He spent 24 years working in dark, dank seclusion - all with the aim of protecting the public. Now, after two months cooling his heels in a safe house, the Bay Bridge troll has emerged from hiding.

The troll was rolled into the Gallery of California History at the Oakland Museum of California in a box, then carefully hoisted and placed on a pedestal near the entrance. He’ll hold court there until Feb. 26 along with the exhibit “Above and Below: Stories From Our Changing Bay,” which features a special section on the old eastern span of the Bay Bridge.

We will need a Troll for the Bay Bridge House!

SFGate Article

Visit him at the Oakland Museum of California

Featuring stunning black-and-white photographs chronicling the original San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge construction in the 1930s by American photographer Peter Stackpole, the exhibition Peter Stackpole: Bridging the Bay continues OMCA’s ongoing series exploring contemporary topics in California through photography. On view in the Gallery of California Art during the opening of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in fall 2013, the exhibition of 22 of Stackpole’s works from OMCA’s collection connects visitors back in time to the bridge’s first iteration and serves as a complement to the Museum’s major exhibition on the San Francisco Bay, opening in concert with the new bridge and America’s Cup. The son of California sculptor Ralph Stackpole, Peter Stackpole was educated in the San Francisco Bay Area and Paris, where he grew up under the influence of his parents’ friends and peers such as Dorothea Lange, Edward Weston, and Diego Rivera. His appreciation for the hand-held camera and his technical expertise found a perfect subject chronicling the construction of both the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. An honorary member in the Bay Area’s Group f/64, Stackpole’s work appeared in Time, Fortune, U.S. Camera, Vanity Fair, and LIFE magazine, where he was an original staff photographer.

Visit the Exhibition at the Oakland Museum of CA