There's a certain, glorious feeling you get when you're speeding across the Golden Gate Bridge. Something compels you to roll down the car window and feel the sea breeze through your hair as you gaze up at its "International Orange"-hued majesty. Hard not to understand the meaning of "California Love" in those moments, right? The symbol of our city celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, and the city plans to celebrate in a ton of ways throughout 2012.

We dug through the archives of our sister company Chronicle Books and pulled a few illustrations from the 2008 book Golden Gate Bridge: History and Design of an Icon by Donald MacDonald. MacDonald is the first architect to work on the Bridge since its completion by its original consulting architects. He redesigned the toll booths to their current form in 1980, installed the new bike rail, and set the guidelines for the bridge’s retrofit. He was also instrumental in the discussion of a possible suicide barrier for the bridge.