San Francisco Neighborhoods · Telegraph Hill
Telegraph Hill
also Goat HillSun zoneA steep, leafy enclave crowned by Coit Tower, threaded with hidden garden stairways and screeching wild parrots, perched dramatically above North Beach and the bay.
- Coit Tower at your door
- Iconic garden staircases
- Wild parrot neighbors
- Walk to North Beach
On the map
Open Telegraph Hill on the map →The story
Telegraph Hill takes its name from the semaphore signal station built atop it in 1849, which flagged arriving ships to merchants below. Earlier called Loma Alta by the Spanish and "Goat Hill" by settlers, it became a working-class enclave of Irish and Italian immigrants. Quarrying blasted away its eastern face for ballast and seawall fill, creating today's sheer cliffs. In the 1930s the hill's artists and bohemians cemented its reputation, and Coit Tower rose in 1933.
Things most people don’t know
A firefighter's gift
Coit Tower was funded by a bequest from heiress Lillie Hitchcock Coit, who adored the city's volunteer firefighters. Despite the resemblance, it was not designed to look like a fire hose nozzle.
The wild parrots
A flock of feral cherry-headed conures roams the hill, descended from escaped or released pets. They were made famous by the 2003 documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.
Secret garden stairs
The Filbert and Greenwich Steps descend the hill's steep eastern cliff through lush private gardens. They were largely planted and tended for decades by resident Grace Marchant.
Depression-era murals
The interior of Coit Tower is lined with 1934 fresco murals painted by 25 artists under the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project. Their social-realist themes briefly stirred political controversy.
Saved by wine
Residents are said to have saved homes on the hill's eastern slope from the 1906 fire by dousing them with barrels of red wine when the water mains failed.
Eating and drinking near Telegraph Hill
Telegraph Hill is primarily residential — these sit in North Beach.
Restaurants
- Sotto Mare Oysteria & Seafood · 552 Green St
- Tony's Pizza Napoletana · 1570 Stockton St
- Mama's on Washington Square · 1701 Stockton St
- Original Joe's North Beach · 601 Union St
- Caffe Trieste · 601 Vallejo St
Bars
- Vesuvio Cafe · 255 Columbus Ave
- Specs' Twelve Adler Museum Cafe · 12 William Saroyan Pl
Getting around and getting care
Transit. Muni bus 39 (Coit) climbs the hill to Coit Tower and connects to Washington Square. Nearby, the 8, 30, and 45 lines run along Columbus and Stockton through North Beach, with the F Market streetcar down on the Embarcadero.
Nearest hospital. Chinese Hospital, 845 Jackson St (about 0.6 mi)
Thinking about Telegraph Hill?
Send me an address and I will come back with its sun, wind and fog, what is under it, and what has closed on the block.