The Shakespeare Bridge

The Shakespeare Bridge is located between Silver Lake and Los Feliz in the Franklin Hills section of Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #126 was built in 1926 and was named after William Shakespeare and was designed by J.C. Wright.

The Shakespeare Bridge connects St. George Street and Franklin Avenue. The concrete made bridge has a Gothic style that stands 30 feet wide and 230 feet long. The Gothic arches can be found along the bridges and two Gothic aedicules (also known as the pointy structures that give importance to what ever the structure houses in Gothic times) can be found on either end of the bridge. This literacy landmark was featured in the underrated Gothic film in 1991, “Dead Again.”
The bridge was rebuilt after the Northridge earthquake in 1998 that raised concerns of it’s structural integrity in the event of an earthquake near Franklin Hills. Reinforced concrete replaced the old concrete and the expansion joints were removed to allow seismic force to transfer to the abutment walls that are located on either side of the Shakespeare Bridge. The rebuild was implemented as a city plan to preserve the landmark while keeping the historic appearance in tact.

As for the name of the Shakespeare Bridge? Well… nobody is really sure where exactly it came from. Just like nobody is really sure of the rumors that it appears in a shot in “The Wizard of Oz.”

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