LePetitJournal.com recently told you the story of London Bridge, this 19th century British bridge moved to the Arizona desert in Lake Havasu City. Today, the saga of this incongruous piece of history continues.
The editors spoke to Jason Castellucci and Jan Kasies, respectively director of strategic services and director of visitor services for Lake Havasu City. They told us various anecdotes about London Bridge as well as their city of hearts.
A French tradition on a British bridge in the United States?
Numerous padlocks, symbols of love and union, weigh down the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City. This tradition is usually associated with the Pont Neuf in Paris, which, covered by the “love padlocks”, was relieved of 40 tonnes of scrap in 2016 for safety reasons. But the tradition has not died out: it begins to cover other Parisian bridges, and has existed for ten years on the other side of the Atlantic.
On London Bridge, the first padlock dates back ten years. Jason Castellucci still remembers the name of this tourist couple, who came to celebrate their ten years of marriage in Lake Havasu: “Andy and Elaine were the first, I don’t even know how I still remember their names! They had written the date of their meeting on the padlock. They never came back so I don’t know what happened to them …”, He jokes.
Jan Kasies specifies that Lake Havasu is a popular destination for Americans to come and spend Spring Break, these spring holidays often synonymous with well-watered parties for students. So, the two colleagues have introduced a little joke to distinguish the padlocks from ‘love and holiday flirts padlocks: “London Bridge tradition is that after putting a padlock on the bridge with your other half, you have to throw the key in the lake right after. But when you throw away the key, it’s for life! So when visitors come for Spring Break, we recommend using combination number padlocks, which are easier to remove.“, he says, hilarious.
French people with absent subscribers among European tourists
If Lake Havasu City tries to forge links with France, it is because French tourists, with the exception of Parisians, are rare in the city of Arizona. For Jan Kasies, the reluctance of the French to visit the United States could be explained by a linguistic complex “Francophones are afraid of traveling, because many of them have little or no command of English, which is one of their big bottlenecks.”
However, Lake Havasu City is located on the tourist circuits joining Los Angeles and the Grand Canyon via the famous Route 66. The French are therefore eagerly awaited to reconnect with the tradition of “Love Locks” on the London Bridge, while enjoying activities offered by the city for 300 annual days of sunshine: boat, golf, fishing, camping under the Milky Way …
Jason Castellucci and Jan Kasies regret that Lake Havasu and its British bridge are not better known in France. The two locals are overflowing with anecdotes each more eccentric than the other that they would dream of sharing with the Frenchies. They joke, for example, about the credulity of the British, still convinced of the legend that McCullochs, the industrialist behind the arrival of London Bridge, was fooled during the transaction, thinking of buying Tower Bridge. The legend is now part of the folklore of the city, and the Uncle Sam duo recount: “McCullochs, at his first press conference after the bridge was inaugurated, joked: “I was surprised when they opened the package, there was no turn on it!”. Obviously, the business magnate was not lacking in self-derision.
Difficult to go around all the curiosities about the history of London Bridge. Sure the city website, it is possible to read many stories about the bridge, from the funniest to the most impressive. Let us quote, jumble, that the lampposts of the bridge were made from melted guns of the army of Napoleon Bonaparte, or that a pair of sneakers of the brand New Balance was created, inspired by the London Bridge, in 2018. Decidedly, the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City never ceases to amaze. The French are eagerly awaited there to discover all its incongruities and, why not, hang a padlock.
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