Alfred Zampa (March 12, 1905 – April 23, 2000) was an American iron worker who played a role in the construction of numerous San Francisco Bay Area bridges during the early twentieth century.

John V. Robinson John V. Robinson (born 1960) is an American writer and photojournalist who specializes in photographing heavy construction work with a focus on bridge construction and the men and women who do the work. Robinson goes onto construction sites and d ...

''Al Zampa and the Bay Area Bridges'', Arcadia Publishing, 2005, He was most notable for being one of the first people to survive falling off the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...

. He was a charter member of the Half Way to Hell Club, whose members are the men who fell from the Golden Gate Bridge and were saved by the nets. Robinson, John V. ''Spanning the Strait: Building the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge'', Carquinez Press, 2004

Life and career

Zampa was born in Selby, California. He retired from the position of iron worker at the age of 65 in 1970, and died at the age of 95 in Tormey, California. Zampa's parents were born in Ortuchio, a village in the Italian region of Abruzzo; there is now a square in the village named Piazza Alfred Zampa in his honor.

Cultural influence

In 1987 writer Isabelle Maynard wrote and produced a play titled "The Ace" chronicling Zampa's exploits on the Golden Gate Bridge and the formation of the Half Way to Hell Club. "The Ace" was based on Zampa's life and was advertised as an "iron worker's story of heroism, risk and recognition on the Golden Gate Bridge." It was well-received on San Francisco stages, especially during the bridge's 50th anniversary year. The

Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge The Carquinez Bridge is a pair of parallel bridges spanning the Carquinez Strait at the northeastern end of San Francisco Bay. They form the part of Interstate 80 between Crockett and Vallejo, California. The name Carquinez Bridge originally r ...

is named in his honor. The new bridge replaced the 1927 span of the Carquinez Bridge which Zampa helped construct, beginning at the age of 20.

External links

AlZampaBridge.com Official site of the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge

References

*Robinson, John V. ''Spanning the Strait: Building the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge.'' Crockett, CA: Carquinez Press. (2004) *Robinson, John V. ''Al Zampa and the Bay Area Bridges.'' San Francisco: Arcadia Publishing. (2005) *Robinson, John V.''Bay Area Iron Master Al Zampa: A Life Building Bridges.''Charleston, SC: The History Press. (2015) *Schwartz, Harvey. ''Building the Golden Gate Bridge: A Workers' Oral History.'' Seattle:U of Washington Press. (2015) 1905 births 2000 deaths Bridge engineers People from Contra Costa County, California Engineers from California 20th-century American engineers {{US-engineer-stub