

Sutro Tower: San Francisco's least appreciated landmark - stevewilhelm
https://sutrotower.org/

======
whoopdedo
"...residents at this time focused on their belief that the installation of
digital antennas was not allowed per the conditional use permit originally
granted. Beyond seismic safety, the other chief complaint from residents
involved possible electromagnetic effects on humans."

Never mind that DTV is broadcast on the same UHF band that's been in use for
decades. Or that because of the increased resiliency to noise a digital signal
can be transmitted at a lower power level while covering the same area. No,
let's just ignore scientific fact and whip up a bunch of anti-radiation
hysteria.

But I was amused that the old mansion rather than cut down a tree built the
front steps around the trunk.

------
quesera
Sutro Tower is one of my favorite radio towers in the world. The design is
unique and beautiful. I have a thing for aviation orange, I guess.

On a purely pragmatic level, Mount Sutro (née Parnassus) is the only place to
put radio antennae in San Francisco. They could have built the standard array
of 1000' standalone guyed towers, but instead they went to great effort to
come up with a distinctive design.

Either way, the tower(s) were going to get built, and would be visible from
every point in the city, so I feel lucky that they didn't take the easy way
out.

------
Cr3w
Sorry, but I don't like it. I think it looks ugly and you can see it
practically from everywhere. I never liked it...

~~~
danbmil99
> you can see it practically from everywhere

Kind of the point for a comms tower, no?

~~~
001sky
to be heard, not seen

~~~
Aloha
ever heard the phrase 'line of sight'?

~~~
001sky
Is that why its so ugly? No.

------
shijie
I live in the Twin Peaks neighborhood, and regularly run up to Sutro Tower on
my morning workout. You can get surprisingly close to it, and there's an oval
track adjacent to the tower where you can run. Highly recommend! It's quite
breathtaking looking up at it from the ground, in a strange way.

~~~
abakker
there's a pretty fun dirt trail right around the hill that it's on, too.

It always amazes me how specific the moisture deposition is from the fog up
there. One side will be muddy after a foggy day, the other side will be dry.

------
bhc3
I live not too far from Sutro Tower. One use for it: fog indicator. I used to
commute from Pleasanton back into SF. I'd always take a look at Sutro Tower.
If it was shrouded in fog, I knew my house would be too. If it was sunny on
Sutro, I knew I'd see blue sky at my house as well.

------
ryguytilidie
I always say that Sutro tower is way more "San Francisco" than Coit Tower.
Coit Tower is pretty much just a tourist destination whereas every time I'm
traveling and get back to SF, I feel at home when I see that big antenna.

~~~
spike021
Coit tower looks a lot blander to me. It just isn't distinctive and mostly
blends in with its surroundings. Whereas Sutro has a nice interesting design,
is high enough that it can poke out from under Karl the Fog, and it can be
seen from a great radius around SF. I've also seen it from the East Bay.

------
jclarkcom
I lived across the street from Sutro tower for 5 years, there is a great paved
path around a water reservoir where you can run or walk your dog. Once a year
they bring in a herd of goats to clear out the vegetation - very fun to see
this happening in the middle of San francisco.

[http://youtu.be/LkSzoM__1O8](http://youtu.be/LkSzoM__1O8)

------
farmfood
Fascinating read - nicely done. Interesting suggestion that planning
objections were late possibly because the media outlets that wanted the tower
also suppressed news about its construction!

------
kmtrowbr
It is absolutely the #1 most visible landmark in the city.

When you are hiking far the north up the coast -- say, Mt. Wittenberg -- you
can just barely make out the city to the south ... it's so tiny ... and you
can distinctly see "the big bug." Or, from Mt. Diablo, or from Russian Ridge
down on the peninsula. This is in addition to being visible from practically
everywhere within the city itself.

It's an amazing landmark and, I've come to be quite fond of it.

------
apinstein
I try to go to Twin Peaks park every time I go to SF. It's such an awesome
view and it's so easy to get to. Such a great way to start a trip!

------
djcapelis
Sutro Tower is unappreciated? Not among my friend group. I have friends who
have suggested Sutro Tower would make a great tattoo.

~~~
orthecreedence
Yeah, I live right by the thing and love staring it when the fog is rolling
over it. Would not call it unappreciated.

------
meddlepal
When I visited San Francisco for the first time for JavaOne last year the
Sutro was the last landmark I saw and finally got a glimpse of it on the
highway back to the airport. It's a cool structure and I definitely felt it
was iconic "San Francisco" after the Golden Gate, Alcatraz, Transmerica
Pyramid and Coit Tower.

------
richev
I'm reminded of the not-quite-as-tall equivalent Crystal Palace transmitter
tower in London (which I can see in the distance outside my window)...
[http://www.thebigtower.com/live/CrystalPalace/Index.htm](http://www.thebigtower.com/live/CrystalPalace/Index.htm)

------
archagon
It's too bad the tower isn't open to the public. I bet the views from the top
are incredible. (As evidenced: [http://kiehart.tumblr.com/post/74847934277/up-
above-it-all-s...](http://kiehart.tumblr.com/post/74847934277/up-above-it-all-
sutro-tower-san-francisco))

~~~
simoncion
Are you aware of any active microwave communication towers [0] that are open
to the public?

[0] This means structures whose primary purpose to to act as a communication
tower, rather than a tourist attraction (Eiffel Tower) or office building (er,
every tall office building ever?).

~~~
jnsaff2
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernsehturm_Berlin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernsehturm_Berlin)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostankino_Tower](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostankino_Tower)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallinn_TV_Tower](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallinn_TV_Tower)

Plenty of examples like this.

Not really comparable to Sutro Tower but they are there.

~~~
woliveirajr
In Brazil:
[http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/idioma/portugues/linhaturismo/...](http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/idioma/portugues/linhaturismo/torre)

It was built to provide telephonic transmission and has two floors specially
built to be visited.

~~~
simoncion
Ooh! Thanks to both you and jnsaff2. Those towers are pretty nifty.

------
danwroy
This was one of the most terrifying sights in San Francisco when I was a kid,
and the best my parents could do to explain it was to say it had something to
do with TV.

------
relet
The players of [http://sf0.org](http://sf0.org) certainly appreciate it. If
you can put a flag on top, you win the game.

------
dekhn
On a foggy day, seeing the top of Sutro Tower poke out, looking like a ship in
the sea.

I spent 7 years working on the footstep of Mount Parnassus, and I love that
tower.

------
simonebrunozzi
I always call it Twin Peaks. I guess it's wrong.

------
ccvannorman
is THAT what it's called! I have a 1/30th scale model in our home. My
grandfather calls it the Devil's Pitchfork :P

~~~
nevir
My friends all call it The Claw :P

~~~
britta
There are some people who call it the Space Claw:
[https://www.flickr.com/people/spaceclaw](https://www.flickr.com/people/spaceclaw)

------
craigching
Pretty cool picture, I love how Orion is in the sky and the tower itself looks
somewhat like my favorite constellation ;)

------
pbreit
Where does the overly-opinionated title come from?

Currently: Sutro Tower: San Francisco's least appreciated landmark

------
languagehacker
yeah okay, totally unappreciated.

give me a break, it's not 1995.

that's like saying oakland is the new brooklyn.

------
nielsbot
tear it down. and those damn Hollywood letters too. some people have no taste.

