SAN FRANCISCO -- Twins who walked the span as toddlers a half century ago, plus steelworkers, nostalgia buffs, tourists and well-wishers jammed the Golden Gate Bridge for more than three hours Sunday to celebrate its 50th birthday.
Teachers Vivian Rusconi Jenna and her twin, Lillian Rusconi Moniz, were among the first to rush onto the bridge as the crowd pushed past barriers 20 minutes ahead of schedule in the steel-gray dawn.
They were just 4 when their parents took them onto the bridge opening day in 1937, said Lillian, displaying a fading picture of the sisters standing on the span 50 years ago.
'We've been looking forward to this for a year,' Lillian said.
'We can't remember too much,' said Vivian, who lives in the San Francisco area. 'But I remember the cold just as much.'
'We are both California school teachers and now we are making California history,' said Lillian, who lives in Los Angeles.
Terry Perry and his wife, Vickie, left their San Francisco home early Saturday and camped overnight with hundreds of others on the grounds of the Palace of Fine Arts -- within walking distance of the bridge -- with their three sons, Frank, 12, Eric, 10, and Joe, 7.
'This was my idea,' Vickie said. 'I don't think they will trust me again. But the great thing is that my kids will be able to do it again in 50 years.'
'The size of the crowd was approximately 800,000,' said Charles Bolds of the California Highway Patrol, updating earlier estimates of from 250,000 to 500,000. Carney Campion, bridge general manager, estimated the crowd at more than 350,000.
The roadway was cleared of people at 10 a.m. and street sweeping machines began picking up trash, inluding an area where someone had been barbecuing near the south tower.
Hundreds of people dressed in costumes, including a man in a lobster suit, someone as a 9-foot banana and four men on stilts.
State police said a boy's bicycle was hurled from midspan by persons unknown, but there were few serious incidents.
'This has been fabulous,' Campion said. 'There were a couple of incidents on the bridge but basically this has been a family affair. There are a lot of young children out there whose parents are hoping they come back at the 100th anniversary.'
So many people jammed the span in a 'human gridlock' that a slight hump in the road at center span was 'flattened out' by the weight, said Robert Ross, bridge district director.
'It's a memorable experience,' said city Supervisor James Gonzaes. 'I think it is obvious that the facility was overwhelmed. I think that this would convince anyone in the Bay Area that transportation is the No. 1 issue.'
'We're from the unions who built the bridge,' said Jeff Greendorfer, of the AFL-CIO, who led 500 union workers and their families in the anniversary walk. 'It's a great source of pride for all union workers and our families. We built this bridge and we are proud of it.'
Alta Brown, who would say only that she was from 'Minnesota' and Edith Lowry of 'Iowa,' chaperoned 25 senior citizen ladies wrapped in gold blankets. 'This is a great celebration,' Brown said.
'I think it's a tremendous success,' said a flushed Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who was caught in the massive, pushing crowd when she unsuccessfully tried to conduct an opening ceremony chain cutting.
'This is incredible. It's really exciting,' the mayor said.
