The Gerald Desmond Bridge was named after a former Long Beach city attorney and city councilman who helped get funding to build the 5,134-foot-long bridge that connected Long Beach and Terminal Isl…
The replacement bridge rises above the original Gerald Desmond Bridge, in the foreground, on Saturday, May 7, 2002.
With the bridge named after his father in the background, Gerry Desmond displays a gold bolt used in the original construction in 1968, on Saturday, May 7, 2022, at a retirement ceremony for the Gerald Desmond Bridge at the Port of Long Beach. At center, Gerry Desmond and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia are joined by Desmond family members and city officials on Saturday, May 7, 2022, at a retirement ceremony for the Gerald Desmond Bridge at the Port of Long Beach.
Congressman Alan Lowenthal delivers remarks on Saturday, May 7, 2022, during a retirement ceremony for the Gerald Desmond Bridge at the Port of Long Beach. “I remember that day driving down from UC Santa Barbara and tightening that bolt on the bridge honoring my father. It was quite an event, much like the one today,” Desmond said to applause from 200 guests, almost 40 of them from the Desmond family coming from many areas outside Long Beach, including Alaska.
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia called Desmond “a pioneering city attorney and councilman who got the bridge built and left an incredible legacy.” Garcia said the bridge has been “a landmark of our city and an important part of our region’s infrastructure, a marvel, for over 50 years.”Lowenthal said the meteoric growth of the Port of Long Beach into one of the busiest in the United States “never would have happened without the Desmond Bridge.
Desmond also was wearing a tie showing his father’s bridge. He said an artist painted the bridge, and part of the painting was made into ties, which were given to Desmond family members.The replacement bridge rises above the original Gerald Desmond Bridge, in the foreground, on Saturday, May 7, 2002. He was born in Long Beach on April 12, 1915, the second oldest son of Walter Desmond, a lawyer from Boston who opened a law office in Long Beach in 1905.
With the bridge named after his father in the background, Gerry Desmond displays a gold bolt used in the original construction in 1968, on Saturday, May 7, 2022, at a retirement ceremony for the Gerald Desmond Bridge at the Port of Long Beach.