Talk:Coit Tower

Video and Pictures

Video that keeps getting auto-deleted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6k9EaDLGik Tax-paid by city govt., OK for non-commercial sharing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.102.154.204 (talk) 23:54, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

I made a gallery for the images in the article, hope thats ok with everyone. I have no preference on which one should be the main image for the article, I just left it there since it was on the top already. --Wesman83 17:30, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

I think it looks great. I think the current one for the article should stay. Thanks for the cleanup Epachamo 18:05, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

I add this picture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sanfranciscocoittowerandstatue.jpg

Can someone incorporate it in the article? Astrophil

I posted some pictures of the mural that I thought looked nice. Does someone know how to get them to display all in a row, instead of tiled like they are? Epachamo 08:33, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Redirect from Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower

Does this redirect really make sense? It seems to me that there is a lot about Telegraph Hill that does not just relate to the Coit Tower building: gardens, neighborhood, set of numerous films, etc. Arnaudh (21:33, 14 April 2006; timestamp added --Helium4 (talk) 08:06, 31 October 2019 (UTC))

Looks like this is fixed now. -LuisVilla (talk) 16:01, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

Firehose "myth"

Why does this article say it was NOT inspired by a firehose? I just got back from San Francisco, hoping to learn more, and was shocked when Wikipedia says the opposite. Furthermore, when you click on Lillie Hitchcock Coit, it says the tower was inspired by the firehose. Who says it wasn't the nozzle inspiration behind the tower? Why has no citation been provided? I couldn't find anything to back it up myself online, so I was wondering if perhaps someone can clear it up before I changed it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.28.144.186 (talk) 19:34, 11 May 2007 (UTC).

I think since its uncited the information should be removed unless a cite can be found. --Theblog 04:59, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

A quick review of the internet yielded some sources which attribute a denial by the designer.

• http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0004Qi
• http://gocalifornia.about.com/od/casfmenu/a/coittower.htm

Now, they are second-hand information, but certainly reputable enough to account for a dissenting view in the article. David Spalding (☎ ✉ ✍) 19:01, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Diego Rivera

I believe Diego Rivera was involved in the murals. Am I wrong ? Ericd 15:16, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

I believe so, but this can be found on the Art Institute of San Francisco site, I think. David Spalding (☎ ✉ ✍) 19:03, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

I was mistaken, artists who were students of Rivera worked on the murals. David Spalding (☎ ✉ ✍)

If I remember from my tour several years ago, he was supposed to have done it, but something held him up and they asked someone else. Epachamo (talk) 02:21, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Statue of Columbus

Maybe this article needs more about the statue, its history, and the famous myth about it. Paul Italiano (talk) 02:09, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Events on Coit Tower

A large "Yellow Ribbon" was created by the Navy Wives at Alameda Naval Air Station (NAS) and was installed near the top of the Coit Tower late May 1975 for the returning of the U.S.S. Coral Sea (CV-43) from an eight month WestPac tour (1974 - 1975) in the Viet Nam / West Pacific area. The Yellow Ribbon was made from a large chicken wire skeleton with hundreds of small pieces of yellow cloth tied to it to make the large Yellow Ribbon. Several Sailors (including Robert P. Hampton, Radioman, 17 years old, awaiting upon the ship's return to Alameda NAS) carried the Yellow Ribbon up the Coit Tower inner-stairwell and with the help from a couple of San Francisco City workers draped the large and heavy Yellow Ribbon over the top arch opening, under very windy conditions. It was directed towards the Angel Island direction. A banner "U.S.S. Coral Sea (CVA-43) - San Francisco's Own" was also drapped below the Yellow Ribbon (Another similar banner was placed on the Golden Gate Bridge, ocean side for the returning Sailors to see). A picture of the "Yellow Ribbon" on the Coit Tower was featured in a (~1976) San Francisco visitor picture book (Publisher?).

Radioman3rd (talk) 08:22, 20 June 2008 (UTC) Robert P Hampton, Veteran; U.S. Navy Radioman 3rd Class Petty Officer)

"Thousands Slaughtered in Austria, 12th Feb. 1934"

The uppermost, wide opened newspaper in the Mural "Library(?)" shows the headline above cited. It refers the start date of fire-armed fights in Austria. The armed organisation "Demokratischer Schutzbund" has been destroyed. One step of the Austrian state to open the way for Hitlers "National Socialism". See (German language) http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coit_Tower and http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Österreichischer_Bürgerkrieg --Helium4 (talk) 11:50, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

Coit Tower Caretaker´s Apartment

I don't know if this would be of interest to anyone doing research on Coit Tower, but there is a small apartment located on the second level above the front entry. I was an employee of the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department and moved into this apartment in 1977, shortly after the frescos had been restored and the building secured from repeated vandalism, with the strong encouragement of Department management who wanted to establish a 24 hour presence there to help minimize the chance of continued vandalism. I lived there and served as the building manager until I retired from the Department in 2004.

The studio apartment is accessed via the 'Labaudt' stairwell, and the door to it is opposite the Level 2 stop on the Otis elevator (the location indicator of which reads '1 2 Top'). A news clipping about the Tower's opening in 1934 included a photo of its first occupants - a middle aged couple - making breakfast in the little kitchen. Like the foyer and bathroom (with its claw foot bath tub), the kitchen's walls were curved, as those rooms are located inside the Tower's structure. The entry to the rectangular-shaped studio itself was cut through the 3 to 4 feet of concrete of the Tower's structure. The studio has a window looking east to Treasure Island and the Bay Bridge, and a French door looking west to the Golden Gate.

The French door provides access to the roof of the 'mural' rooms which encircle the Tower. I read that Henry Howard was particularly concerned when he'd heard about the proposed murals, stating that it would be very difficult to protect the artwork from being damaged by water penetrating the roof and leeching through the structure of the Tower itself. His warning proved to be sound, as The City has made multiple attempts to seal the rooms, even to the extent of waterproofing the entire Tower with an elastomeric coating in 1983; which at least to the date of my retirement, had never been completely successful.

If I recall correctly, the husband was retired from the military, but I would have to locate the clipping before I could provide any more accurate information. At the celebration of the Tower's 50th anniversary in 1984, I was approached by a woman who told me that the couple were her parents, and how she had dressed for her wedding in the apartment and descended the Labaudt stairway in her wedding dress. She also mentioned that her son was former quarterback Vinny Testeverde, but I have no way of confirming this.

During my years there I was amazed at some of the misinformation and 'history' I would hear from people visiting the site - some even from tour guides - the most common of which was it's resemblance to a fire hose nozzle - which, for a tower, it probably couldn't look anything LESS like; and that it was a monument to the SF Fire Department (which it wasn't, as Mrs. Coit left a separate bequest to honor her beloved firefighters which resulted in their statue in Washington Square). And as far as her 'directing' that a tower be built, there was no reference in her will on how the money would be spent to beautify the city she loved, and in fact there is some credible oral history indicating she had a distinct dislike for towers!

While there I tried to maintain a low profile, fearing that publicity might result in some local politician replacing me with one of his cronies. I was contacted by at least a dozen major media outlets from network TV to national magazines, that wanted to do a story about what it was like to live there; and while I could not stop them from doing a story, I did refuse to participate in any. It wasn't until I was close to retirement (and moving out) that I learned that I had been protected all along under the City's Rent Control and Tenant's Rights Ordinances. And I apparantly suceeded since other than a couple of references to me by Herb Caen and Rob Morse, no articles seem to have been written, and Google search for 'Coit Tower Caretaker's apartment' brings no results. I have no idea whether any of this information could be useful in the article or is merely personal reminiscence, but as the Emperor Joseph in Amadeus would say, 'well, there it is.' Lillyquist (talk) 09:07, 20 November 2011 (UTC) Lillyquist (talk) 09:10, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

I agree that the article should clarify that Coit Tower is NOT a monument to firefighters (other than honorary firefighter Lillie Hitchcock Coit). To this end, I suggest migrating the content on Coit's background (and on the other projects built with her bequest by the City?) to the article on Lillie Hitchcock Coit - her dedication to the firefighters and her eccentricities don't have much connection to her bequest for beautification projects, to the City's decision to spend part of the bequest on Coit Tower (conceived after Coit's death), or to the design, placement, and naming of the tower.Pegordon (talk) 00:32, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

Links

THIS article needs more and better external links. TypingInTheSky (talk) 19:34, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

External links modified

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