Benefield: Own a piece of (very heavy) Golden Gate Bridge history

The old phrase “If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you” may have originated in Brooklyn, but it came to mind when I saw an online ad in these parts.

The ad touted “2 Large Golden Gate Bridge Trusses” for sale.

Cost? $12,000 will get you both.

Photos of the pieces, which each weigh about as much as school bus, show somewhat rusty, lengths of the majestic bridge lying in a grassy back lot in Penngrove, show signs of age and deep wear, but also proof that they are the real deal.

The color for one. Even with the rust, it looks like the famed “International Orange.” And the telltale lattice shape and massive rivets look legit too.

Could this be our Golden Gate?

Indeed, said a spokesperson for the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District.

“They do appear to be from the second phase of retrofits,” said Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz of the bridge district.

That means they are likely from work done between 2001-2008 that focused on Fort Point and the south approach to the bridge, when steel support towers and bottom lateral bracing from the south side were replaced, he said.

Contractors were required to take discarded pieces away from the site, but there were no directives about what to do with them and no prohibition on selling them, he said.

So sometime in roughly the past two decades, these massive pieces of the bridge, some 60 tons in all, found their way to a property in Penngrove.

And that’s where Justin McGrath of Santa Rosa found them.

According to McGrath’s telling, the owner of the pieces had stored them on property he rented in rural Penngrove. He tinkered with them, made things, but mostly they just sat in a field.

But then he had to move, McGrath said. And as might be assumed, he couldn’t take his share of the Golden Gate Bridge with him.

So there was an eclectic yard sale of sorts, and that’s where McGrath found them about six weeks ago.

“I think it’s been sitting there for 20 years,” McGrath said. “He’d take a little piece, work with it. There are tons of photographs.”

McGrath, who owns JW McGrath Auctions and a shop in Rohnert Park, Stop-n-Shop, bought tons — literally tons — of the Golden Gate Bridge at that auction.

Other buyers got in on it, too. McGrath said he didn’t get all of the bridge memorabilia for sale that day, but he’s pretty pleased with what he did get for $1,000.

“It ranks up there pretty high,” he said of the uniqueness of this buy.

In the past six weeks, he’s sold some pieces.

“People just want a piece of history, a chunk or rivet,” he said. “A lady actually bought a bunch of rivets from me and she’s going to make something on a gate.”

He’s sold corners and rivets and other memorabilia that came with the haul, including a badge believed to have been owned by Ed Ashoff, one of the original builders of the bridge when work began in 1933 and who later became a law enforcement officer on the span.

The badge went for $2,800.

He’s sold some big pieces, but not as big as the pieces that he still has. These are so big — one is 37-feet, the other about 17-feet — that the larger of the two has a significant concrete at the base.

They are massive.

And that is one reason McGrath is holding off on cutting them into anything smaller.

There is a part of him that hopes someone will have a vision that would keep the trusses whole.

“That’s why I don’t want to chop it, because somebody might have a plan and once you chop it you can’t go back,” he said. “Hopefully they find a home without chopping them up.”

“It’s going to take the right person,” he said.

As you might guess, he’s fielded some questions on these pieces.

“People want to know if they can make (their own) bridge with them,” he said. “I don’t think you can.”

Someone else inquired about making furniture with the metal.

McGrath has a box full of photographs that came with the purchase. Some show renderings and models of a massive entrance sign for a local company using the beams.

It’s unclear what killed that project.

While owning tons of the Golden Gate Bridge is kind of eye-popping, taking a gamble on an odd buy is what McGrath does.

He goes to auctions, storage units and all manner of bulk sales and buys what he sees and sometimes what he doesn’t.

On his website, he has listed for sale a large box of human hair extensions (20-inches, color #6), 800 event chairs, 7,000 pairs of Stacy Adams brand men’s shoes, 1,000 12-ounce glass beer mugs, and 60 66- inch round tables.

There are glass lampshades, motorcycles, coins and crystals, and a UB40 Live in Moscow cassette tape.

But the bridge pieces are likely to call out to a special kind of buyer.

McGrath knows this, but feels confident that person is out there.

“It’s something,” McGrath said. “It’s a part of history.”

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @benefield.