
Jack Balestreri Way
A hidden but delightful stair where Carolina dead-ends on 20th St honors one of the hidden gems of our community.
Jack Balestreri was one of the quiet people who built San Francisco. He was born and raised on Carolina, sold newspapers on street corners, and even worked at Bethlehem Steel in Dogpatch where he met his wife.
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When he died he left a legacy. He is believed to have been the last survivor of the thousands of workers who built the Golden Gate Bridge.
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When he was only 17 years old, he got a job doing concrete work on the south tower of the bridge and the San Francisco anchorage for three years, beginning in 1933.
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The Golden Gate Bridge, the City’s most prominent landmark, cost more than $35 million to build. McClintic-Marshall Construction Company, a subsidiary of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, began construction in 1933. The American Society of Civil Engineers named it one of the Wonders of the Modern World. Balestreri passed away a month before the bridge’s 75th anniversary. He’d have turned 101 in 2012.
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Visit dogpatchna.org/scavenger-hunt to join the community fun as our gift to you during this year's "holidays at home" Shelter in Place.