The Finest-Liked Bridges in California

It’s Friday. Californians share their favourite bridges. Plus, Southern California’s oldest bookstore is on the lookout for a purchaser.

I moved to San Francisco from Los Angeles simply over a yr in the past, and one factor that also marks me as a newcomer is how a lot I enjoyment of crossing bridges within the Bay Space.

Throughout my first journey over the Carquinez Bridge on Interstate 80 not too long ago, I used to be taken with the economic metal span and what it crossed: the vast expanse of water referred to as the Carquinez Strait, which separates Contra Costa and Solano counties.

{That a} bridge permits me to depart one county and enter one other in midair appears really magical, as anybody who has not too long ago ridden in a automotive with me has heard me keep it up about.

Readers have been sending me emails about their favourite bridges in California, together with essentially the most iconic ones, just like the Bixby Bridge on Freeway 1 in Large Sur, the Colorado Road Bridge in Pasadena and, in fact, the Golden Gate.

Some have shared their love for lesser-known bridges, just like the Chilly Spring Canyon Arch Bridge within the Santa Ynez Mountains, the Rainbow Bridge on Donner Go Street and Fernbridge over the Eel River in Humboldt County.

All types of bridges can maintain fascination for us, and sometimes private connections as effectively. Listed here are a few of them, evenly edited:

“My favourite is the western portion of the Bay Bridge. Once I was a baby, my dad and mom would drive throughout the double-decker bridge, and we might be on the decrease part leaving San Francisco. Then on the way in which again, the higher part appeared to me just like the Golden Gate. It took me some time to get my head across the idea of a double-decker bridge. I don’t know why some recollections stay very clear after over 60 years, however that’s considered one of them.” — Marty McVeigh, Brentwood

“The Tower Bridge right here in Sacramento is among the metropolis’s most stunning landmarks, I feel. The best way the sundown displays off its golden paint, or how the bridge displays into the river. Particularly the way in which that if you’re driving down it, you possibly can look proper into the center of Sacramento.” — Sydney Amestoy, Sacramento

“The Sundial Bridge in Redding does way more than join two banks of the Sacramento River. As one of many few who’re fortunate sufficient to provide excursions of the bridge, I’ve seen how the bridge has developed to turn out to be a brand new city middle. Right here, locals and guests mingle with their children and canines to benefit from the ever-changing view of the encircling mountains and wildlife, from salmon within the river, geese on the river, and osprey, bald eagles and vultures flying over the river.” — Kay Johnson, Redding

“I’m very lucky that my commute to work requires that I cross my favourite bridge: the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. It feels essentially the most scenic. You may see the town of San Francisco in all its glory or combined in with the fog. The bridge goes proper by Pink Rock Island, which supplies it a wild nature feeling on the identical time. Crossing in both path, you view both looming Mount Tamalpais or the expansive, lit-up East Bay hills with Oakland to the south. The bridge has so much fewer folks on it than the Golden Gate Bridge, so it feels extra private.” — Helen Couture Rodriguez, El Cerrito

“I stay in San Diego and frequently cross the Coronado Bridge to go to swim observe. The bridge itself, whereas an engineering marvel, is not any magnificence. However the view going to Coronado Island all the time jogs my memory what a fantastic place I stay in!” — Barton Lynch, San Diego

“My younger nephew was in a bridge-obsessed part some years in the past, so for his birthday we spent a really lengthy however memorable day driving throughout each single Bay Space bridge. Overlaying all these miles with a wide-eyed 9-year-old, I gained a brand new appreciation for all of the spans gracing our waterways. I’ll by no means have a favourite once more!” — Brandi Katz, Aromas

“I lived within the Bay Space for nearly 10 years, and the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge is the perfect. It’s so lengthy, you’re feeling as in the event you’re alone on a big physique of water. And at sure instances of the yr, the commute house typically had superb sunsets.” — Jay Torres, Laguna Seashore

“I’m fortunate sufficient to commute by bicycle throughout the Golden Gate Bridge to work most days. About 10 years in the past, I used to be being recruited to a job in New York Metropolis and was discussing the professionals and cons with my buddy Tucker on the commute house. Tucker noticed one thing within the water and stopped us midspan on the west deck. To our delight, two whales started breaching simply west of the bridge, one thing I haven’t seen earlier than or since. Tucker informed me, ‘Philip, in the event you’re on the lookout for an indication … .’ I’m nonetheless fortunately commuting over my favourite bridge.” — Philip Norris, Mill Valley

Inform us

With Valentine’s Day arising, we’re asking about love: not who you like, however what you like about your nook of California.

E-mail us a love letter to your California metropolis, neighborhood or area — or to the Golden State as a complete — and we could share it in an upcoming e-newsletter. You may attain the crew at CAtoday@nytimes.com.

And earlier than you go, some excellent news

Robert Ashton Conner didn’t know a lot about water polo till he fell in love with Margaret Ann Steffens.

Steffens, who grew up in Danville in a household of notable water polo gamers, joined the united statesA. Girls’s Water Polo Nationwide Workforce at 15 and went on to win crew Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016. Conner, who’s from Marin County, was instantly drawn to her.

The 2 met at a celebration in Palo Alto in 2016 whereas Steffens was ending her bachelor’s diploma at Stanford. The connection was instantaneous, they mentioned. Two weeks later, the couple shared their first date — and first kiss — and shortly after, Conner was commuting frequently to Palo Alto to see Steffens on her days off from observe.

The remainder of their story is informed in water polo video games (first in Hungary after which in Spain, the place Steffens performed professionally) and in Olympic medals (Steffens earned her third gold medal on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021). In 2022, Conner proposed, and the couple tied the knot final November in San Juan, P.R.