Pasadena’s Colorado St. Bridge known as “suicide bridge”

The Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena, California, has earned the unwelcome reputation of “suicide bridge,” and urban legend has it that it's haunted. 

Since its completion in 1913, more than 150 people have committed suicide by leaping from its heights.

Maybe it’s the year it was built, 1913, or the fact that 14 years later the country was thrown into the Great Depression, taking many with it.

"The bridge has a reputation," said Pasadena police Lt. Tom Delgado. "It's known nationwide."

While the vast majority of jumpers were in the Depression Era, according to officials, who estimate that 79 people jumped from the bridge in the early 1930s, people who are bent on suicide are still attracted to the site.

According to Hometown Pasadena’s “Insider’s Guide,” silent star Charlie Chaplin was responsible for bringing the Colorado Street Bridge to national attention in his movie “The Tramp.” In the film, Chaplin’s character saves a young lady from jumping from the bridge.

The most recent incidents occurred within the last week, just four days apart, police said; a 25-year-old Covina man jumped on April 17, and a 49-year-old Altadena woman on April 21.

According to legend, the first death occurred at the bridge was not a suicide, but an accident when a construction worker fell into wet concrete and his co-workers weren’t able to reclaim his body from the thick mass. It’s believed by many, that the spirit of the worker continues to haunt the bridge.

The nearly 100-year-old bridge with its distinctive Beaux Arts arches, light standards, and railings was the terminus for the old Route 66, spans the Arroyo Seco and has magnificent views of the surrounding area.

According to the Pasadena Star News:

Delgado, who heads the department's Homeless Outreach and Psychiatric Evaluation Team, said despite a spike-tipped, galvanized steel 8-foot-high barrier added to the bridge in 1993, its reputation may serve to attract suicidal individuals.

In spite of suicide barriers having been added to the Colorado Street Bridge, police respond to several calls each month to reported impending suicides.

Pasadena City Councilman Steve Madison, whose district includes the bridge, said Pasadena’s police and fire officials are trained in suicide response.

He noted that the bridge has a strong protective fence, and that while the subject of bridge suicides hasn‘t come before the council in quite a while, he said, "If there is something efficacious we can do, we want to do it. We are already employing some of the best practices in terms of intervention and prevention."

Those added safety measures include eight-foot, pointy-topped bars separated by six inches that are embedded in the four-foot high ornate concrete railing.