The Story of The Verrazano Narrows Bridge

If you look at this picture of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, you'll see there's something missing.  Taken in 1963, when this massive bridge was still under construction, the traffic deck is not yet in place on what was, for some time, the longest suspension bridge in the world.

The remarkable story of this NYC landmark is now being told by the Bowery Boys in one of their highly entertaining historical podcasts.  There are all sorts of fun factoids and crazy stories in this story, namely about the bridge's namesake who was an Italian explorer who discovered the narrows in 1524 (almost a hundred years before Henry Hudson sailed in) but didn't go any further because he thought New York's harbor was a big lake.  So instead of the Verrazano River we have the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.  So why name a bridge after a second rate explorer?  The story behind that is even more surprising.