently.) BUT TONIGHT THEY ARE BACK ON! What’s really weird is I can find absolutely NOTHING on the web about this. I only know it’s lit back up again because I can see it from all my windows. ETA: I just took a picture but I don’t want to set up a picture-sharing account on google or whatever just for this ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-bay-bridge-light-display-was-shut-down-its-back/981093/2 "2023-03-13T03:44:27Z")
this should be a [pic](https://photos.google.com/search/_tra_/photo/AF1QipOdVaAAc1DxlO7UvFXdSs8XV8a95FD-e9uFUczC) (I forget how to make it show up here in this post). Also, just to reiterate—the interesting thing to me, and the reson I started this thread–is NOT that the lights are back on (interesting if you’re in SF but otherwise???) but that I can find nothing about it. Nothing on Twitter or InstaFace or whatever. Nothing from any of the local media. And two of the main TV stations here (KPIX-5 and KGO-7) are headquarted within 100 yards of me so they also face right out onto the Bay and the Bridge. If I worked at either of them I would have immediately had the news up on the website. Wierd. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-bay-bridge-light-display-was-shut-down-its-back/981093/3 "2023-03-13T04:22:14Z")
KRON has a story on their site, the lights are coming on randomly by themselves, they aren’t supposed to be on. > **[Bay Bridge lights back on due to ‘glitch’](https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/bay-bridge-lights-back-on-after-week-long-hiatus/)** > > SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The Bay Bridge lights are back? Well, they are for now. A KRON4 traffic camera (view above) captured the Bay Bridge being lit up Sunday night during the 8 p.m. hour. Af… ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-bay-bridge-light-display-was-shut-down-its-back/981093/4 "2023-03-13T04:23:46Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > KRON has a story on their site, the lights are coming on randomly by themselves, they aren’t supposed to be on. Interesting. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-bay-bridge-light-display-was-shut-down-its-back/981093/5 "2023-03-13T04:24:53Z")
None of the other local channels seem to have anything so far. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-bay-bridge-light-display-was-shut-down-its-back/981093/6 "2023-03-13T04:45:15Z")
That’s a bummer that it’s a glitch. I always liked those lights, and they dressed up the workmanlike Bay Bridge. I’d heard on the news that the lights were shutting down and they were looking for donations to keep them on. From the thread title I thought they’d secured funding for the lights, but, alas, no. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-bay-bridge-light-display-was-shut-down-its-back/981093/7 "2023-03-13T04:49:14Z")
I took this six years ago, in October 2017. [![](https://i.imgur.com/Sxlt8WN.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/Sxlt8WN.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-bay-bridge-light-display-was-shut-down-its-back/981093/8 "2023-03-13T06:42:21Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I’d heard on the news that the lights were shutting down and they were looking for donations to keep them on. From the thread title I thought they’d secured funding for the lights, but, alas, no. RE: the thread title–when I looked out my window and saw them on again my first thought was that TPTB (the artist and the City) must have decided they’d turn the imperfect lights back on–even if in a slightly degraded appearance, with patches of non-working lights–until funding could be secured for the renovations. But that was just a guess so I immediately went to the web to see what the deal is but I could find nothing anywhere. That’s what led to me creating this thread. Not even a random tweet about it for hours, I think. So, I made the thread title not yet knowing that it’s some glitch that’s turning them on, not a deliberate decision. Make’s me a bit sad. I liked my momentary idea of them bringing back the lights, imperfect though they might be. Because even a bit broken, the display is too nice to turn off, warts and all. > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > KRON has a story on their site, the lights are coming on randomly by themselves, they aren’t supposed to be on. This somewhat suggests the glitch is making the lights turn on and off randomly. But looking out at it right this moment I can report that’s it’s operating just like it always has–unique and unpredictable displays. But, it also has serval sections where the lights don’t work (like they haven’t since I’ve lived here) resulting in some square dark patches. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-bay-bridge-light-display-was-shut-down-its-back/981093/9 "2023-03-13T13:06:06Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > this should be a [pic](https://photos.google.com/search/_tra_/photo/AF1QipOdVaAAc1DxlO7UvFXdSs8XV8a95FD-e9uFUczC) > > (I forget how to make it show up here in this post). > … To have the pic show up as a visible picture, just put the url _of the picture_ on a line by itself with no surrounding punctuation. The hard part when the image is on an image sharing site is you need the url of the picture, not the url of a page containing the picture. And often the image sharing site doesn’t make that easy: they want to show ads & such to visitors, not host pictures for free. This is what happens when I post the same url you did on a line by itself: > **[Google Photos](https://accounts.google.com/v3/signin/identifier?continue=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.google.com%2Fsearch%2F_tra_%2Fphoto%2FAF1QipOdVaAAc1DxlO7UvFXdSs8XV8a95FD-e9uFUczC&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.google.com%2Fsearch%2F_tra_%2Fphoto%2FAF1QipOdVaAAc1DxlO7UvFXdSs8XV8a95FD-e9uFUczC&ifkv=ASKXGp32RnWgzE-E9I0sfD6OR2hAaEP4rUM1Fn1AMTkMNFzr7AnKaVppJBBPvSq_FfxIR0RSFEag0Q&osid=1&passive=1209600&service=lh2&flowName=GlifWebSignIn&flowEntry=ServiceLogin&dsh=S1711425186%3A1702197331277729&theme=glif)** > > Home for all your photos and videos, automatically organized and easy to share. Because that’s a link to a page, not a pic, Google generates an intro that Discourse shows us. The problem is that when I try to follow your url, I get a Google log-on prompt. Which suggests to me that you didn’t make the photo publicly available so Google won’t show that photo to anyone but you. The process for setting the photo to publicly available and/or getting a link to the photo that’s publicly available differs on each brand of phot-sharing site. But needs to be done if you want someone to see your handiwork. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-bay-bridge-light-display-was-shut-down-its-back/981093/10 "2023-03-13T15:01:20Z")
A thorough explanation. On imgur, it’s easy to get a link to the page with the picture (which is called an **album** ), but not so intuitive to get the URL for a given **picture**. On my iPhone, opening the **album** and then a long press on the **picture** yields the ability to copy the URL for the **picture**. When I provide the URL to the **album** , it shows the first **picture** but it’s a little truncated. The viewer has to click on the **album** , and they’re taken to [imgur.com](http://imgur.com) where they can view the **picture**. A bit clunky and not as clean for you, the viewer. But when I provide the **picture’s** URL, that URL ends with ‘.jpg’ and Discourse (this board’s software) shows the full **picture** , not truncated. Here are examples. The first is the **album** and the second is the **picture**. [[Album] Lights on the San Francisco Bay Bridge — alas, no more… ![](https://i.imgur.com/Sxlt8WN.jpeg?fb "Lights on the San Francisco Bay Bridge — alas, no more…") ](https://imgur.com/gallery/ud5Ncgl) [![](https://i.imgur.com/Sxlt8WN.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/Sxlt8WN.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-bay-bridge-light-display-was-shut-down-its-back/981093/11 "2023-03-13T15:22:14Z")
And here is a link to an album that has two pictures. The first picture is badly truncated. [[Album] Jeep Wrangler YJ, 1986-1995 ![](https://i.imgur.com/eO24Z3L.jpeg?fb "Jeep Wrangler YJ, 1986-1995") ](https://imgur.com/gallery/pzfnn7v)