Picture of London Bridge being built

**RVRKID** · 02-01-2014, 11:57 AM

Also the Jack in The Box by the bridge use to have pics of the bridge getting built on the walls. Haven't been in there in so long not sure if they are still there.

**Slacker** · 02-01-2014, 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by RVRKID

Also the Jack in The Box by the bridge use to have pics of the bridge getting built on the walls. Haven't been in there in so long not sure if they are still there.

We have pics in our office here in Havasu of the bridge being build. Pretty cool to look at.

**Slacker** · 02-01-2014, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by GRADS

Check it out. Sometime between 68-71. I stole it off of 28Elim's facebook page.

Attachment 32122

Yeah that would be 1971.

**gn7** · 02-01-2014, 01:30 PM

I remember when the bridge was first completed and it was a huge tourist attraction. More people saw the London Bridge than the Grand Canyon for a few years after it was completed.
Most common miss conception of the tourist was thinking it spanned the "river" like it did in London.

All the blocks were numbered in an upper corner(right I believe) with yellow paint pen. Somewhere I have a picture of the only block I know of that has it upside down in the lower corner. I always wondered if it was done deliberately.

One of the things a lot of people never saw or don't remember is that the bridge was jet black on the under side from the soot from the ships that passed under it for over a 100 years. Ultra violet reflecting off the water finally eliminated the vast majority of it.

**Slacker** · 02-01-2014, 01:54 PM

A lot people think that they used all the granite blocks to reconstruct the bridge but it is really a reinforced concrete bridge with the granite blocks on the outside. So it is not really original as it was in England plus it is about 100 ft. shorter. We have the pics here in our office of all the rebar for the bridge itself being installed.

**Stainless** · 02-01-2014, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by Slacker

A lot people think that they used all the granite blocks to reconstruct the bridge but it is really a reinforced concrete bridge with the granite blocks on the outside. So it is not really original as it was in England plus it is about 100 ft. shorter. We have the pics here in our office of all the rebar for the bridge itself being installed.

Interesting, so the blocks are just facade?
In the early days didn't you turn directly off 95 to access LB and Island rather than go around the block?

CH3NO2

**gn7** · 02-01-2014, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by Slacker

A lot people think that they used all the granite blocks to reconstruct the bridge but it is really a reinforced concrete bridge with the granite blocks on the outside. So it is not really original as it was in England plus it is about 100 ft. shorter. We have the pics here in our office of all the rebar for the bridge itself being installed.

I was going to ask all those that have a block of the bridge larger than they can pick up to raise their hand. The vast majority of the bridge is not there.
When the Village first opened, there was a shop that sold chunks of the granite the size of a baseball mounted on a piece of wood with a little brass plate that said it was a piece of the London Bridge with a etched drawing of the bridge. I bet they sold a zillion of those POS to foreign tourists from Europe.
When Walt, of Walt's Kawasaki crashed his Vette thru the guard rail and busted a few spindles, they made the new ones from used granite that is tucked away.
A lot of the granite never left England and still remains there today.

One of the superintendents that worked for Sundt on the "reassembly" built a house in Havasu and used slabs of the granite for the floor of his very large garage. He had it polished and sealed. Its pretty badass.

**Stainless** · 02-01-2014, 02:11 PM

Interesting thread, I didn't know about some of this stuff.

CH3NO2

**gn7** · 02-01-2014, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by Stainless

Interesting, so the blocks are just facade?
In the early days didn't you turn directly off 95 to access LB and Island rather than go around the block?

CH3NO2

Yep, just a jacket. Actually, the stones you see were always just a cladding when it was originally build. The originally bridge was all granite, but the best pieces were always reserved for the cladding, and they were cut much more precise. Like the pyramids. The stones you see are crude compared to the limestone that was used to cover them. Those were near perfection and polished.
You didn't "exactly" turn straight off the 95 back then, the 95 you see today wasn't there. The highway turned into Lake Havasu Ave and pretty much ended around there. You left and entered town from Parker on McCulloch. I can remember when you needed a stout truck or 4X4 to go to Parker from Site 6.

Also, the 95 back then didn't end up at the 40 where it does today at the Pilot station. It went to Kingman. So if you wanted to go to Needles, you had to go to Kingman first, then back to Needles. The road to Kingman is still out there. Right after the new 95 was built, there was talk of making a dragstrip on the old Kingman road, but it was deemed too dangerous due to being too narrow and too remote. As if going back to Havasu was some sort of live saving measure. Shit, you would already be half way to Kingman, which is where your ass would end up anyway.