GOOD OLD DAYS:

It was the summer of ’47 in Corona del Mar. The two sisters, Margaret and Liz Kiss, packed their beach bags, grabbed a radio and made their way across the Goldenrod Avenue footbridge to the sand and sea below.

It was a simple structure back then, built in 1928 at a cost of $10,884 to provide homeowners access to the beach across a gaping ravine known as Pacific Gulch.

The Kiss girls lived on 419 Goldenrod Ave., at the base of the footbridge. Their father had built the house from dismantled Army barracks on a lot he purchased for $1,000 in 1945.

The house on Goldenrod is still there, passed down through generations of Kiss family members.

Kathy Sommer is Margaret’s daughter, and she has vivid memories of walking along the bridge when she was very young.

“I remember being a little kid and the neat sound the footbridge made when you ran across it. It echoed,” Sommer said.

During her high school years, Sommer lived with her mother in the house, taking trips of her own to the beach across the footbridge.

By that time, the bridge sported flower boxes atop its handrails, an addition the city had made in the early 1950s.

Sommer’s first job after college was at Sherman Library and Gardens, an experience that would prove to be serendipitous when the Goldenrod Avenue bridge celebrated its 60th anniversary.

It was 1988, and the bridge was in no shape for a party. The dead flowers in its boxes shared space with weeds and discarded Starbucks coffee cups.

That’s when Sommer and Sherman Library and Gardens sprang into action. They contacted the city and asked to organize a collaborative renovation project to spruce up the bridge.

The city agreed to pay for the soil and the plants. Sommer put signs and fliers out all over the community asking for volunteers to come help plant.

What started out as a planting party quickly turned into a neighborhood “bridge party.” A barbecue was brought in, tables were set up, and a pot luck went on throughout the day. It was Sommer’s idea to plant ivy geraniums for their color and durability.

Today, vibrant pink ivy geraniums cascade down the sides of the bridge from its flower boxes. Sommer is the bridge’s caretaker, maintaining contact with the city to ensure its upkeep.

Bill Hendricks, founder of the library at Sherman Gardens, said the sight is something everyone in Corona del Mar should have a chance to see. Stand on the bridge, he said, and observe the streets and ravine below, or stand underneath it at Bayside Drive, looking up to get a much different perspective.

“If you’ve never walked across and taken a good look at this picturesque old structure, you owe it to yourself to do so,” Hendricks said.

For Sommer, the footbridge represents a piece of history in a town where not much has remained the same.

“The bridge is a neat little piece of history that hasn’t changed in 80 years.”

SUE THOENSEN may be reached at (714) 966-4627 or at [email protected].