Meet Al Zampa, The Mac Dre of Bay Area Bridge Workers
The modern Bay Area is a place known for white collar workers running from tech startup to tech startup, trying to cash in on the optimization and automation of everything that makes us human – but it wasn’t always like this. There was a time when blue collar workers had a chance to receive real recognition for their contributions to the nine counties that border the San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun Bays. A man named Alfred Zampa personifies this, and if you want to be a pretentious San Francisco historian, and I know if you’re reading Broke-Ass Stuart, there’s a chance that you do, then the name Al Zampa should be a familiar one.
Before the Bay Area was known for Beatniks, the Hippies, or the Hyphy Movement, the culture of the Bay Area was defined by working class men and women doing what they do best, making the world we take for granted possible.
Al Zampa’s family came from a small village in Italy about 2 hours east of Rome, but was born on March 12th, 1905 in Selby, California – an unincorporated town sandwiched between Crockett and Rodeo, situated on the northeastern edge of the Bay.
Back in 1905, despite them being symbols of the region today, the Bay Area didn’t have a single bridge. People who wanted to traverse between San Francisco and Oakland had to make due with ferries.
When Zampa first came of age to work, he did what many young men in Crockett did, he worked for the C&H factory sugar factory for a short period of time before becoming a small business owner.
Zampa remained a small business owner of a meat market until sometime told him that there were job openings for the construction of the Carquinez Bridge. This probably excited Zampa because he was from Crockett, which is a small ass town today, so I can’t imagine how small it was back then. Crockett was separated from Vallejo, California by only a half mile of water.
Despite Vallejo’s reputation today, back in the 1920s, Vallejo was a relatively important city in the area, as it was home to the Mare Island Naval Ship, and had a population that hovered around 25,000. This may not sound like much, but compared to Crockett’s population which was only a few hundred at the time, Vallejo might as well have been Manhattan.
So after some thought, Zampa took the job on the Carquinez Bridge, and changed his life forever. While most people know it as the Carquinez Bridge or even the “Vallejo Bridge,” its official name is the Alfred Zampa Bridge, and there’s a reason.
Alfred Zampa didn’t stop at the Carquinez Bridge. This fucking Italian stallion ended up working on every bridge in the region. It doesn’t matter if you’re on the Bay, Golden Gate, Carquinez, Benicia-Martinez, Richmond-San Rafael, Dunbarton, Antioch, or San Mateo bridge, Alfred Zampa had a hand in making them happen.
Oh, and he also fell off the Golden Gate Bridge during its construction and FUCKING SURVIVED! Which made him the accidental founder of the “Halfway to Hell Club.” Zampa luckily didn’t hit the water, but was partially saved by a net. I say partially because he hit the ground on the Marin County side and bounced back up to hit the ground again. Despite this, he was back to work in just a few months after receiving treatment for his injuries.
His legend still lives on today. I remember the pride my best friend, Jeremy Caldwell and his mom Valerie Caldwell had in their voices when they told me they were related to Alfred Zampa. At the time, I didn’t know what the fuck they were talking about, but now I do, and I get it.
Al Zampa was the American Dream stripped down to its most essential elements. He was a man who worked hard, almost died doing it and had his sacrifice memorialized in a way no other member of the working class has: a bridge named in his honor.
The Alfred Zampa bridge is the only bridge named after a blue collar worker in the United States, and it is something the Bay Area should be proud of.
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Howdy! My name is Katy Atchison and I'm an Associate Editor for Broke-Ass Stuart.
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