Just discovered the Great Military Observation Tower of the Presidio is no more. It jutted above the eucaluptus so high, they painted it #17875 White and #12197 Aviation Orange, just like Sutro Tower. But now the sweet tower is gone.
You could see the whole bay area up there – probably with a similar view that you’d get atop the PG&E Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. And it was accessible – you could just hop the fence while minding the concertina wire and then use the internal staircase to get to the platform up top. It was sweet:
Click to expand
But then then took out the first flight of stairs so you couldn’t just walk up the thing and then they put up a cell tower right next door and then, not too long ago, they just took the observation tower down.
So here’s the situation today. Cell tower on the right, and the site of the observation tower (the now-empty square) on the right:
I think the above shot from Google Maps is from 9-11-2010. (Google has no hassles photographing the Presidio from above, of course.)
Anyway, here’s how it looks from Ashbury Heights – the cell tower is there, but the observation tower, Mount Sutro’s Little Buddy, is all gone: