The “Halfway to Hell Club” that Golden Gate Bridge workers never wanted to join

The Halfway to Hell Club’s Nineteen Golden Gate Survivors

The Golden Gate Bridge had a club no one wanted to join.

When chief engineer Joseph Strauss spent $130,000 on a huge safety net in 1933, he broke all the rules. Back then, big projects like this killed one worker per million dollars spent.

His circus-style net hung below the bridge and soon proved its worth. Between 1936 and 1937, nineteen men fell from slick steel beams high above the water.

They lived to tell about it and formed the “Halfway to Hell Club” while healing up at St. Luke’s Hospital.

The Golden Gate Welcome Center now displays the hard hats and tools these brave men once used.

Bridge Boss Refused to Accept Worker Deaths as Normal

Construction companies in the 1930s used a grim math: one worker would die for every million dollars spent. For the $35 million Golden Gate Bridge, this meant 35 deaths would be “normal.”

Joseph Strauss, the chief engineer, said no to this deadly thinking.

He pushed for new safety steps, making everyone wear hard hats and hanging huge safety nets under the whole bridge.

With jobs hard to find during the Great Depression and 25% unemployment, workers took these risky jobs high above the water.

The Net That Changed Bridge Building Forever

Strauss spent $130,000 on a safety system in 1936 that looked like something from a circus. The big rope net hung below the bridge, sticking out ten feet wider than the road and fifteen feet past each end.

Workers made it with six-inch squares held by one-inch rope clips, creating a strong but bendy catching system. Bridge workers moved faster on the slick steel beams knowing they had backup below.

Hospital Roommates Created Their Exclusive Club

The first ten workers fell into the nets during the first weeks after setup. Four got hurt badly enough to share rooms at St. Luke’s Hospital, where they came up with their famous nickname. Al Zampa, who later joined them, explained the dark humor.

When a bridge worker fell to his death, coworkers said he had “gone to hell. ” But those caught by the nets had only fallen “halfway to hell” and lived.

One Foggy Morning Changed Al Zampa’s Life

Thick fog covered the Golden Gate Bridge on October 19, 1936, making the metal spans very slick. Al Zampa, a 30-year-old ironworker, lost his footing while connecting steel pieces high above the water.

He flipped backward three times during his scary 60-foot drop toward the safety net. The net caught him but sagged too close to the rocky ground of Marin County, not fully breaking his fall.

The Fall Broke His Back But Not His Courage

Zampa hit the ground hard enough to break four vertebrae. Newspapers ran stories saying he might die from his injuries.

He spent 12 weeks at St. Luke’s Hospital wearing a steel back brace while he healed.

As soon as doctors cleared him, Zampa walked across a narrow girder on the still-unpainted Golden Gate Bridge to prove to himself and his coworkers that the fall hadn’t taken his nerve.

Six Survivors Smiled For The Cameras

A famous Associated Press photo captured six club members on December 14, 1936.

Paul Terry, Jack Miller, Edward Stanley, Miles Green, James Roberts, and Jack Delaye posed together, showing their survival stories. Al Zampa missed this photo chance because he still had a broken back.

Family newspapers often called them “The Halfway Club,” skipping the hell part for their readers.

The Club Nobody Wanted To Join Kept Growing

Pete Patterson became the eleventh member in January 1937 after falling and bouncing in the net. After his accident, bridge bosses stopped giving newspapers the names of falling workers.

They worried about bad press and banned workers from jumping into the nets on purpose.

By the bridge opening, nineteen workers had fallen into the nets and lived, though no one knows the complete list of members.

The Day The Safety Net Failed

Tragedy struck on February 17, 1937, when a five-ton platform broke loose from its moorings. The huge platform dangled from the bridge and dropped into the safety net.

The net couldn’t hold such massive weight and tore apart. Twelve men fell hundreds of feet toward San Francisco Bay.

Worker Tex Lester later described hearing “faint baby-like cries” from the men tangled in the torn netting as they fell.

Ten Men Lost Their Lives In Seconds

Tom Casey grabbed onto a beam during the platform collapse and got rescued. Two others somehow lived through the long fall into the cold water.

But ten workers died that day, including O. A. Anderson, Chris Anderson, William Bass, O. Desper, Fred Dümmatzen, and several others.

Swedish immigrant Charles Lindros, only 30 years old, was among those killed. This accident became the deadliest single day in the bridge’s construction.

The Club’s Memory Faded With Time

Eric Pedley, who made the safety nets, tried to gather club members for the bridge’s 25th anniversary in 1963. He found only Al Zampa, who became the main spokesman for the group.

No complete list of all nineteen members has ever shown up in historical records. A San Francisco bar called “The Halfway Club” opened years later, keeping the memory alive through its name.

Zampa’s Legacy Spans Another Bridge

Al Zampa lived to 95 years old and was likely the last surviving club member.

In March 2000, he attended the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Carquinez Bridge north of San Francisco. Just ten days after this event, on April 23, 2000, Zampa passed away.

California officials honored his remarkable life by naming the new crossing the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge in 2001, ensuring his story would continue to span generations.

Visiting Golden Gate Bridge

You can learn about the “Halfway to Hell Club” at the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center at 210 Lincoln Boulevard in the Presidio area. The center is free and open 9 AM to 6 PM daily.

You’ll see a 12-foot steel test tower from 1933 and watch videos about Joseph Strauss’s safety nets that saved workers during construction.

The exhibits explain how his $130,000 safety system created this famous club of survivors.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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