This is a familiar site to anyone driving north on Interstate 280 from the San Jose area to San Francisco. In the area here it is referred to as the "Flintstone House". Read an article on it at The Wave.

Here's a nice picture of it, for the curious. Our kids always called it the "bird poop house", feeling it resembled a lump of...

At least the Flintstone House (see top of this thread) has a view of a reputedly beautiful bridge. A plaque about a half mile north (at the rest stop with the big Junipero Serra statue) reads:

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Most Beautiful Bridge
Medium Span -- High Clearance
Designed by California Division of Highways
Awarded in 1970 by American Institute of Steel Construction

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I must say that its beauty isn't readily apparent when driving over it on Interstate 280 (the Junipero Serra Freeway); here's the only picture I could find, but I fear it may not do the structure full justice. (I think that may be the Flintstone House on the hilltop peeking through the trees, a white blob just under the roadbed and about half way between the leftmost and central bridge supports.)



On a more somber note, an adjacent plaque tells how the bridge got its name:

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Eugene A. Doran
1922 - 1959
Memorial Bridge
An officer for the town of Hillsborough from April 1, 1956 until his untimely death on August 5, 1959, who made the supreme sacrifice at the hands of a criminal suspect whom he had apprehended.

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A Google-cached but apparently no longer extant page on this web site adds further information: "1959 Aug 5, Eugene A. Doran, a Hillsborough police officer, was gunned down during a traffic stop at Bunker Hill Drive. Alexander Robillard XIV, was convicted and executed 2 years later. In 1969 the high bridge over I-280 near the Crystal Springs Reservoir was named in his honor." That description of the terrible occurrence is supported (and told in greater detail) in this legal document.

The excellent California Highways web site by self-described "roadgeek" Daniel Faigin further relates that in 2004, the bridge was renamed the Officer Eugene and Marine Lance Corporal Patrick M. Doran Memorial Bridge, but I have found no corroboration as yet.

What a wonderfully informative post this is. I live in the area and never knew any of this. Thanks again!

P.S. Did you know it was made from aluminum curtain rods? Just kidding, but only slightly (see number 27.)

Thanks for the kind words, Seer. I think the curtain rod version may look better than the original!

And to help people make that call, here's a better pic, which I just realized is on the same site where I found the Flintstone House image.


(Update 7/23/05, but not marked as such because it's not really important: Drat! That site's gone, and the picture with it. Perhaps someone will find a good image and post it... or maybe I'll have to go snap one myself....)

In my earlier post to this thread, I mentioned the reported renaming of the bridge in question as the Officer Eugene and Marine Lance Corporal Patrick M. Doran Memorial Bridge, but was looking for further corroboration.

Since then, Mr. Faigin has added information to his marvelous California Highways web site as follows (or maybe I just missed it the first time):

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In August 2004, Senate Concurrent Resolution 65 redesignated the Eugene A. Doran Memorial Bridge on I-280 at San Mateo Creek, north of Route 92, in the County of San Mateo as the Officer Eugene and Marine Lance Corporal Patrick M. Doran Memorial Bridge. It was named additionally in memory of Marine Lance Corporal Patrick M. Doran, who died in the line of duty on February 18, 1967, in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. (August 12, 2004, Chapter 138).

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For those interested, confirmation of the name change can be found on this web page for the California Assembly Committee on Transportation: Click on the "Committee Reports" link at left, and then on the "ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE" link that will appear in the central frame. That opens a Microsoft Word document providing a summary of the committee's legislation in 2003-2004. On page 25 of that document (search it for "Doran"), the entry for SCR 65 confirms the proposed renaming, and the chapter number following it indicates that the bill indeed became law.

Regarding Corporal Doran, an entry on the Virtual Wall pages of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund site appears to be relevant. A casualty record on the No Quarter web site further confirms that Marine Lance Corporal Patrick Michael Doran was born on March 23rd, 1946, in Burlingame, California, and served our country until February 18th, 1967, when he was killed by an explosion on the ground in Quang Nam province, South Vietnam. He was a few weeks shy of his 21st birthday, unmarried, had served for less than a year, and is memorialized on panel 15E, line 057 of the Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington D.C.

So far, I have not found reference to the relationship between Officer Eugene Doran (born 1922; see earlier post) and Corporal Patrick Doran, but it seems clear that there were two heroes in one family.

Following up: This page on the web site of the California State Senate confirms that Corporal Patrick Doran was Officer Eugene Doran's son. (See under SCR 65.)