Brooklyn Bridge turns 125 with a bang

[Trainspotter 0]

Brooklyn Bridge turns 125 with a bang

BY KERRY BURKE and BILL HUTCHINSON

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

May 23rd 2008

 

DeCrescenzo for News

Fireworks lit up the night sky over the Brooklyn Bridge to celebrate the span's

125 anniversary.

 

Fireworks and the philharmonic kicked off a five-day birthday bash for the Brooklyn Bridge Thursday night.

 

Revelers lined the banks of the East River to celebrate the iconic span's 125th year as a vital link between Brooklyn and Manhattan.

 

"In the city that never sleeps, it's still the bridge of our dreams," Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz told a cheering crowd Thursday night at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park beneath the granite and steel Gothic structure.

 

Mayor Bloomberg was on hand to introduce Markowitz, who wore a turn-of-the-century bowler hat and ruffled shirt.

 

"She never looked as good," Bloomberg said of the bridge, lit up in special colorful lights that will shine from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. through Memorial Day.

 

As the sun set, the Brooklyn Philharmonic performed in the shadow of the engineering marvel. Composer Marvin Hamlisch serenaded the crowd with a special song he wrote for the bridge's birthday, but flubbed the lyrics, singing the span was built in 1893.

 

Designed by John Roebling, the bridge cost $15 million, took 13 years to build and opened May 24, 1883.

 

Alizette Llanoc said the celebration was extra swell because she celebrated her 10th birthday Wednesday.

 

"It's me and the bridge," said the Public School 295 fourth-grader as fireworks shot from river barges filled the sky. "This is part of my birthday celebration, too. We rock!"

 

The five-day celebration will feature a string of activities, including walking tours of the bridge and an outdoor film series at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park.

 

For more information, log on to nycvisit.com.

[metsfan 2]

Such an amazing piece of engineering. Still one of the longer bridges in the world too...

 

- Andy

[Pablo M 201 35]

Damn, if I knew of the festivities, I would've went.

 

Happy 125th Birthday Brooklyn Bridge!

[East New York 4,104]

I took a walk across that thing. Not really as long as it looks.

[metsfan 2]

I took a walk across that thing. Not really as long as it looks.

 

It's over a mile from end to end. Oddly enough most of the "great bridges" in the US are connecting NJ and DE to other states. Walt Whitman bridge & hell gate bridge are much longer.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridges_by_length

 

- Andy