Happy 150th birthday to one of the true American marvels:
Some 125 years later, the Brooklyn Bridge remains a powerful symbol of engineering might and imagination, and a revered fixture in the landscape of the nation's largest city.
And it can still attract a crowd, like the one at the bridge's 125th birthday blowout Thursday night, which featured fireworks, a Navy flyover, a colorful new lighting scheme, a musical tribute to honor the storied span, and even a birthday cake in the shape of the bridge.
"It's an icon for not only New York, but for America," says Brooklyn's
OK, that's enough sentimentality. Let's tear the thing down and build one just like it a few feet away -- it would do wonders in luring tourists to that pathetic little island. Or maybe it could be leased to a Spanish-Australian consortium looking for a new toll bridge!
"Psst, wanna buy a bridge?" Who doesn't know that phrase? "Buying the Brooklyn Bridge" has long been synbolic of gullibility. But there is some history there. There actually was a turn-of-the-century con man who "sold" the bridge several times.
