Suicide Club memories No. 4

One of the few regular Suicide Club events was the annual Potluck Dinner on Golden Gate Bridge held at the end of February each year, which began in 1977. I signed up to go on the second one in 1978 and have a vague memory of making a tub of potato salad and packing it along with a grape drink (or was it wine?) in a back pack and heading off on the bus towards The Presidio. We disembarked and met up with the 40 or 50 people who’d also decided to join in for the dinner. It was just getting dark and the city lights were beginning to twinkle in the twilight as we walked onto the bridge on the pedestrian path, not too close to the traffic, there was a barrier between us. It was a warmish and windless evening. People carried fold up tables, chairs, table cloths, plates and cutlery and we assembled together at the appointed place on the wide pedestrian path close to under the first tower we came too.

About 20 minutes into the meal, a police car turned up and two cops got out and asked what we were doing. Someone replied that obviously we were having a meal on the bridge. The cops looked at each other, scratched their heads and said that we weren’t breaking any laws as long as we were not obstructing anyone. They got back in their cars and drove off. It was a wonderful setting for a candlelit dinner, if the food was a bit random. Maybe the wine did come out later and we all had a few. There were spectacular views of the San Francisco skyline as well as the lights of the towns on the Marin County side. Sadly no camera on this occasion, what was I thinking?