# The Golden Gate Bridge, and it's destruction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204 "2012-12-16T18:27:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/1 "2012-12-16T18:27:51Z")
I just saw a trailer for a summer 2013 movie and yet again the Golden Gate Bridge buys the farm. Dang, how many times has that bridge come down? Without even trying hard I can name at least ten. It was even done in black and white, some old movie with a giant octopus. I tried doing an IMDB search but the word combos I was coming up with didn’t seem to work. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/2 "2012-12-16T18:40:22Z")
I think the trailer you saw was for Del Toro’s upcoming _Pacific Rim_. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/3 "2012-12-16T18:59:43Z")
The Eiffel Tower takes a lot of hits, too. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/4 "2012-12-16T18:59:52Z")
Gotta give the poor Statue of Liberty a break every once and a while ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/5 "2012-12-16T19:02:51Z")
Top 10 Golden Gate fates in movies: > **[Top 10 Fates of the Golden Gate Bridge - Listverse](https://listverse.com/2011/04/03/top-10-fates-of-the-golden-gate-bridge/)** > > To celebrate the most colossal cliché in all of modern entertainment, let’s count down ten famous depictions of the demise of the Golden Gate Bridge from disaster movies, superhero movies, and various other media. These scenarios are listed in order... > [@](#): > > 10.5 > Year: 2004 > Cause: Earthquake > > … > > Terminator Salvation > Year: 2009 > Cause: War Between Man and Machines > > … > > 2012 > Year: 2009 > Cause: Earthquake Again (With John Cusack Somehow Involved) > > … > > The Core > Year: 2003 > Cause: Solar Radiation [“The neutrinos have mutated!” :rolleyes: :p] > > … > > Red Alert 2 > Year: 2000 > Cause: Soviet Invasion > > … > > It Came From Beneath the Sea > Year: 1955 > Cause: Octopus Attack > > … > > Monsters Vs. Aliens > Year: 2009 > Cause: Fight Between Alien Robot and Reese Witherspoon, et all. > > … > > Superman The Movie > Year: 1978 > Cause: Missile-Induced Earthquake > > … > > Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus > Year: 2009 > Cause: Prehistoric Shark Attack (the shark is prehistoric, not the attack) > > … > > X-Men: The Last Stand > Year: 2006 > Cause: [Mutant Magneto hated it] 🙂 Comment added by me. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/6 "2012-12-16T19:06:32Z")
Magneto redirecting the bridge to Alcatraz annoyed me for a number of reasons, not least of which is why bother bridging _to_ Alcatraz, as opposed to just dropping the bridge _on_ Alcatraz, killing everybody there and eliminating the need for the pointless mutant battle. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/7 "2012-12-16T21:19:08Z")
I would like to point out that the Star Trek franchise has very carefully avoided destroying the bridge on either of the times that out-of-control space debris went into the drink right next to it. So there. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/8 "2012-12-19T20:50:09Z")
Also, in Futurama, a piece of it is missing, so it is classified as a “hoverbridge”. Meanwhile, supposedly the roadway did come close to collapsing during a rather strong storm (one of very few times the bridge was closed), but was saved in part because of girders welded underneath the roadway decades earlier for stability in case of an earthquake. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/9 "2012-12-19T22:01:02Z")
The official(?) GGB website links to [another list](http://io9.com/5939902/the-golden-gate-bridge-who-destroyed-it-best). Nobody ever destroys the Bay Bridge, despite having twice the daily traffic. Although I guess attacking the Marin commuters is attacking America’s pocketbooks. I guess because (the top) just looks like another silver suspension bridge. The BB was damaged in William Gibson’s Bridge Trilogy and became a makeshift refugee city. IIRC the actual transportation part was taken over by a nano-chunnel, or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/10 "2012-12-19T22:05:26Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > The official(?) GGB website links to [another list](http://io9.com/5939902/the-golden-gate-bridge-who-destroyed-it-best). > > Nobody ever destroys the Bay Bridge, despite having twice the daily traffic. Nobody besides an actual earthquake, that is. Well, damage, not destroy true. I wonder how many people outside the Bay Area even know the Bay Bridge exists. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/11 "2012-12-19T22:16:31Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I would like to point out that the Star Trek franchise has very carefully avoided destroying the bridge on either of the times that out-of-control space debris went into the drink right next to it. So there. [The Breen would like to disagree with you](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120407202346/memoryalpha/en/images/c/cd/San_Francisco_attacked.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/12 "2012-12-20T20:26:30Z")
It’s mentioned as being destroyed in Nevil Shute’s _On the Beach_, when a U.S. sub is trying see how badly the city was hit in World War III and can’t enter the harbor. I forget if the 1959 movie showed that explicitly. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/13 "2012-12-20T20:36:39Z")
The bridge isn’t destroyed, but sustains damage in the recent **Rise of the Planet of the Apes**. Also in the last Roger Moore Bond movie, **A View to a Kill**. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/14 "2012-12-20T22:24:22Z")
In an obscure movie called [Ground Zero](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073078/), it almost happens. Well, the movie ends as the nuclear device is about to go BOOM! ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/15 "2012-12-21T20:31:58Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > [The Breen would like to disagree with you](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120407202346/memoryalpha/en/images/c/cd/San_Francisco_attacked.jpg) All right, two out of three. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/16 "2012-12-21T21:39:28Z")
As long as they don’t destroy those [cranes](http://foundsf.org/images/f/f1/SF-container-cranes-lie-dormant-2010-4553.jpg) that were the model for George Lucas’ [AT-ATs](http://starwarsbloggers.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/817c92_60e7446f71184fc7e4942b2763a24daa.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-golden-gate-bridge-and-its-destruction/644204/17 "2012-12-27T04:44:25Z")
Here’s the GGB’s destruction in the 2004 TV miniseries _10.5_, which **GIGObuster** referred to: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFAs0MGC8JA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFAs0MGC8JA) > [@cochrane](#): > > As long as they don’t destroy those [cranes](http://foundsf.org/images/f/f1/SF-container-cranes-lie-dormant-2010-4553.jpg) that were the model for George Lucas’ [AT-ATs](http://starwarsbloggers.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/817c92_60e7446f71184fc7e4942b2763a24daa.jpg). Tom Cruise’s character operates a similar crane in the _War of the Worlds_ remake.