Coit Tower was built in 1933 by the bequest of Lillie Hitchcock Coit. She survived two fires in her life, and loved firefighters with such a passion that she once abandoned a wedding ceremony at which she was a bridesmaid when she heard the sirens outside the church - she just had to wave at them! Nonetheless, it is not true that the tower was built to resemble a fire hose.
Hitchcock used the tower as a "phallic symbol" in Vertigo (1958), and a suicidal tiger received help on top of the tower in Dr. Doolittle (1998) . Go inside to see WPA murals depicting life in Depression-era California.