My City By The Bay

Photo courtesy of http://www.pachd.com

This month marks the 75th Birthday for Coit Tower a landmark in my beautiful city by the bay.  It was built in 1933 when Lillie Hitchcock Coit, a San Francisco philanthropist left a third of her estate to the city.  She wanted to help beautify San Francisco.  As a young girl Lillie was walking to school in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood where Coit Tower now stands.  While on her way she saw a fire truck in the street which had broken down and was being pushed up a hill by the firemen.  She dropped her book bags, went over to the fire truck and helped push it up the hill.  Long story short she became the little darling and long time friend of the San Francisco fire department.  In her later years she would hang out with them, play cards and games with them and grew to be a lifelong friend of the firefighters.  So, when she passed on and left part of her estate to the city it was only fitting to build what is now a landmark in the shape of a fire hose nozzle.  Standing at 210 feet tall on top of telegraph hill the views of San Francisco and the bay are nothing short of stunning.  Inside the tower are frescoes or murals which back in the 1900’s were painted by local artists as a program by the US government public works project.  These paintings as I call them, they are truly gorgeous works of art, depict life back in the 19th century.  They are not only works of art but tell stories as well and are a sight to see.  So, Happy 75th and many more…