The Sutro Tower

My desk faces west towards the Sutro Tower and to be quite honest I only picked this apartment because of the tower and how it looms above Twin Peaks (those lumpy bumpy ridges above). As soon as I walked in the front door I knew that this would be the window where I write. I knew that from this perch I’d write a million words as I looked at the sunset and, over the years, I knew that the Sutro Tower would turn out to be my dearest writing compatriot.

But over time my relationship with the tower has changed and I think that’s because the San Francisco peninsula often feels as if it’s a plate spinning at a million miles an hour. The culture, the population, the tech boom, they all do their best to keep this plate spinning as fast as they can. But the Sutro Tower, to me at least, is the stick holding it all together and makes sure that the city doesn’t one day break off and twirl into the sky.