DISCOVER
THE SAN FRANCISCO COIT TOWER

210 feet high, Coit Tower sits atop Telegraph Hill, a quiet residential neighborhood of gardens and private cottages, which also plays occasional host to San Francisco's feral parrot population.

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Lillie Hitchcock Coit's Tower

Its art deco design is said by some to resemble the nozzle of a firehose because of Firebell Lil's life-long fascination with firefighting and firemen.

Lil fought her first fire at the age of 14 when she saw the
short-handed crew of Knickerbocker Engine Co. No. 5 struggling to get their engine up the steep road of Telegraph Hill. She dropped her school books and ran over to help push, calling to other onlookers to jump in as well.

Although Lillie and her architects, Arthur Brown, Jr., and Henry Howard, claimed the resemblance to a fire nozzle was merely a coincidence, and that the tower was designed to beautify The City that Lillie loved, the legend persists with good reason. Firebell Lil also commissioned another neighborhood landmark - the Statue of Three Firefighters at the NW corner of Washington Square Park.

Built on the former site of the first West Coast telegraph line, the interior tower walls are decorated with intricate murals commissioned by the Public Works Art Project during the Great Depression.

Inspired by Diego Rivera, the murals depict Depression-era topics
and socialistic political views. The figures are strong and the subject matter is stronger, transporting you back to the United States of the 1930s - a history lesson pictorial!

(CC) Adam Jackson
Bay Bridge and Ferry Building from atop the Tower

• Enjoy the stunning views of The City from the top of the hill
• Study the murals in the main lobby, which are open to the general public, free of charge


• Visit the gift shop, also on the main floor

(CC) Peter Roome
Tower Mural




• Take a City Guide tour to see the murals that aren't open to the public. City Guide Tours are the best thing going in San Francisco - they're free and they are amazing!
• Climb the stairs - or take
  the elevator - to the top observation deck for even more striking panoramas
• Enjoy a leisurely stroll down the Filbert Street steps to Montgomery Street below, strolling through the exquisite gardens and past the little cottages along the way - and don't forget to look up as you go; you may just catch a glimpse of the feral parrots that forage there!

The parrots are decendants of Red-masked Parakeets from Peru and
Ecuador that most likely escaped their cages or were released by owners who didn't want them anymore. The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill are actually found throughout the North waterfront area of San Francisco.

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