Oaklawn

This painting is a part of the Oaklawn Bridge in South Pasadena.  The Oaklawn bridge is designated a National Historic Landmark.  It stands in some great company, with such bridges as the Brooklyn Bridge, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, several Bridges of Madison County, and the Natural Bridge in Virginia.  The Oaklawn Bridge leads in and out of an elegant planned neighborhood of the early 1900s.  The bridge spans train tracks and a tiny waterway.  It is presently used only by pedestrians.  The bridge, along with other Oaklawn features, was designed by Pasadena architects Charles and Henry Greene.  It is Greene & Green's only bridge and their only concrete structure.  It was among the first reinforced concrete bridges built in the United States, and the very first in the West.  So here is a drawing of the bridge, presumably by the Greenes.

It does and doesn't look like this today.  There is a lot of stuff in front and around it, including trees, power poles, buildings, and cars.  The residents of Oaklawn resisted the placement of a marker, and the designation as a significant site on old route 66.  You kind of can't blame them. Tourists and sightseers are only really welcome when they are spending money.  A newer resident is looking at the upside of Oaklawn's monument status, and attempting to replace a large oak tree that presumably once gave Oaklawn its name.

I cannot help thinking of the Florida International University pedestrian bridge that collapsed on March 15, and killed six people.  My heart goes out to those who were injured and those who lost loved ones.  Life is so fragile and precious.